www.traversepoetry.org

Despite what you might have heard, last week’s quiet poetry slam was not the last Traverse Poetry slam. The ACT Government grant that has supported this project will finish at the end of 2009, but slams will continue in 2010. The first slam for the year will be Thursday 25 February and then, from March, they’ll be back on the last Friday of each month.

So, we’ll be ending 2009 with an absolutely massive event at the National Museum of Australia: a water-themed poetry slam, to help launch the new exhibition, Water: H2O=Life.

Other than the theme, what’s so special about this event? We have an absolutely wonderful guest poet, from Sydney, called Sarah Mae. ACT poetry slam fans may remember her first set in Canberra back in 2007, when The Front slams were just getting started. Those who don’t know her work should be prepared for a jaw-dropping performance exploring identity, myths, fairy tales and everyday observation through spoken word, song and the rhythms of the subconscious.

Plus, we have the always delightful Cathy Petocz playing music, and huge prizes — $200 cash from Traverse Poetry and a $100 gift voucher from the Museum!

Poetry Splash!
12 December 7:30-10:30pm
Friends Lounge, National Museum of Australia
Lawson Crescent, Acton Peninsula
Free entry!

You must book a slot to perform: email poetry DOT slams AT gmail DOT com or phone 0403 885 873 – we’re very nearly at capacity for the night so if you want a shot at the prizes make sure you book now!

Something a little more substantial this time. One of the friends I made last year, Daniel Ferri, is a teacher and poet originally from Chicago, now living in Canberra. He’s helping me out with a few of the Traverse Poetry events this year, most immediately as the director/advisor of a performance taking place at the Corinbank festival, on 28 February. This will be collaborative poetry performed by Omar Musa (winner of the Australian Poetry Slam ‘08), Seung Baek (winner of the 2008 Night Words poetry contest), Adam Hadley (winner of the 2009 Woodford Folk Festival poetry slam), MC Fenella (all-round hip-hop all star) and yours truly, based on the themes of play, fire and soil… more info on that later.

I wanted to mention Daniel because of a very cool poetry competition he created in 1995, called Head to Head Haiku (and the related form, Toe to Toe Tanka). From Daniel’s description, it’s a very intense competition in which the judges have about 30 seconds to make a decision on which of two poets go through into the next round. He said one of the most remarkable features of the contest was the silence and focus the develops in an audience as the event progresses.

We’re planning to run a Head to Head Haiku competition later on in the year so we’ll see if we can get the same level of focus here in Canberra.

Meanwhile, this was the only video I could find, which is a battle (between Jonica and Tazuo Yamaguchi) rather than the sort of competition I described, but it still gives you a good idea of the style. Check it out and let me know if you’d like to have a try at it!

Traverse Poetry is kicking off 2009 with a huge poetry slam in Queanbeyan!

The first Traverse slam for 2009 will take place on the opening night of the Benedict House art:house festival – so, as well as the usual open mic and slam competition (with cash prizes!), there will also be a huge range of artwork to view and buy, including paintings, drawings, 3D artworks and photography.

Plus the wonderful Julia of the Deep Sea Sirens fame will be serenading us with delightful music!

Queanbeyan Poetry Slam
Benedict House
39 Isabella Street
Queanbeyan

23 January 2009
7.30-11.30pm – book your spot in the slam at 7.30pm.
$3 entry / free for performers (all proceeds go to Julia and the slam winners).

Check out who’s going to be there on Facebook.