Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Watch this space

Last night was the Hammer and Tongue Four Nations Poetry Slam. Held in the zodiac, some four hundred punters were exposed to four hours of some of the best slam poetry you could hope to find. I loved every minute of it. But it exhausted me and it's gonna take some processing.

Suffice to say, the US won, the Canadians came second (much to Meredith's pain) and while the UK and the Irish finished third and fourth, they were worthy contenders. As far as poems went, the ones by the UK's Kat Francois and Ireland's Rose O'Shea were beautiful and moved me, and for sheer peformance, the UK's Rachel Pantechnicon (the elf shelf) was nothing short of magnificent.

To say I have been blown away wouldn't be too far from the truth and that's why I need some time to process it. So watch this space.

But... if you were there, and you wanna say something, my comments page can be your scratchpad. Or does that just make me a lazy blogger??

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like it was a great night, pity I missed out. How were Taylor Mali and Queen Sheba's performances? I'm looking forward to your full review...

Cheers,

Patrick

Anonymous said...

It was absoloutly amazing! I was blown away by the atmosphere, the poems, the performance, the raw talent, the crowd, the vibe. Queen sheeba was AWESOME, as was the female british contestant - she got my top vote. There was stuff to make you laugh, cry, and generally made me feel proud to be part of such a creative diverse race - as in the human race. I was buzzing when I left and took ages to wind down and go to sleep! (not like me).I am a fan - when's the next one?! Pip

richard said...

I wrote once upon a time that there is something about them. There's a hook. I don't know what it is. But if you told me about a year ago that I'd be a signed up member of the team that organises them, I'd have laughed at you. They suck you in...

The next one is the first tuesday of march. It's the first of march. They are always on the first tuesday of every month. It's a women poets only one.