English at the Peaks Conference

@ DuBois Center, NAU, Flagstaff. More information. I'll be presenting "Beyond Page vs. Stage: Slam Poetry as an Accessible Form" with Dan Seaman of Prescott. Here's the abstract:

Beyond Page vs. Stage: Slam Poetry as an Accessible Form logan phillips and Daniel H. Seaman

Since it’s inception in the mid-1980’s, the competitive art of Poetry Slam has only continued to gain popularity, media exposure and momentum. This year, the fifteenth annual National Poetry Slam will be held just four hours from Flagstaff in Albuquerque, NM. This offers a unique opportunity for our thriving literary community to reflect on the influence and discourse of slam poetry here in Northern Arizona.

Our brief presentation, followed by a small panel discussion, will seek to debunk the “stage vs. page” myth by exploring the characteristics of slam poetry not as the opposite of “page poetry,” but rather as another poetry form. Equally as valid of a form as a sestina or sonnet, slam poetry draws on a long tradition of oral expression and is marked by specific characteristics which define it clearly. These characteristics include distinct uses of repetition, length, subject matter, and yes, even meter. Equally informed by hip-hop, popular culture, stand-up comedy, forensics and “traditional” poetry, slam is very visible and accessible, often acting as an entry point into the literary arts for those who may not have been exposed to them otherwise. This initial exposure often leads to further involvement in the literary community, as we will show using examples from our own area.

Far from being mutually exclusive, slam poetry and the more traditional literary arts stand to gain much from each other. Nowhere in poetry are popular culture and our society so clearly reflected, defined and critiqued as within slam. One could liken the young form to a flash flood entering the wider river of words, adding not only new audience and power, but also seeking to define itself and find its place within the flow of the literary arts.

NORAZ Poetry Grand Slam

@ the Orpheum (15 W. Aspen St), Flagstaff.
It's the biggest event of all year! buy tickets!

Nick Fox

From the M.A.D. Linguist in Prescott. From Studio 111 in Flagstaff. And from the Canyon Moon Theatre in Sedona, over twenty poetry slams have rocked this quietly beautiful community of Northern Arizona into a force to be reckoned with. “What the heck are you talking about?”, you ask? I’m talking about the hard work, the determination of over 80 performance poets spittin’ metaphoric fire, rippin’ stages and grippin’ fist fulls of microphones to be part of a team of poets representing Northern Arizona and performing in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the 2005 National Poetry Slam this August.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 23rd at the historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown Flagstaff, after a couple of heartbreaking semi-finals, 10 poets have been chosen to compete for five slots on the team and the coveted honor of being the 2005 NORAZ Grand Slam Champion. So if you’ve never been to a poetry slam before this is your chance to a part of one of best times you’ll ever have witnessing this increasingly growing art form.

A poetry slam is a competition between poets where 5 members of the audience, chosen at random, with no affiliation to the poet, choose their favorite poet by holding up score cards that range from zero points to a perfect ten. Poets have to perform their own original poems in three minutes or less and can use no props or music to accentuate their poems. Just the poet and the microphone for three full rounds of the most cathartic, emotionally intense artwork ever verbally expressed. WARNING: you may go away inspired to write.

This evening will be hosted by and featuring the man who created the first poetry slam in Flagstaff, Nick Fox as he tries to keep the poets in line. Music to sooth the savage beast will be provided by the beautiful “Screaming Blue Viking”. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.

General admission tickets are only $10, $7 for students and can be found at Animas Trading Co. 1 E. Aspen, The Rainbows End 12 E. 66 ste.101, Gopher Sounds 22 E. 66, The Orpheum Theatre 15 W. Aspen or by calling the Orpheum Theatre at 928.556.1580. Proceeds go to helping Team NORAZ get to Albuquerque and back safely.

All this is brought to you by NORAZ Poets, a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting and organizing poetry events as well as making poetry more accessible to the community of NORthern AriZona. For more information about the 2005 NORAZ Poetry Grand Slam or poetry in NORthern AriZona, please call our toll free hotline at 866.698.8790 or go to norazpoets.org.

Binational Poetry Reading Across the Wall

Borderlands Poetry: A Reading Across the Wall. Time: 4-6pm. West end of the Naco/Naco border wall. I'll be reading border poems with toda la fuerza que tengo. Directions to Naco: Take I-10 (East if you’re coming from Tucson/Phoenix, West if you’re coming from Texas) Take the Benson exit #303 to Tombstone and Douglas Pass through Benson and get on Hwy 80 past Tombstone to Bisbee. Go through the tunnel, past the pit, and to the traffic circle. Take the first exit on the traffic circle toward Sierra Vista onto Hwy 92. Go about 2-3 miles to the second stoplight at Naco Highway. Turn Left onto Naco Highway heading south. Go about 4-5 miles to Naco.

For Poetry: Head down Naco Highway about 4-5 miles and take first Naco turn onto Newell. Pass the golf course Turn Left at first stop sign onto Towner. Go across the tracks and about three blocks to Martinez. Turn Right on Martinez Take the second Left onto dirt road called Pratt Drive – Just past the big trucks. Go one bumpy block on Pratt to the border wall and park AWAY from wall. Take a shuttle ride one mile down the road to the event.

Tucson Poetry Festival Paintball Slam

@ The Screening Room (127 E Congress), Tucson. Hosted by Gary Mex Glazner. I'll be slamming. More information.

The Poetry Paint-Ball Slam with MC Gary Mex Glazner

Poetry Paint Ball Slam is a fast paced event, where words replace paint and flying spit replaces splattering pigments, where the thawp of the ball becomes the twang of rhyme, where the rhythm of the paint gun becomes the don't stop of hip hop. So put your right hand in the air and your left hand in your underwear and pull our your best paint ball poem. Any subject, any style, any kinds of poem. Extra points and special prize for a poem that includes paint ball.

7 p.m. Sunday, April 10th

$5 at the door (cash only). No advance tickets.

Sign-up at 6:45 p.m. First come; first served.

The Screening Room, 127 East Congress

FIRST PRIZE: $100

Prizes also for 2nd & 3rd places and Best "Paint Ball" Poem

Phone: 620-2045