This is the official blog of Northern Arizona slam poet Christopher Fox Graham. Begun in 2002, and transferred to blogspot in 2006, FoxTheBlog has recorded more than 670,000 hits since 2009. This blog cover's Graham's poetry, the Arizona poetry slam community and offers tips for slam poets from sources around the Internet. Read CFG's full biography here. Looking for just that one poem? You know the one ... click here to find it.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Northern Arizona Book Festival sponsors free Sedona Poetry Slam, featuring slam legend Bill Campana on Saturday, April 13

The Sedona Poetry Slam proudly welcomes Arizona slam poetry legend Bill Campana to the stage on Saturday, April 13, as performance poets bringing high-energy, competitive spoken word to the Mary D. Fisher Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m. 

Admission is free, thanks to funding from the Northern Arizona Book Festival.

A poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays, judged by the audience. Anyone can sign up to compete in the slam for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. Between rounds, Campana will perform a featured set.

Bill Campana

Campana seeks to find answers to the big questions in life, but usually settles for vague, watered down, surreal explanations.

Campana has been a fixture in Phoenix poetry since 1997 and is the author of six out-of-print collections of poetry, a six-time member of the Mesa National Poetry Slam Team, and is the 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam's Haiku Death Match Champion.

“A poetry tour de force, Bill Campana has done what few poets could ever dream of in writing sharp, entertaining poetry that doesn't cater to anyone but is enjoyed by all,” publisher Bob Nelson stated. “In his live performances, he comes at you like a machine gun of short, powerful linguistic observations. Bill's live performances are the thing of legend.”


Anyone Can Compete

To compete in the slam, poets will need three original poems, each lasting no longer than three minutes. No props, costumes nor musical accompaniment are permitted. The poets are judged Olympics-style by five members of the audience selected at random at the beginning of the slam.

Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists. Poets come from as far away as Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona and Cottonwood, college poets from Northern Arizona University and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School. All types of poetry are welcome on the stage, from street-wise hip-hop and narrative performance poems, to political rants and introspective confessionals. Any poem is a "slam" poem if performed in a competition. All poets get three minutes per round to entertain and inspire the audience with their creativity.

Mary D. Fisher Theatre is located at 2030 W. SR 89A, Suite A-3, in West Sedona. Call 282-1177 or visit SedonaFilmFestival.org.

The next poetry slams of the season will be held on Saturdays, May 11 and June 8.

The prize money is funded by the Northern Arizona Book Festival and by Verde Valley poetry supporters Jeanne and Jim Freeland.

Email foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up early to compete or by the Friday before the slam or at the door the day of the slam. 

For more information, visit sedonafilmfestival.com or foxthepoet.blogspot.com. For a full list of slam poetry events in Arizona, visit azpoet.com.

The Saturday, April 13, Sedona Poetry Slam is FREE ADMISSION, thanks to funding by the Northern Arizona Book Festival, which is cover the costs and prize money for the winning poets: $100 for first place, $75 for second place and $50 for third place

Northern Arizona Book Festival

The Northern Arizona Book Festival returns from Friday, April 5, to Monday April 15, with in-person and online events and activities for all ages, including readings from multiple local and regional authors, poetry slams, workshops and live performances for all ages in multiple venues across Flagstaff, Sedona and online.

Admission to all festival events is free and open to the public. The list of the over 30 different events are available at noazbookfest.org.

The bulk of the events, including a Haiku Death Match, take place Friday, April 12, to Sunday, April 14.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded at the Green Mill Tavern in Chicago in 1984 by Marc Smith, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport designed to get people who would otherwise never go to a poetry reading excited about the art form when it becomes a high-energy competition. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances.

Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe. Slam poets have opened at the Winter Olympics, performed at the White House and at the United Nations General Assembly and were featured on "Russell Simmons' Def Poets" on HBO.

Sedona has sent four-poet teams to represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., Boston, Cambridge, Mass., Oakland, Calif., Decatur, Ga., Denver and Chicago

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Lizard the Wizard, Sondraya and Lalli will represent Sedona at the BlackBerry Peach Poetry Slam's Arizona Championship

Chosen by the five judges in the audience after three rounds of high-energy, competitive spoken word at the Sedona International Film Festival's Mary D. Fisher Theatre, the top three poets at the Saturday, March 9, Sedona Poetry Slam earned spots to compete at the BlackBerry Peach Poetry Slam's Arizona Championship, to be held in Phoenix on Friday, April 19. 

