Once again the Leaf 2006 Fall Poetry Slam generated a packed house.
For the first time at Leaf, we had 12 nationally ranked poets, all of whom have competed at the National Poetry Slam Championships this year and in years past. Rhonda Taylor, Ryan Mergen, Tavis Brunson, Chris August, Joanna Hoffman, Renaissance, Ed Mabrey, Maze Forever, Twain Dooley, Jon, Brown, Meisha, and Swan. To date, we’ve also had two National Individual Slam Champions Gayle Danely, Spring 06, and Sonya Renee, Fall 05, compete.
As you might expect the competition was fierce and the poets, while ever so supportive, were still out to win. Because the level of skill was so high we ended up with a tie in the last round which meant an additional sudden death round with three poets, Rhonda Taylor; 111.9, Ryan Mergen; 111.9, , and Tavis Brunson; 111.9. The poets had depleted their poetry pockets, even so, at this level of professionalism, everybody knew a depleted pocket was hardly an exhausted pocket.
The sudden death round ended with an unexpected two way tie which resulted in saying goodbye to Tavis Brunson with a 28.07, and keeping to everyone’s delight, Rhonda Taylor and Ryan Mergen, both with a 28.9 and facing an unexpected sixth round. Ryan went first; he chose to go off mic for a better audience connection and ended up with a 28.7, a high score, tough to beat, but not insurmountable. In response to my rhetorical questions directed to the audience as well as to Rhonda as she headed to the stage, “Can Rhonda beat a 28.7?” She said, “I sure can.” Whereupon, she proceeded to do just that by pulling the judges forward for the win, and the $1000, with a score of 29.3 at the end of the sixth round.
Rhonda was not the only winner. Between the third and fourth round, we bid the house up, by asking the kids on the front row, always kids on the front row, to sweep the audience for the poet collection. Call it our fund raiser. In five minutes 20 volunteers returned with hands full of cash which totaled, after the count, to over $700.00, which we divided equally among the 2-8th place poets.
As Eden Hall cleared for the midnight dance, the audience and the poets walked back into the night all winners and all a little bit richer.
Best, Navé
Jim Nave' brings more than twenty years of experience to the craft of
presenting poetry on stage. He is one of the cofounders of Poetry Alive! and
has been active of the Poetry Slam community since 1991. In addition, he has
memorized over 600 poems and performed thousands of shows in the U.S. and
abroad. For the past ten years, he has co-taught with Julia Cameron author
of The Artist's Way. Nave' holds his MFA in poetry from Vermont College.
He splits his time between Asheville, NC and Taos, NM.
