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.
Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

The Klute features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, March 5

With the fourth poetry slam of the season just around the corner, the Sedona Poetry Slam proudly welcomes Arizona slam poetry icon Bernard "The Klute" Schober to the stage on Saturday, March 5. 

Performance poets will bring high-energy, competitive spoken word to the Mary D. Fisher Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m. with The Klute performing between rounds. 

The Klute

The Klute is Arizona's globetrotting, shark-diving, dive-mastering nerd-slam emeritus host, slam poet. A 10-time National Poetry Slam team member who has represented the cities of Mesa, Phoenix and Sedona, he's made the s National Poetry Slam Semi-Finals stage three times and Group Piece Finals once. 

The author of four published works "Kluteocrypha," "Chumming the Waters," "High-Concept Sci-Fi Horror Mashup!" and "Cap'n Klute's Ocean Almanac," he also manages the YouTube Channel "The Undersea World of the Klute," bringing his poetic take to marine and shark conservation shorts with footage he has filmed from around the world, from the deep Indian Ocean depths of the South African coast, to the shrinking, climate-imperiled islands of the Maldives, to the sunny waters of Philippine Sea. 

Even tempered by the oceans, his political scalpel remains as sharp as ever, and with a target-rich environment such as today's, no one is spared.     

What does Megalodon thinks about extinction? Want to know the epic quest that all Hammerhead sharks take? What do Great White sharks think about Discovery Channel cameramen? 

Find out about all this and more at Sedona, on March 5 at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre!


Anyone Can Compete

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.

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. Tickets are $12. For tickets, call 282-1177 or visit SedonaFilmFestival.org.

The upcoming poetry slams of the season will be held Saturdays, April 23 and May 14.

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. 

For more information, visit sedonafilmfestival.com or foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

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 Simmon's 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.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Sedona Poetry Slam on Sept. 7 features The Klute, Bill Campana, Patrick Hare

The Sedona Poetry Slam returns for its 11th year bringing high-energy, competitive spoken word to the Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m. The slam kicks off the 2019-2020 season with three featured slam poets who are among the best in Arizona’s history.

The Klute

The Klute, photo courtesy of Jessica Mason-Paull
Bernard “The Klute” Schober is the most recognizable voice from Arizona on poetry slam’s national stage. He grew up along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean on Palm Beach, Fla., where he cultivated a love of sharks to become an activist for shark preservation through the medium of spoken word. He has had the privilege of deep sea diving with those fantastic fish, from the Great White sharks of Isla Guadalupe, Mexico, to the reef sharks of Egypt’s Red Sea coast.

Klute has represented Sedona, Mesa and Phoenix and at the National Poetry Slam 10 times between 2002 and 2014 and has opened for spoken word superstars such as Saul Williams and Amber Tamblyn. He has been the featured performer in such legendary venues as Vancouver’s Cafe Deux Soliels and New York City’s Bowery Poetry Cafe.

His first spoken word CD “Reading the Obituaries Over My Dead Body” and his first book, “Klutopocrypha,” were released by Brick Cave Books. He published a book of shark-themed poems “Chumming the Waters” in 2016. His second book of shark poems “Cap’n Klute’s Ocean Almanac” is illustrated by Arizona artists Gary Bowers and Jan Marc Quisimbing and 100% of book sales go to shark conservation nonprofits.






Bill Campana

Bill Campana is a 1955 model who has outlived his warranty.  He has three books of poetry out with Brick Cave Media: “Said Beauty to the Blues,” “The Ragtime of Modern Living” and “flotsam and gomorrah (parlour tricks and other mysteries).”

He currently hosts the open mic portion of the Caffeine Corridor Poetry Series on Grand Avenue in Phoenix.

He has a high school diploma but has no idea where the hell it is.

Campana has competed with the Mesa National Poetry Slam Team multiple times on the national stage and is known as the loudest voice in poetry slam.



Patrick Hare

Patrick Hare, photo courtesy of David Tabor
Patrick Hare was a member of three Mesa National Poetry Slam Teams.

Hare was a pioneer in the field of poetic sarcasm before the age of snark.

Hare has hosted more than his fair share of poetry events and featured at nearly every venue in the Phoenix Valley.

The poetic trio will perform between the competitive rounds of the regular poetry slam.

A poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays, judged by the audience. Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists. 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.

All poets are welcome to compete 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.

Poets in the Sedona Poetry Slam 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.

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.

The poetry slams of the season will be held Saturday, Sept. 7; Friday, Nov. 1; Saturday, Jan 25; Saturday, March 28; Saturday, April 25; and Saturday, May 23.

