Another Year Over, a New One Just Begun

Another Women of the World slam has come to an end. From all I hear and read on the Facebook, it looks like Columbus put on another successful event.

Due to some illness, burn out and overall exhaustion, I was unable to attend most of the events. What I did see though, was rather impressive.

First off congratulations to all of the organizers, volunteers and poets who made this event possible. You all worked your tails off to make WoW a great event.

I do have to single out one person, whose efforts and organization were a paragon of professionalism. Well done Louise Robertson.

Only saw two events, a prelim and the finals. Saw some great poetry by some poets I've seen and have never seen.

Franny Choi is a fresh voice on the scene. Only a sophomore in college from what I understand. Hope she's around for a long time.

What provided the most excitement overall was that a Columbus poet earned her way on to the finals stage. I'm proud to say she's my friend. Rachel Wiley came in fourth place, and it was so awesome to see her Mom and Dad in the crowd cheering her on.

Gypsee Yo gave me a lot to think about during the one poem I saw her do at last year's event. To see her do three poems last night were nine minutes I'll long treasure. Such energy and determination took her to second place. An amazing poet.

Theresa Davis impresses me each time I see her perform. That she was even in the slam this year was a small miracle. Another poet could not make it and she was first on the waiting list. That's how she got in, and worked her way onto the finals stage. She did three poems of honesty and power and ended up winning it all.

The judging was consistent. I only think one poet, the last one in the first round, Joanna Hoffman, got robbed - but that's me quibbling.

It was also great to see poets seeing other poets again, all the hugs in the theater were beautiful to watch. Weird how some of us gathered in almost the same seats as last year. Gina, Teri and Kym were sitting in front of us again. Sean, Marshall and Ali were behind us. Rachel and Calvin sitting next to me. Linc from Dayton on one end of the row, Paula and Michael all the way on the other end. Organic family fun.

Simply an amazing week of poetry in Columbus. It's a shame WoW will be in Denver next year, it should be here every year. Ok, maybe not, but some national poetry event should. Columbus gives good poetry.

Time for me to get back to some writing. Seeing the local and national home pages of news websites brings me down. So much turbulence to suck a person into. So much outrage. Plus, I have the Arts Fest audition on Saturday. I should be working.