Results from the Sedona Poetry Slam
Saturday, March 20, 2010, Studio Live, Sedona, Arizona, 7:30 p.m.
Calibration poet and host
Christopher Fox Graham of Sedona, "Hunting UFOs"
Round 1
Random Draw
Maple Dewleaf, of Flagstaff, 25.8 (2:30)
Randy Warren, "An Introduction," of Sedona, 22.1 (3:00)
Jessica Laurel Reese, of the Village of Oak Creek, 25.2 (2:10)
Dain Michael Down, of Seattle, 27.2 (2:16)
Champion Max Boehm-Reifenkugel, of Sedona, 28.5 (2:29)
The Klute, of Mesa, "Adam and Steve," 29.1, 28.1 after -1.0 time penalty (3:23)
Allan Skinneman (aka Geoff Jackson), of Flagstaff, 27.7 (1:54)
Brit Shostak, of Mesa, 27.2 (2:35)
---intermission---
Feature poet:
Bill Campana of Mesa.A member of five Mesa National Poetry Slam Teams, Bill Campana has been to the semi-finals of the National Poetry Slam twice. He has hosted and featured across the Southwest, and continues to write at a feverish pace, always challenging fellow poets to better their craft on the page and the stage.
Campana knows that the only true way to respect culture is to break it into little tiny pieces. He came onto the poetry scene at full power, and suddenly the dry dusty notebooks of lesser poets got burned up in the shockwave.
Campana is the atom bomb that levels ivory towers. He got people excited enough about poetry to come back for more, and to see what would happen next. Soon, the audience was too big for the coffeehouse, a feat unprecedented since Socrates dared the baristas to make him a hemlock Frappuchino.
Sorbet poet:
Mikel Weisser of Kingman, "Drunk Guy's Dick"
Round 2
Reverse Order
Brit Shostak, 28.1 (2:55), 55.3
Allen Skinneman, 27.4, 25.9 after 1.5 time penalty (3:32), 53.6
The Klute, "Cereal Aisle Racist," 29.0 (2:36), 57.1
Champion Max Boehm-Reifenkugel, 28.3 (1:50), 56.8
Dain Michael Down, 28.6 (1:31), 55.8
Jessica Laurel Reese, 28.8 (2:42), 54.0
Randy Warren, "I See You," 27.0 (1:51), 44.6
Maple Dewleaf, 27.5, 26.0 after 1.5 time penalty (3:40), 51.8
Sorbet poet Mikel Weisser, "The New Material"
Round 3
High to Low
The Klute, "2012," 29.3 (2:29), 86.4
Champion Max Boehm-Reifenkugel, 29.2 (2:03), 86.0
Dain Michael Down, 29.3 (2:39), 85.5
Brit Shostak, 28.9 (2:02), 84.2
Jessica Laurel Reese, 29.3 (1:30), 83.3
Allen Skinneman, 28.2 (2:53), 81.8
Maple Dewleaf, 28.2 (1:27), 80.0
Randy Warren, "A Life Spent Dying," 28.4, 24.9 after 3.5 time penalty (4:10), 74.0
Final scores
1st:
The Klute of Mesa, 86.4, $100
(this marks The Klute's third consecutive victory at the Sedona Poetry Slam)
2nd: Champion Max Boehm-Reifenkugel, 86.0
3rd: Dain Michael Down, 85.5
Brit Shostak, 84.2
Jessica Laurel Reese, 83.3
Allen Skinneman, 81.8
Maple Dewleaf, 80.0
Randy Warren, 74.0
Slam staff
Scorekeeper and Timekeeper: Azami
Host: Christopher Fox Graham
Organizers:
Susan Schomaker, April Holman Payne, Jenn Reddington, Studio Live
Christopher Fox Graham, Sedona 510 Poetry
North from Lipan Point
NNW
NNE
The Colorado River is down there somewhere
The dark-walled canyon in the distance is more than 1,000 feet deep, deeper than most other canyons in the world, but dwarfed by the 5,000 deep Grand Canyon.
We're in the shadow, waving.
Looking down into Grapevine Gorge
Lyell Butte
Azami at Grandview Point
The rocks where the ravens gather at Grandview Point
Azami at Grandview
I look ridiculous in Azami's winter hat.
The ravens flying high above Grandview Point
Other tourists complimented Azami's choice of early-morning wear.
The sun rising higher
The 500-foot cliff beneath Mather Point
The view toward Phantom Ranch
East toward Yaki Point
Sunrise over the Grand Canyon on Saturday, March 20
Azami and I camped out in the bed of my Chevy and woke just before sunrise. I look like a marshmallow.
I am not a morning person
However, Azami is a morning person.
The first view of the Grand Canyon from Mather Point
And the sunrise over the canyon rim.
Azami enjoying the sunrise
Mather Point
CFG in the sunrise
Giving the famous "Nicholas Graham grin"
Calibration poet and host Christopher Fox Graham of Sedona, "Hunting UFOs"
Feature poet: Bill Campana of Mesa.
Sorbet poet: Mikel Weisser of Kingman, "Drunk Guy's Dick"
1st: The Klute of Mesa, 86.4, $100
Miranda Foreman (aka Randi Walters)
and Christopher Fox Graham
Fight the reaper one birthday at a time ...
To overcome the culture shock of returning to the United States in the heart of all our most insane uber-American cities, Las Vegas, where all vices can be bought for a price, Azami indulges in sustenance.
They had to be readjusted to the intellectual understanding that she had been gone and I had to instantly relearn them all. It lead to me acting the same as I had the day she left, but feeling extremely awkward the entire time as my brain tried to figure out what was happening.
I had never been to Mikel's before, so it was cool to see all that I had heard about. Mikel and his wife were at a teachers' union meeting in Phoenix, so they gave us a run of the place.
Sedona's Studio Live hosts the slam starting at 7:30 p.m. and all poets are welcome to compete for the $100 grand prize. 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 from sonnets to hip-hop are welcome.
Campana, however, knows that the only true way to respect culture is to break it into little tiny pieces. He came onto the poetry scene at full power, and suddenly the dry dusty notebooks of lesser poets got burned up in the shockwave.
Campana takes elements of other art forms and applies them to his poetry. Although audiences can't hear the music, he insists it's in there in tributes to composition. Although audiences can't see the paintings and photographs they are there behind the words. Campana currently lives on the fine line that separates the page from the stage. From there he can reach people from both spectrums of modern poetry. Campana runs the weekly Sound Effects poetry open mic called in Phoenix.
