NOW ON TUES NIGHTS @ NEW VENUE: Re-bar

This is the final competition to determine who the Seattle rep at the Women of the World Poetry Slam Championship in Columbus, Ohio will be.

Robbie Q. Telfer has been a featured performer in dozens of poetry shows throughout North America, including Toronto, Detroit, Oakland, Austin, St. Louis, Honolulu, Boston, and Providence, as well as the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City and the Green Mill in Chicago. While his work can be found in several slam poetry anthologies and DVDs through the Wordsmith Press and elsewhere, he also helps to bridge the divide between stage and page poetry by publishing poetry and criticism in places like the cream city review, Octopus Magazine #10, and the March/April 2006 American Book Review. Unrelated to poetry, he also wrote dialog for the video game Ninjatown to be released for the Nintendo DS in October 2008.

In 2005, he and five other Chicago performance poets (Joel Chmara, Tim Stafford, Molly Meacham, Dan Sullivan, and Tennessee Mary Fons) founded the Speak’Easy Poetry Ensemble under the direction of slam poetry founder Marc Smith. He and the Speak’Easy Ensemble performed at the annual Bertolt Brecht Festival in Augsburg, Germany the summer of 2008. In 2007, he placed 8th overall at the National Poetry Slam in Austin, TX. He frequently tours with Mighty Mike McGee, and was part of the Junkyard Ghost Revival tour with famous performance poets Anis Mojgani, Buddy Wakefield, and Derrick C. Brown.He is currently the Performances Manager for Young Chicago Authors, a nonprofit that gives creative writing, performance, and mentorship opportunities to Chicago teens. Through Young Chicago Authors, he is the head organizer of Louder Than A Bomb, the Chicago city-wide youth slam and the largest team-based youth poetry slam in the world. He’s an active teaching artist and lecturer in the Chicago community.

His first full-length collection of poetry, My Huge Heart Still Has No Room for You, was self-published in 2006 through lulu.com. His first published collection, Spiking the Sucker Punch, is out from Write Bloody Publishing.

Open Slams have three rounds: 8 poets in the 1st, top 5 scorers moving on to the 2nd, and the top 3 moving to the 3rd. Third round poets get points, 1st (3pts) 2nd (2pts) and 3rd (1pt) towards the Semi-Finals. Anyone can sign up to compete.

Robert Lashley grew up in Tacoma and attended Western Washington University in Bellingham. A finalist for a Cave Canem fellowship and a semifinalist for the PEN/Rosenthal fellowship, he often performs at Northwest spoken word venues and has helped Bellingham, where he lives, develop one of the nation’s finest poetry slam scenes. Robert also maintains a blog, “The Brother Got to Write.” His essays appear in various journals, including Blogcritics Magazine. “Songs My cCty Taught Me” his first full length book, was Published by Radical Lunchbox Press In december.

Open Slams have three rounds: 8 poets in the 1st, top 5 scorers moving on to the 2nd, and the top 3 moving to the 3rd. Third round poets get points, 1st (3pts) 2nd (2pts) and 3rd (1pt) towards the Semi-Finals. Anyone can sign up.

Jason Bayani is a Filipino poet from the Bay Area. A graduate of San Francisco State University, where he majored in creative writing and theatre arts, Jason immersed himself in the highly-regarded Bay Area spoken word scene. After spending several years in the scene, Jason made a name for himself with his highly impassioned and gritty work earning a place on five different national poetry slam teams and taking the SF/Berkeley Grand Slam championship in 2003.

Jason is also a co-founder of the Asian American spoken word collective, Proletariat Bronze, and is an active member and supporter of the arts in his community. He has been published in Ratapallax for their special feature “Young Pilipino Americans,” twice in The National Poetry Slam Anthology, and in the longstanding UC Berkeley Filipino literary magazine Maganda. He currently works as a youth counselor in San Francisco and continues to perform across the country.

He is currently working towards his MFA at St. Mary’s College in Moraga.

Semifinal slam brings the top 8 poets of the most recent open slams that much closer to the Grand Slam. They will be competing for two spots in the April 25th Big Show.

