1. Adam Hadley
2. Will Small
3. CJ Huet

As in previous years, the range was quite a bit different from the monthly gigs at The Front, with a much stronger focus on hip hop. We also had some much younger poets (including one 11-year-old rapping about illegal street racing… hmm…) and a few more ‘random’ (for want of a better word) performers, in particular a guy reading some gorgeous haiku off an iPhone.

There were too few women performing again. I’m hoping next year’s slams (and perhaps another all-women night sometime in the year) will encourage some more ladies to get behind the mic – there’s so much talent in our town!

Last year’s overall winner, Omar Musa, also did a smashing performance of the piece he did with Hadley, Seung, Fenella and I at Corinbank earlier this year.

So, this month we have a more low-key event, not really a slam at all (let’s call it a ‘sham slam’ shall we?) and more of an open mic:

Traverse Poetry Night
Friday 27 November
7.30pm-10.30pm
The Front Gallery and Cafe
Wattle Street, Lyneham
Free entry for everyone!

And, before I go, I need to plug the launch of issue 9 of Block journal, this week at Smiths:

Block 9 launch
Thursday 19 November
6.00pm-7.00pm
Smiths Alternative Bookshop
76 Aligna Street, Canberra City

First up:

Getting Published: Secrets from the Writers & Editors!
Free Q&A panel featuring: Paul Magee, Jack Heath, Rachel Longhurst, Julia Winterflood, George Poulakis and Emily Stewart
16 May 2009 2:00-3:30pm
The Hub @ Civic Library
London Circuit, Civic

Then, at the end of the month:

‘Girls Own’ Poetry Slam
Ladies only performers – open audience!
Featuring music from Julia from the Deep Sea Sirens
29 May 2009 7:30-11:30pm
The Front Café and Gallery
Wattle St, Lyneham

A few weeks ago I had a request to publish the winners of the April slam, so here they are:

1. Seung Baek
2. Farida
3. Michael Klapdor

Stay tuned for some more interesting posts soon – I’ve got a bunch of cool things in my notes to let you know about.