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

Contact host Christopher Fox Graham at foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up to slam early by Friday, Sept. 6, or arrive at the door by 7 p.m. Sept. 7 to sign up the day of the slam. Poets who want to compete should purchase a ticket in case the roster is filled before they arrive. The Sedona Poetry Slam will be hosted by Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on 12 FlagSlam National Poetry Slams in 2001, 2004-06, 2010 and 2012-18. Graham has hosted the Sedona Poetry Slam since 2009.

For more information, visit sedonafilmfestival.com or foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

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 Simmon’s Def Poets” on HBO.

For seven years, Sedona sent a four-poet team to National Poetry Slam, held in different cities around the United States every August. Sedona sent its first team to the 2012 NPS in Charlotte, N.C., its second to the 2013 NPS in Boston and Cambridge, Mass., and its third and fourth to Oakland, Calif., its fifth to Decatur, Ga., its sixth to Denver and its seventh to Chicago.

The Sedona National Poetry Slam Team, chosen in May, will represent the city at national events around the country in 2020.

Friday, January 9, 2015

"14 Lines from Love Letters or Suicide Notes" by Doc Luben



Doc Luben is a writer, performer, and general person in Portland Oregon. Follow him at Doc Luben Poetry on Tumblr


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Performing during the Last Chance Slam at the Individual World Poetry Slam.

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Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.

We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry's audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Order your tickets now for Sedona Poetry Slam tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 18

Aaron Johnson features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Feb. 18
Order your tickets now to reserve the discount price of $7.

Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Feb. 18, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring longtime Phoenix poet Aaron Johnson and hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $100 grand prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam will the third of the 2011-12 season, which has been more moving, more energetic and more intense because this year as poets compete for a slot in Sedona's first National Poetry Slam Team.

After four years of collaborating with the Flagstaff and Phoenix metro area poetry slam scenes, the Sedona scene has the reputation and strength to send its own team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., in August. The eventual four-poet team will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression.

Aaron Johnson
Aaron Johnson likes pinball machines, shortbread cookies, graphic novels, and skateboard competitions. However, Johnson is most likely to found at a poetry slam or rock show, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. As a young teen, he worked at Arby's. It was where he saw a lefthander chop off his thumb in a roast beef slicer. Being a lefty too, Aaron was permanently scarred for life and began writing and performing poetry.

Courtesy photo
Aaron Johnson likes pinball machines, shortbread cookies, graphic
novels, and skateboard competitions. However, Johnson is most
likely to found at a poetry slam or rock
show, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.
Johnson was the 2001 International Poetry Interpretation champion. From 2002 to 2005, he studied communication theory and English at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, participated and coached award-winning speech and debate team.

In 2004, he founded Boardwalk Open Mic and published "Irony Stinks," then "Watering the Poetry" chapbook in 2005. He also participated in his first the National Poetry Slam, held in Albuquerque, N.M., alongside Graham, Logan Phillips and Meghan Jones.

He was the 2006 Southwest Shootout Regional Slam director and represented Flagstaff at the Individual World Poetry Slam.

Photo by Christopher Fox Graham
Aaron has performed in theaters, bars, poetry
slams, high schools, universities,art galleries,
comic book stores, street corners, book stores,
living rooms, and in 45 states, in just the past
four years.
After moving to Phoenix in 2008, he formed the musical act "Spoken Circus" alongside Megyn Neff and Marykate Glenn, won the Phoenix Grand Slam and represented Phoenix at IWPS.

He published "Chainsawsmoking" in 2009 and was the KABAM! Book Festival featured author in Kingman. Alongside Ed Mabrey, Myrlin Hepworth and The Klute on the Phoenix National Poetry Slam Team, Johnson's team semi-finals at the 2009 National Poetry Slam in Minneapolis.

In 2010, he returned to the KABAM! Book Festival as a featured author and joined the First Friday Night Live writing staff and promotion crew as well as founding the Pink Slip Poetry Slam in downtown Phoenix.

KABAM! Book Festival brought him back as a featured author a third time in 2011 and he created Encyclopedia Show: Arizona.
In 2011, his chapbook "Roach Killer for Her" was translated into Spanish and he became director of First Friday Night Live at The Firehouse in Phoenix. He also founded Lawn Gnome Publishing.

This year, he has been asked to return as a featured author to KABAM!, been a featured performer at The Encyclopedia Show: Arizona, serves as producer and writer of First Friday Night Live Writer and opened Lawn Gnome Bookstore. He was also featured painter for February's Solo Art Exhibition at Jones Gallery, and city of Phoenix Public Art Grant Recipient for "Dumpsterdiving Haiku" to be installed on Phoenix's busy 7th Avenue and McDowell intersection.