From a field of 14 competing poets, the top three slam poets earning Sedona's berths are:

Lizard the Wizard, with a score of 82.2

Lizard the Wizard, photo by Christopher Fox Graham

Sondraya, with a score of 78.5

Sondraya Bradley, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

Lalli, with a score of 77.7

Jason Lalli, photo by Christopher Fox Graham

The other competors included Adrienne Peters of Phoenix, Cylie Naylor of Scottsdale, Eric Hoff of Sedona, "Moose" of Phoenix, Roger Blakiston of the Village of Oak Creek, Bear Smith of Sedona, Gary Every of Cottonwood, LMB of Prescott and Rex Arrasmith of Sedona.

Athena Zelda Nebula Skye Sylvia Diana Fox Graham, age 5, of Sedona, and Naughty A. Mouse of Phoenix, calibrated the slam.

Athena Zelda Nebula Skye Sylvia Diana Fox Graham, photo by Christopher Fox Graham

BlackBerry Peach

The top three poets will earn Sedona's three spots at the BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam's Arizona State Championships, sponsored by the Arizona State Poetry Society.

Three poets each from open poetry slams in Sedona, Mesa, Prescott, Phoenix and Flagstaff will compete at the 15-poet slam held by Ghost Poetry Slam and hosted by Ben “B-Jam” Gardea on Friday, April 19. 

The overall state champion will win trip sponsored by the ASPS to represent Arizona at the National Federation of State Poetry Societies' BlackBerry Peach National Slam from June 5 to 8 in Roswell, Ga.

B-Jam, photo by Sedona Poetry Slam

A regular competitor at the Sedona Poetry Slam, B-Jam is a Phoenix native, married father of three children. Gardea overcame both alcoholism and a rare hip disease that made him unable to walk. After getting sober and a total hip replacement, he had two goals: To share his poetry and and hike a mountain in Sedona. Three years later, B-Jam is the 2023 ASPS State Poetry Slam champion, ranked 10th nationally and has curated writers workshops, featured at poetry events, won a grant to publish a poetry book and is the host and producer of the popular PHX Poetry Slam.

“Poetry has changed my life and I want to be a caretaker of the artform for future generations to explore and become part of, because I know that poetry can make the most profound impact on human beings,” B-Jam said. 

B-Jam, photo by Sedona Poetry Slam

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, March 9, to select three representatives to send to BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam's Arizona State Championships

With the fourth poetry slam of the Sedona Poetry Slam's 15th season, performance poets will bring high-energy, competitive spoken word to the Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Saturday, March 9, starting at 7:30 p.m. 

The top three poets at this slam with earn spots to compete at the BlackBerry Peach Poetry Slam's Arizona Championship, to be held at the Rebel Lounge in Phoenix in April. 

Open Slam

Anyone can compete in a poetry slam if they have poems to read and the courage to get on stage. A poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays, judged by the audience. Anyone can sign up to compete in the slam for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. To compete in the slam, poets will need three original poems, each lasting no longer than three minutes. No props, costumes nor musical accompaniment are permitted. The poets are judged Olympics-style by five members of the audience selected at random at the beginning of the slam.

Sondraya Bradley, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists. Poets come from as far away as Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona and Cottonwood, college poets from Northern Arizona University and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School. 

Tempest Juliet, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

All types of poetry are welcome on the stage, from street-wise hip-hop and narrative performance poems, to political rants and introspective confessionals. Any poem is a "slam" poem if performed in a competition. All poets get three minutes per round to entertain and inspire the audience with their creativity.

Valence, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

Mary D. Fisher Theatre is located at 2030 W. SR 89A, Suite A-3, in West Sedona. Tickets are $12. For tickets, call 282-1177 or visit SedonaFilmFestival.org.

Steven Ojeda, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

The next poetry slams of the season will be held on 

  • Saturday, April 13, featuring Briana Grace Hammerstrom of Portland. Ore., by way of Flagstaff; 
  • Saturday, May 11; 
  • and finally on Saturday, June 8.

Lydia Gates, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

The February poetry slam selected three poets — Lydia Gates, Josh Wiss and Tyler “Valence” Sirvinskas — who will be representing Sedona at the All-Arizona Poetry Slam Championship in Maricopa in March.

