Australian Poetry Slam

[Neville Briggs]

I had the opportunity yesterday to go over to the little town of Dungog to see a heat of the Australian Poetry Slam.
The event was held in the James Theatre at Dungog. This building, I am told, is the oldest picture-show building in the Southern Hemisphere. It's a great venue for poetry performance.

The event, sadly, only attracted about 24 people, that's performers and audience.

The event had 3 young high school girls doing free verse, one mature lady doing rhyming free verse, 4 older men doing free verse and one young bloke who did a Haiku, much to the bewilderment of the audience. My mate Bob from Vacy got up and did a bush poem about horses and a little girl about 8 years old sung her own composition, a song about her dog that died ( she was fantastic ) .

One of the men did a sort of half free verse and half " hip hop "

The compere was a bloke by the name of Miles Merrill. he did a couple of free verse poems that were very very good.
My old mate Bob got a good reception for his "bush poem", no sneering or jeering, although one of the judges marked him down very low.

Among the free verse people there was a lot of " sound effects ", making imitations of various machines, birds, bells, cars, electronics etc with mouth noises.

The winner of the heat was a young lady from the high school, who did a free verse.
And, oh dear Vic, her outfit included a beret The little girl with the dog song came second so she is also in the semi-finals.

I enjoyed the event. Great fun. I have never be to a poetry event that has had all styles.
It was wonderful. Even the bloke who included some sort of Gregorian plain song into his poem was interesting He also wore a beret, Vic.

I heard that Greg North was the winner of his heat of the Australian Poetry Slam, held in Katoomba, west of Sydney.

The final is on 1st December, at the Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay.

[Bob Pacey]

Yeah they are interesting events Nev i was a finalist in Qld for three years till they shifted the nearest heat to Mackay or Blackall.


I was told when I first went down that your had a better chace if you memorised the poem so spent a coulpe of months getting it down pat only to find that the winner read his and included lots of four letter words which seemed to strike a cord with the uni set who attended in Brisbane.

Tried to ge a heat here this year but to no avail.

Bob

[Neville Briggs]

Most of those yesterday were read, Bob.

Even the bloke who pranced around the room in sort of jazz ballet and whipped his beret off to throw it into the audience.

[Zondrae]

Thanks for the report Neville,

Congratulations to Greg North. This is (at least) the third year in a row that he has made the finals in Sydney by winning his local heat. I'll bet there aren't many other participants in this comp (or any other for that matter) who can claim this.

[Bob Pacey]

Yep there is Zondrae and I reckon I would have had a good chance to make it four or five if they had not moved the heat too far away.


Only needs a slight adjustment to the performance style to click with the younger set. of course it helps if you are young yourself .


This is a yearly event that I think Bush poets can do well in and would encourage members to participate.

As I said to Greg "One day we will slam the slammers" LOL

Ps I will post my last poem poem in the members section.

Bob

[Bob Pacey]

Oh the Queensland finals are on u tube so you can get a look at the opposition. Note there is a fair bit of swearing ( I think they only do it for effect )


To each their own I reckon,


Bob

[Zondrae]

Well Bob,

I can't let go the chance to inform that the 'Bush Poets' beat the Slammers (on their own turf) at the National Folk Festival this year. There was stiff competition as the 'slam' team featured a couple of past State winners (slam) but then again 'our' team featured our Vic champ, Jim Brown and National Champ, Peter Mace. The material was very modern and, imho the balance was tipped by Rodger Montgomery of WA. He is an extremely polished performer and his razor sharp wit and clever turn of phrase had the slammers blitzed.

[Neville Briggs]

get a look at the opposition

Opposition ? what does that mean ? After my afternoon at the Poetry Slams I was more firm in my idea that the notion of " us and them " in poetry presentations makes no sense.

the 'Bush Poets' beat the Slammers (on their own turf)

Isn't there enough tribalism in the world, don't we need to build bridges.

[Bob Pacey]

Opposition is anyone you are competing against Nev , did you not note my LOL at the end.


I've got some good mates who are slammers this years Compere Scott alias " Darkwing Dubs" was up in Rocky for a class a few weeks ago and we had a chat then.


Bob

[warooa]

Yes Bob, I agree - I too know Scotty, he's been coming up here to Wallaby Ck Festival for years now. I enjoy his poetry, and his performance as well as other slammers - there's much to be shared and learnt between the poetry genres - both from a written and performance perspective.

Marty