Aaron has performed in theatres, bars, poetry slams, high schools, universities, art galleries, comic book stores, street corners, book stores, living rooms, and in 45 states, in just the past four years.

Sedona Poetry Slam
Photo by Harley Deuce
The Feb. 18 slam will be hosted by Graham, who
represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff team 
at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

To compete in the slam, poets need at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

The Feb. 18 slam will be hosted by Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff team at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

Contact Graham at foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up to slam.

Women of the World Poetry Slam Qualifier
This slam is also the qualifier for Sedona's representative to the International Women of the World Poetry Slam, to be held in Denver March 7-10. Highest ranked female or female-identified poets from Sedona earns the slot.

Eligibility: Poets who live their lives as women are eligible to participate in the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Competitors are eligible from certified venues or as individuals from areas without certified venues (a.k.a. “Storm” poets). Certified venues have a window of time to enter before individuals not associated with certified slams are able to enter. All certified venues must have a competition to determine their contestants.

All competitors must be PSI members in good standing and must agree to participate in the event following the rules of Slam as well as the Code of Honor, and must allow for PSI to videotape their performances for PSI owned product.
Sedona National Poetry Slam Team
Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between Dec. 3 and Saturday, May 5. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting and 1/2 point for calibrating. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C.

All poets are eligible in the slamoff except those already confirmed members of or coaching another National Poetry Slam or College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational or Brave New Voices team. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

Future slams will take place on Saturday, March 10, featuring Seth Walker from Austin, Texas; Saturday, April 7, featuring Mesa poet Bill Campana; and May 5, featuring Brooklyn, N.Y., poet Sean Patrick Mulroy.

For poetry slam standings, videos from past slams, and updates, visit foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. 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.

Tickets are $7 in advance and $12 the day of the event, available at Golden Word Books and Music, 3150 W. SR 89A, and online at studiolivesedona.com.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona. For more information, call (928) 282-2688.

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team
Slamoff Point Standings
4 points 
Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff 
The Klute, of Phoenix 
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix   
3 points 
Frank O'Brien, of Prescott
2 points 
Christopher Fox Graham, of Sedona 
Christopher Harbster, of Flagstaff 
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix 
Tara Pollock, of Flagstaff 
Mikel Weisser, of Kingman 
nodalone, of Flagstaff 
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff
1 point 
Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood 
Ellenelizabeth, of Sedona 
Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff 
Gabbi Jue, of Flagstaff 
Jack Egan, of Sedona 
Jahnilli Akbar, of New York City 
Josh Goldberg, of Oak Creek Ranch School 
Kendra Kenj Shebala, of Flagstaff 
Spencer Troth, of Flagstaff 
Valence, of Flagstaff   
0.5 points
Danielle Silver, of Sedona 
Gary Bowers, of Phoenix 
Gary Every, of Sedona

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Aaron Johnson features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Feb. 18

Aaron Johnson features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Feb. 18


Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Feb. 18, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring longtime Phoenix poet Aaron Johnson and hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $100 grand prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam will the third of the 2011-12 season, which has been more moving, more energetic and more intense because this year as poets compete for a slot in Sedona's first National Poetry Slam Team.

After four years of collaborating with the Flagstaff and Phoenix metro area poetry slam scenes, the Sedona scene has the reputation and strength to send its own team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., in August. The eventual four-poet team will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression.

Aaron Johnson
Aaron Johnson likes pinball machines, shortbread cookies, graphic novels, and skateboard competitions. However, Johnson is most likely to found at a poetry slam or rock show, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. As a young teen, he worked at Arby's. It was where he saw a lefthander chop off his thumb in a roast beef slicer. Being a lefty too, Aaron was permanently scarred for life and began writing and performing poetry.

Courtesy photo
Aaron Johnson likes pinball machines, shortbread cookies, graphic
novels, and skateboard competitions. However, Johnson is most
likely to found at a poetry slam or rock
show, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.
Johnson was the 2001 International Poetry Interpretation champion. From 2002 to 2005, he studied communication theory and English at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, participated and coached award-winning speech and debate team.

In 2004, he founded Boardwalk Open Mic and published "Irony Stinks," then "Watering the Poetry" chapbook in 2005. He also participated in his first the National Poetry Slam, held in Albuquerque, N.M., alongside Graham, Logan Phillips and Meghan Jones.

He was the 2006 Southwest Shootout Regional Slam director and represented Flagstaff at the Individual World Poetry Slam.