Josh Wiss, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

The prize money is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporters Jeanne and Jim Freeland.

Email foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up early to compete or by the Friday before the slam or at the door the day of the slam. Poets who want to compete should purchase a ticket in case the roster is filled before they arrive. 

MC Tristan Marshell, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers


For more information, visit sedonafilmfestival.com or foxthepoet.blogspot.com. For a full list of slam poetry events in Arizona, visit azpoet.com.


BlackBerry Peach

The top three poets will earn Sedona's three spots at the BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam's Arizona State Championships, sponsored by the Arizona State Poetry Society.

Three poets each from open poetry slams in Sedona, Mesa, Prescott, Phoenix and Flagstaff will compete at the 15-poet slam held by Ghost Poetry Slam and hosted by Ben “B-Jam” Gardea. 

The overall state champion will win trip sponsored by the ASPS to represent Arizona at the National Federation of State Poetry Societies' BlackBerry Peach National Slam from June 5 to 8 in Roswell, Ga.

B-Jam, photo by Sedona Poetry Slam

A regular competitor at the Sedona Poetry Slam, B-Jam is a Phoenix native, married father of three children. Gardea overcame both alcoholism and a rare hip disease that made him unable to walk. After getting sober and a total hip replacement, he had two goals: To share his poetry and and hike a mountain in Sedona. Three years later, B-Jam is the 2023 ASPS State Poetry Slam champion, ranked 10th nationally and has curated writers workshops, featured at poetry events, won a grant to publish a poetry book and is the host and producer of the popular PHX Poetry Slam.

“Poetry has changed my life and I want to be a caretaker of the artform for future generations to explore and become part of, because I know that poetry can make the most profound impact on human beings,” B-Jam said. 

B-Jam, photo by Sedona Poetry Slam

What is Poetry Slam? 

Founded at the Green Mill Tavern in Chicago in 1984 by Marc Smith, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport designed to get people who would otherwise never go to a poetry reading excited about the art form when it becomes a high-energy competition. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances.

Host Christopher Fox Graham, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe. Slam poets have opened at the Winter Olympics, performed at the White House and at the United Nations General Assembly and were featured on "Russell Simmons' Def Poets" on HBO.

Stacy Eden, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

Sedona has sent four-poet teams to represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., Boston, Cambridge, Mass., Oakland, Calif., Decatur, Ga., Denver and Chicago.

Randy Morris, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Buddy Wakefield: "A Waste" in Round 2 of the 2004 iWPS in Greenville, SC

Taylor Mali, MC, introduces Buddy Wakefield who performs "A Waste" in Round 2 of the 2004 iWPS in Greenville, SC
Videographers: Gabrielle Bouliane and Tazuo Yamaguchi 


BUDDY WAKEFIELD is an actor, writer, producer, and three-time world champion spoken word artist featured on the BBC, HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, ABC Radio National and has been signed to both Sage Francis’ Strange Famous Records as well as Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records. In 2004 he won the first Individual World Poetry Slam Finals thanks to the support of anthropologist and producer Norman Lear, then went on to share the stage with nearly every notable performance poet in the world in over 2000 venues internationally from The Great Lawn of Central Park, Zimbabwe’s Shoko Festival and Scotland’s Oran Mor to San Quentin State Penitentiary, House of Blues New Orleans and The Basement in Sydney, Australia.

Buddy has been a busker in Amsterdam, a street vendor in Spain, a team leader in Singapore, a re-delivery boy, a candy maker, a street sweeper, a bartender, a maid, a construction worker, a bull rider, a notably slow triathlete, a facilitator at Quantum Learning Network, and is the most toured performance poet in history. He is the founder of Awful Good Writers, and the producer and host of Heavy Hitters Festival 2020, a summer-long series of online shows and workshops featuring thirty of the most beloved performance poets alive.

The inaugural author released on Write Bloody Publishing, and an original Board of Directors member with Youth Speaks Seattle, Buddy is published in dozens of books internationally with work used to win multiple national collegiate debate and forensics competitions. His first short film, Farmly, directed by Jamie DeWolf, won Best of Texas at the Literally Short Film Fest, and the USA Film Festival.

In the spring of 2001 Buddy left his position as the executive assistant at a biomedical firm in Gig Harbor, WA, sold or gave away everything he owned, moved to the small town of Honda Civic, then set out to live for a living. His aim was to tour North American poetry venues for two years. He did not stop. Wakefield, who isn’t concerned with what poetry is or is not, delivers raw, rounded, disarming performances of humor and heart. 