Andi Kauth began her career in Slam in 2004 under the tutelage of Marc Kelly Smith and Henry Sampson. Since then, she has gone on to become the Slam Master of the Palatine Poetry Slam (2005-2008), coach of the 2005 Palatine National Poetry Slam team, and a member of the 2006 and 2007 Palatine NPS teams. Her accomplishments include ranking 31^st individually at the 2006 National Poetry Slam, being named the 2008 Loyola University Chicago Vagina Warrior for outstanding work in the community to empower women, completing a 22 state, 47 city poetry tour in 2006/07 with partner J.T. Bullock, and placing 4^th at the 2009 Arkansas Grand Slam.Andi lives to give workshops on the writing and performance of poetry and has done so at countless jr. high schools, high schools and colleges across the country including South Middle School in Arlington Heights, IL, and Bismarck State College in Bismarck, ND. She is currently a member of the PolyRhythmic Arts Collective, a committee member of the Arkansas Grand Slam and she co-founded the Chicago Four Star Poetry Club with long time friend and teammate Billy Tuggle.

“Andi may only be 21 but she’s already pro… She paid honor to her Fremd High School creative writing program by upholding the integrity of her texts — they were (are) exquisite. There are dozens of high profile slammers spittin’ cliche after cliche shouting the same ol’ same ol’ as if it were direct communication from the gods. They should shut up a few moments and take note of this young woman who can say more in short series of sonnets than they do in three minutes of “I … I … I” ranting.”~ Marc Kelly Smith, creator of Poetry Slam.

Eric Breland has been a featured spoken-word artist since 2007. He has graced the national stage every year since, both as a performer and a memorable finals stage American Sign Language interpreter. His poetry can best be described as a mixture of comedy, romance, and gut-wrenching honesty. Eric placed 5^th and was named Audience Favorite at the 2008 Arkansas Grand Slam, and was a finalist at the competition in 2007 and 2009. He also represented the Dallas Poetry Grind at the 2009 National Poetry Slam in West Palm Beach, Florida. Also on Eric’s rapidly growing list of accomplishments, he took 3^rd place individually at the 2007 Southwest Shootout. Eric is a current board member of The Texas Youth Word collective, the organization which supports the Austin Youth Speaks slam team, which has made several appearances at Brave New Voices.Eric has given poetry writing workshops to at-risk inner city youth with the organization LIFEWORKS, and gave an ASL workshop at the 2008 National Poetry Slam in Madison, WI.The strength in his poetry can be best expressed by the following pieces of critical acclaim: 

“His forceful language and vivid imagery penetrate straight down to the raw underpinnings of existence.” (NWA Times, Feb 2008) “Through poetry, he takes you on a journey throughout some of the most brutally beautiful moments in life.” (Arlington Post Nov. 2008)

He has published three collections of his original work (“Haunted House”, “Mirrors”, and “Failures in Martyrdom”) as well as an Audio CD (“Chain Reactions”). His work has been published in several newspapers, magazines, and even used as part of the curriculum in freshman English classes at the University of Arkansas. 

Open Slams have three rounds: 8 poets in the 1st, top 5 scorers moving on to the 2nd, and the top 3 moving to the 3rd. Third round poets get points, 1st (3pts) 2nd (2pts) and 3rd (1pt) towards the Semi-Finals. Anyone can sign up.

jason carney has been a mainstay on the national performance poetry scene for the past ten years.  Hailing from Dallas, texas this firey performer brings unique insights on issues of race class and gender.  Using the lessons of his past he weaves together images that transform the audience. Breaking down barrierrs and biases so that all can have an honest conversation involving some of our nation’s critical issues. Jason has performed all across our country mesmerising audiences with his wit and conviction.  Whether telling an illuminating anecdote about his children or stirring the ghost of our society’s past present and future, his effect is riveting.

Jason has appeared on several seasons of HBO’s RUSSELL SIMMONS’ Presents DEF POETRY JAM.  He is a four time national poetry slam finalist and was honored as a legend of slam poetry in 2006 and 2007.  Jason has done six NACA conferences including two national conventions.  Been seen on national geographic channel as well as local television channels across the united states.  He has spoken and done workshops at high schools juvenile detention centers corporate diversity engagements as well has colleges and universities extensivly in the fifty states.In a rehabilitation center in his youth Jason’s life was changed forever by a gay man who was dying from AIDS.  Using poetry to redefine his world, he transformed the hate and racist ignorance of his southern upbringing.  His life mission is to educate and participate in an honest conversation of race class and gender.  His shows use his own life experience to break the silence of his youth that still permeates every aspect of american culture.