Photo by Christopher Fox Graham
Aaron has performed in theaters, bars, poetry
slams, high schools, universities,art galleries,
comic book stores, street corners, book stores,
living rooms, and in 45 states, in just the past
four years.
After moving to Phoenix in 2008, he formed the musical act "Spoken Circus" alongside Megyn Neff and Marykate Glenn, won the Phoenix Grand Slam and represented Phoenix at IWPS.

He published "Chainsawsmoking" in 2009 and was the KABAM! Book Festival featured author in Kingman. Alongside Ed Mabrey, Myrlin Hepworth and The Klute on the Phoenix National Poetry Slam Team, Johnson's team semi-finals at the 2009 National Poetry Slam in Minneapolis.

In 2010, he returned to the KABAM! Book Festival as a featured author and joined the First Friday Night Live writing staff and promotion crew as well as founding the Pink Slip Poetry Slam in downtown Phoenix.

KABAM! Book Festival brought him back as a featured author a third time in 2011 and he created Encyclopedia Show: Arizona.
In 2011, his chapbook "Roach Killer for Her" was translated into Spanish and he became director of First Friday Night Live at The Firehouse in Phoenix. He also founded Lawn Gnome Publishing.

This year, he has been asked to return as a featured author to KABAM!, been a featured performer at The Encyclopedia Show: Arizona, serves as producer and writer of First Friday Night Live Writer and opened Lawn Gnome Bookstore. He was also featured painter for February's Solo Art Exhibition at Jones Gallery, and city of Phoenix Public Art Grant Recipient for "Dumpsterdiving Haiku" to be installed on Phoenix's busy 7th Avenue and McDowell intersection.

Aaron has performed in theatres, bars, poetry slams, high schools, universities, art galleries, comic book stores, street corners, book stores, living rooms, and in 45 states, in just the past four years.

Sedona Poetry Slam
Photo by Harley Deuce
The Feb. 18 slam will be hosted by Graham, who
represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff team 
at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

To compete in the slam, poets need at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

The Feb. 18 slam will be hosted by Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff team at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

Contact Graham at foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up to slam.

Women of the World Poetry Slam Qualifier
This slam is also the qualifier for Sedona's representative to the International Women of the World Poetry Slam, to be held in Denver March 7-10. Highest ranked female or female-identified poets from Sedona earns the slot.

Eligibility: Poets who live their lives as women are eligible to participate in the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Competitors are eligible from certified venues or as individuals from areas without certified venues (a.k.a. “Storm” poets). Certified venues have a window of time to enter before individuals not associated with certified slams are able to enter. All certified venues must have a competition to determine their contestants.

All competitors must be PSI members in good standing and must agree to participate in the event following the rules of Slam as well as the Code of Honor, and must allow for PSI to videotape their performances for PSI owned product.
Sedona National Poetry Slam Team
Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between Dec. 3 and Saturday, May 5. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting and 1/2 point for calibrating. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C.

All poets are eligible in the slamoff except those already confirmed members of or coaching another National Poetry Slam or College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational or Brave New Voices team. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

Future slams will take place on Saturday, March 10, featuring Seth Walker from Austin, Texas; Saturday, April 7, featuring Mesa poet Bill Campana; and May 5, featuring Brooklyn, N.Y., poet Sean Patrick Mulroy.

For poetry slam standings, videos from past slams, and updates, visit foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. 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.

Tickets are $7 in advance and $12 the day of the event, available at Golden Word Books and Music, 3150 W. SR 89A, and online at studiolivesedona.com.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona. For more information, call (928) 282-2688.

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team
Slamoff Point Standings
4 points 
Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff 
The Klute, of Phoenix 
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix   
3 points 
Frank O'Brien, of Prescott
2 points 
Christopher Fox Graham, of Sedona 
Christopher Harbster, of Flagstaff 
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix 
Tara Pollock, of Flagstaff 
Mikel Weisser, of Kingman 
nodalone, of Flagstaff 
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff
1 point 
Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood 
Ellenelizabeth, of Sedona 
Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff 
Gabbi Jue, of Flagstaff 
Jack Egan, of Sedona 
Jahnilli Akbar, of New York City 
Josh Goldberg, of Oak Creek Ranch School 
Kendra Kenj Shebala, of Flagstaff 
Spencer Troth, of Flagstaff 
Valence, of Flagstaff   
0.5 points
Danielle Silver, of Sedona 
Gary Bowers, of Phoenix 
Gary Every, of Sedona

Sunday, September 18, 2011

If the Beastie Boys Were Narcoleptic Haiku



Teresa Newkirk performs the best (and most painful) haiku at the third annual GumptionFest Haiku Death Match. Teresa went on to win the haiku slam.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

What You Don't Know About the Sub Sandwich You Want Delivered


KuK, a master delivery driver for a sub shop in Tempe, Ariz., waxes poetic about the ethic of delivery drivers and the importance of bending traffic laws for the betterment of society as a whole.

