Last night was another IWPS qualifying slam at WB. There were two rounds, the first a three minute poem, the second a one minute.
I’d done the three minute so many times, and in so many places. I slowed it down, just a little too much and the time was 3:11. One second over the ten second grace period left me with a half point deduction. Such is the animal of slam. I would have finished first in the round instead of tied with two others.
My one minute was a brand new poem. A bit on the odd side; inspired in part when Hanif said there were no Tito Jackson poems in a Facebook comment. I used it. It went ok, but a couple poets sailed by me in the standings.
Turns out, I would have finished in third had I not had the time penalty. No one to blame but me. Congratulations to Ethan and Gina who tied for first place, and Vernell for coming in third.
Also a welcome to the fold to Aaron, who broke his Slam Cherry last night. He was so cute, doubled over in his chair all nervous before going on stage.
In other news the book I’m anthologized in came in the mail yesterday!
If you want to read the rest of the poem you can get the book HERE.
Also been watching the internet foam at the mouth over the ACA today.
You will recall this recent post about editing a poem for time. So when I got up to read the poem during last nights slam I was all giddy because Tyrone was in the room. He's been in the southern hemisphere for a year and a half and is here for a brief visit. It was not like getting a Christmas present in February. It was a Christmas present in February.
The poem got a very positive reaction from the crowd, which caused me to pause a few extra times to let the crowd take it in. They felt it, and I felt them feeling it. Got back to my seat and Vernell gave me a stern look. She pointed at the clock.
3:40.
Drew a 1.5 point time penalty that knocked me out of the first round by .1.
These things happen. Life goes on. Good to know I have a four minute poem to go with when the opportunity comes. This would probably make the poem in its original form at least six minutes, if not longer. Where the Hell am I going to read that?
I'm in the middle of reading an oral history of the eighties band The Replacements. This is a band that was completely out of my loop during the time they were starting out. It's kind of shocking, since they were a college radio band and I was living in a college radio station. I have no idea why I did not listen to them. Sure, I knew I Will Dare, anyone with indie cred should know that song.
But none of the others. Tim, Hootenanny, I did not listen to any of them. Have no idea what I was thinking. Guess I was listening to too much R.E.M. or something.
I'm at the point of the book where they're being offered a major label contract and the guys in the band a real assholes. I'm not impressed with the behavior of these drunken kids, if I owned a bar, they would have been banned in about ten minutes.
Very cool to note that there was a shout out to local music writer Curtis Scheiber, kind words about how he put the band up in his house for a few days while they were touring.
The music though. I gave a listen to Stink and Let it Be and was very impressed with the energy, the passion and I'm sure if I'd listened at the time they would have made more than a causal impression.
The first record I remember of theirs was Pleased to Meet Me, this got a bunch of spins at BJ's. Their song to Alex Chilton was big, as was Can't Hardly Wait. Their next album, Don't Tell a Soul, had another song I really liked.
They put out one more record in the early nineties before breaking up. Their leader, Paul Westerberg has done some solo work, severely injured his hand a few years back and has had some sporadic appearances since. I still am not sure if I'm giving this band their due, at least I'm giving them a shot now.
Had a good writing prompt today via Twitter and ran with it, and ran and ran.
Timed it out earlier, it was five minutes long. That's all good and fine but for the rigidly timed world of poetry slam, the poem should be three minutes. So I took a hatchet to it, then some more cutting and editing to get it timed right.
Writing for length is something I have to work on, most of my work ends up in the two minute range. Sometimes I can stretch it with quality to get it to the right length. Most of the time I just leave it be, it's better that way.
Five minutes though, that does not happen often. I can use the outtakes as another poem, perhaps! I'll probably just read the director's cut next week.