Friday, February 16, 2024

My grandfather was a union man

On August 19, 1959, Mine-Mill Workers went on strike against the Anaconda Company after failed negotiations. 

Miners from Butte, Anaconda, Great Falls, and Helena set up pickets around the company’s mining properties. After 181 days, the strike ended, and miners could return to work on February 16, 1960. The 1959 strike was the second-longest in the history of Butte.

My grandfather, Raymond Graham, served as president of the West Falls Local, and mentioned in a Dec. 11, 1959, story in the The Independent-Record from Helena on Page 9.


He was serving as secretary of the Local when it ended in Feb. 16, 1960, and was quoted by an Associated Press reporter.




1952 Labor Day parade in Great Falls, Montana




Sunday, January 21, 2024

Sedona Poetry Slam on Feb. 3 will select three poets for the All-Arizona Championship Poetry Slam


Performance poets will compete for the third time this season, bringing high-energy, competitive spoken word to the Mary D. Fisher Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3.

B-Jam

The top three poets will be representing Sedona at the All-Arizona Championship Poetry Slam that will be held in the town of Maricopa on March 9.

Lydia Gates

A poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays, judged by the audience. Anyone can sign up to compete in the slam for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. 

R.J. Walker, a featured poet from St. Lake City, performed Jan. 13.

To compete in the slam, poets will need three original poems, each lasting no longer than three minutes. No props, costumes nor musical accompaniment are permitted. The poets are judged Olympics-style by five members of the audience selected at random at the beginning of the slam.

Sondraya Bradley

Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists. Poets come from as far away as Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona and Cottonwood, college poets from Northern Arizona University and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School. 

Josh Wiss

All types of poetry are welcome on the stage, from street-wise hip-hop and narrative performance poems, to political rants and introspective confessionals. Any poem is a "slam" poem if performed in a competition. 

Raina Jane

All poets get three minutes per round to entertain and inspire the audience with their creativity.


The Mary D. Fisher Theatre is located at 2030 W. SR 89A, Suite A-3, in West Sedona. Tickets are $12. For tickets, call 282-1177 or visit SedonaFilmFestival.org.

Kate Martin

The next poetry slam of the season will be held on Saturdays, March 9; April 13, featuring Briana Grace Hammerstrom of Portland. Ore., by way of Flagstaff, May 11 and finally on June 8.

Roger Blakiston

The prize money is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporters Jeanne and Jim Freeland.

Cylie Lawrence

Email foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up early to compete or by the Friday before the slam or at the door the day of the slam. Poets who want to compete should purchase a ticket in case the roster is filled before they arrive. 

Damien Matthews

For more information, visit sedonafilmfestival.com or foxthepoet.blogspot.com. For a full list of slam poetry events in Arizona, visit azpoet.com.


All-Arizona Championship Poetry Slam

The All-Arizona Championship Poetry Slam will take place Saturday, March 9, at the Global Water Maricopa Center in the town of Maricopa. Poets from around the state will compete in slams held in four communities — Sedona, Flagstaff, Maricopa and Prescott — with each selecting their top three poets to send to the finals, in addition to drawing for the final three slots.

The 15 poets will compete in the championships hosted by Thomas Cooper, a slam poet from the Phoenix area who has represented Arizona a several regional events, and who made it to the finals ot the  Bigfoot Poetry Slam in Oregon. Cooper has coached youth slam teams, featured at events, judged slams and hosted events, which is now his focus.

Founded in 2018 and formerly hosted the late Arizona slam poetry legend Bernard “The Klute” Schober, the All-Arizona Championship is sponsored by the Maricopa Arts Council and the city of Maricopa.



What is Poetry Slam? 

Founded at the Green Mill Tavern in Chicago in 1984 by Marc Smith, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport designed to get people who would otherwise never go to a poetry reading excited about the art form when it becomes a high-energy competition. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances.


Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe. Slam poets have opened at the Winter Olympics, performed at the White House and at the United Nations General Assembly and were featured on "Russell Simmons' Def Poets" on HBO.

Sedona has sent four-poet teams to represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., Boston, Cambridge, Mass., Oakland, Calif., Decatur, Ga., Denver and Chicago.

Lydia Gates