Monday, July 11, 2011

The Phoenix Haboob of July 5th, 2011


The Phoenix Haboob of July 5th, 2011 from
A haboob — هبوب in Arabic — is an intense sandstorm commonly observed in arid regions throughout the world.
During thunderstorm formation, winds move in a direction opposite to the storm’s travel, and they will move from all directions into the thunderstorm.
When the storm collapses and begins to release precipitation, wind directions reverse, gusting outward from the storm and generally gusting the strongest in the direction of the storm’s travel.
They have been observed in the Sahara, as well as across the Arabian Peninsula, throughout Kuwait, and in the most arid regions of Iraq.
African haboobs result from the northward summer shift of the inter-tropical front into North Africa, bringing moisture from the Gulf of Guinea. Haboob winds in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, and Kuwait are frequently created by the collapse of a thunderstorm.

Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Phoenix Takes 3rd, FlagSlam Pulls 4th at NPS semis

Flagstaff took fourth in their semi-final bout, losing to 18th seed San Francisco, Denver's first-seed Mercury Café and eighth-seed Cafe Nuba, but beating eighth-seed Killeen, Texas. (Cafe Nuba and Killeen both tied at eighth-place going into semi-finals).

The results I was able to track down are:
1st Round:
Cafe Nuba 26.2
Flagstaff 26.7
Denver 28.1
Kileen tx 27.4
San Francisco 28.6

2nd Round:
San Francisco 57.6
Denver Mercury 57.1
Cafe Nuba 56.1
Killeen 53.5
Flagstaff 52.8

In Arizona's other semi-final bout, the 16th-seed Phoenix Downtown Slam Team took third, losing to Albuquerque's seventh-seed ABQ Slam
The other teams in the bout were Oklahoma City's second-seed IAO Wayward Slam, Atlanta's 10th seed Java Monkey and Philadelphia's 19th seed The Fuze.

San Francisco, Albuquerque, the Nuyorican (NYC), and St. Paul are the finals teams.

Phoenix National Poetry Slam Team's Semi-Final Bout at NPS

The Phoenix National Poetry Slam Team will compete in the semi-final bout at The Lounge in West Palm Beach, Fla., at 8 p.m., Eastern Time.

The slam will open with the WoWPS Showcase, featuring four poets:
Ocean, from SlamCharlotte, T. Miller, from Detroit, Queen Sheba, from SlamCharlotte, and Jude Fageas, from Slam Nuatl.

The Phoenix National Poetry Slam Team includes NORAZ Poets alumnus Aaron Johnson, left, The Klute, Ed Mabrey and Myrlin Hepworth. Break a leg.

The Bout:
Phoenix Downtown (16th)

Oklahoma City's IAO Wayward Slam (2nd)
Albuquerque's ABQ Slam (7th)
Atlanta's Java Monkey (10th)
Philadelphia's The Fuze (19th)

The bout will be hosted by Seth Walker and bout managed by Sean McGarrigle and one of my favorite Texas poets, Bob "Whoopeecat" Stephenson (on his motorcycle at the 2005 National Poetry Slam in Albuquerque, N.M.)

Monday, January 5, 2009

Round 4

Unfortunately, the tape failed before Round 4 at the Old Town Shootout, Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Old Town Center for the Arts, in Cottonwood, Arizona.

There is no video recording of Lauren Perry from Phoenix, Maya Asher from Tucson, Tristan Marshell from Mesa, Brian from Flagstaff, myself (Christopher Fox Graham) from Sedona, nor sorbet poet Tara Pollock or the victory poem by Team Sedona poet Sevan Aydinian.

Megan Reynolds

Megan Reynolds representing Team Phoenix in Round 3 at the Old Town Shootout, Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Old Town Center for the Arts, in Cottonwood, Arizona.


Video courtesy of Apollo Poetry, of TravelingPoet.com

Monday, December 29, 2008

Madaleine Beckwith

Madaleine Beckwith represented Team Phoenix in Round 2 at the Old Town Shootout, Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Old Town Center for the Arts, in Cottonwood, Arizona.


Video courtesy of Apollo Poetry, of TravelingPoet.com

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Jose Magana

Jose Magana represented Phoenix in Round 1 at the Old Town Shootout, Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Old Town Center for the Arts, in Cottonwood, Arizona.


Video courtesy of Apollo Poetry, of TravelingPoet.com