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Nobody cares about running a poetry slam to time. Checking in the people at the Mitchell Wing of the State Library for the culmination of the Sydney Poetry slam, the heat was on and the sweat sopping.
Part finals for the poetry slam event of the year and the closing Christmas party of the State Library's SL U35 club, seats fill up quick when the people find that their free drinks lose out to dehydration. As a party, the situation is focaccia and dip. As a slam event, the mood is high and the patrons plentiful.
Curly Jones makes another appearance before Miles Merrill saves the day and ushers forth the contestants. But not before a sacrificial poet to kick things off.
Working with nary a pause, the combatants hit the stage, mark their time and walk off to the resounding applause.
Ralph Malph the photog goes blinding the eyes a few times with a white sun popping flash bulb. Sight gone, the ears are left to soak the rhymes.
Ben Ezra fires a barrage of syncopation and rhythm that sets a speed too fast to ignore. Chafic Ataya perfectly times his piece to parts story and actual poem. Jo Seto contemplates a friendship with a rapt audience. Bravo Child explodes on stage and Patrick Alexander swears against the young kids in attendance and picks up second. Alana Hicks is barely on before stepping off. Cath Stuart destroys the "poetry gene." Jenny Campbell appears intimidating to no end. Maria Friegh is more coy than any of the others. Nick Sykes rehashes his heat poem and scores third place.
Scores are as all over the place as the locations of judges while keeping within a fair range of uniformity. Few lose it and run over the hand of Citizen Tom, time keeper for the event. Poets on the end of the line picking up more 10 point scores than the first half manage. Judges keep things sane with decimal points only going back one place.
Theatrics on an undertone, the level is calm and reflective when the teams of Bardflys, Token Word and One Word battle it out.
With the State Library holding the event, the close is swift, the need to vacate the building immediate. Finally, a slam event that doesn't end with one hour left before trains sleep for the night.
Bardflys take the team event. Bravo Child winning the individual medal, squeezes out some American Crew hair product, near-blinding himself in the process. The walk out is fresh with the product riffing through the air toward the stairs and exit below.
Saturday, 10 December 2005 - 03:34
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