www.traversepoetry.org

I’d like to say a quick thanks to Mary McCartney (who did such a great job on the Benedict House art:house festival) – she’s helping me out with promotion for Traverse Poetry events and she put together this wonderful media release for the next slam.

For the benefit of those who want the facts without wading through a media release, the next poetry slam is on:

Friday 27 March
7.30pm – 11.30pm
The Front Gallery and Café, Wattle St, Lyneham

In attendance will be the marvellous Melbourne poet Santo Cazzati (mentioned in this report) who will perform a 20-minute feature set – going to be great!

Meanwhile, I’d be curious to hear what you think of this blog post about the state of poetry. It’s from late last year, but still interesting. What do you think? Is there poetry that is both good on paper and spoken? Are there any good poets that could (should) reach as many children as Harry Potter? Are there any non-crap poetry blogs (aside from this one, of course!)?

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who came along to the slam last Friday at Benedict House in Queanbeyan. Despite some weather issues (it started raining so we moved inside and then it stopped raining for the rest of the night) and problems with my amp (crazy freaky shaky clicky sound) it was a wonderful night. And such an amazing venue!

First prize went, quite appropriately, to Queanbeyan boy Omar Musa who did a touching homecoming poem. Seung came second and Hadley, third.

The aforementioned poets, myself and Daniel Ferri had a good meeting on Sunday planning the group piece for Corinbank Festival. The five us (including Fenella Edwards) will each be performing a three minute piece starting and ending with the same line – ‘This is a warning to everyone’ – and including as many of four other lines as will fit easily, and then ending with the five us repeating the five lines together. It should be something splendid to see. Oh, and we also watched a bunch of group performances from US slams, marvelled at the poets’ beat-boxing skills (watch Running a Race for a good example) and learnt from Cicero the perfect way to gesture.

And I have to say a extra special thank you to Julia, who serenaded us with so much beautiful music on Friday night.

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.