national slam day 2

it was nearly 2am here in WI when we got back to the hotel and a sista is drag down tired. we won our first bout against cincinnati, Detroit, and Philadelphia. henzbo went up in round 1 with “shake the world,” a piece about turning world leaders and the status quo topsy turvy for the greater good.

bryan came in round 2 with “spiritual band,” a piece about a sick with it band whose players just happen to be jesus, Buddha, and Muhammad, to name a few. gypsee yo and I did my poem “Margaret” as a group piece, which is an ode to judy blume’s book are you there God it’s me Margaret and all the womanhood lessons that came along with it. and gypsee yo closed out the bout with ema’s poem, a dedication to her young daughter, telling the story of motherhood, and the hope of raising a child in the way she should go.

Detroit gave us a run for our money, they came in second to us by only tenths of a point, following by Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. we went and had celebratory pizza and most of all a sista enjoyed some celebratory sleep. ☺

next up…our next prelim bout is Thursday. I won’t be here for that one because I’ll be scooting down to Jacksonville, fl for the lit conference. but as promised the blogging won’t stop. I’ll keep you posted on the goings on in WI and you’ll get to follow me down to FL as I meet with kim p, steve fee, and a bunch of high school students at lit.

slam nationals is like a relay race where you play your part and hand off the baton to someone on your team to make sure the job gets done and that it gets done right. winning this first bout was like the first leg of the race for us, but of course the ultimate goal is to win the whole shebang.

I’m gonna go catch the last of this continental breakfast and get ready to run through some pieces. ttys

Check here for constant bout updates!

national slam day 1

I arrived in Madison, wi for the national poetry slam yesterday. the java monkey team and I will be spending the week up here competing and meeting other poets from around the country. right now, I’m in the lobby of the hotel about to jump on the free continental breakfast. ☺ (check out the pic of me and the crew: bryan, chas, gypsee yo, and henzbo)

those of you who tuned in to my challenge 08 blog are well aware of how I feel about the jet plane. made for a great American song, not for a good stomach experience. ☹ but the little bitty jet from Milwaukee to Madison turned out to be a 15 minute flight. not enough time for a sista to get nauseous. lol couple of things to note:

1. I still stand by Midwest airlines and those freshly baked cookies. you need to fly Midwest at least once in your lifetime. and instead of having first class and coach, they have equally divided the seat space so that every passenger gets some leg room. no more walking by the first class cats as they look down at their newspaper and try not to pity you. equal opportunity leg room and chocolate chip cookies for all!

2. first thing I saw after I grabbed my bag full of too many clothes from the claim carousel was isthmus. madison’s version of creative loafing or the village voice. found out there is definitely more to do in Madison than eat cheese and read poetry which for some reason sounds like a bad combination. in fact, boyz II men and midnight star will be performing in town this week. if I come up on some free tickets I’ll let you know. ☺

3. after a day full of travelling and shuttling between hotel and airport, our team is present and accounted for. bryan and chas arrived yesterday morning, I picked up the afternoon shift and gypsee yo and henzbo arrived last night. our first bout is tonight.

I’ll keep you posted as fast as my fingers can type.