Downtown Guelph’s eBar hosted Guelph Spoken Word’s September edition of their poetry slam on Saturday night. A celebration of words, theatrics and social progression, a number of local poets performed their work competing for a $100 prize, and as is custom for the Guelph Poetry Slam, the night featured a special guest performance (this night’s being The P.O.E., or Politically Oriented Entity).
Poets were judged on a number scale from 1 to 10, and their totals were added at the end of each of two rounds, with the highest and lowest scores dropped to give a score out of 30 per round. Judges were randomly selected audience volunteers who judged according to the rules – no props, instruments or musical accompaniment, and only three minutes to perform, having half a point deducted for every ten seconds over the time limit. Poets were judged by the quality of their words and rhythms, but also on a level of audience engagement and emotional depth – be it through witty rhyme schemes or striking personal stories.
An open mic started the evening, with many of the rules waived for a free and open performance. True opened with a strange and integrative performance art piece, and followed with a lo-fi and heartfelt acoustic set.
Following these performers, the amiable and energetic host Livingston LaCroix started the competition proper by re-iterating the rules and doing a reading as the “sacrificial poet” to calibrate the judges. Eight poets – Beth-Anne Fisher, Zubin Gandhi, Tommy Buick, Fannon, Bassam, M-Phatic G, Dan (a.k.a. Dan Murray a.k.a. Dan) and Athena – performed, and four would go on to the slam’s second round. The poet’s stories told through finely tuned cadence and electrifying rhythms, covered a breadth of material from Lebanese apartheid to high school cruelty and the hypocrisies of “white guilt.”
The night’s featured poet, The P.O.E., performed five works as an intermission between the two rounds. Currently touring the area, P.O.E. performed one “dad” piece for each stop on the tour, the material being a harrowing portrait of parental abuse. Another feature of this set was a humorous but powerful recount of his boss calling the work “a little poem,” a statement to which was retorted with guileful wordplay and intense delivery.
The four finalists of the second round competed following a short break, and the last performance of the evening consisted of an exciting team piece about falsely romanticized heroism by Tommy Buick and Bassam. In closing, Lacroix announced the finalists in order – Bassam in 4th place, Tommy Buick in 3rd, Dan (a.k.a. Dan Murray a.k.a. Dan) in 2nd, and Fannon placing 1st and winning the $100 prize.