Nitty Gritty Slam #90, March 17

The “St. Paddy’s Day Edition” of this ongoing Slam/open mic event, tonight hosted by Kevin Peterson, who began with a St. Patrick’s Day “prayer,” based on the Our Father, of course on drinking.

First up for the open mic was a new voice/face, practicing her public-speaking skills, Diana Dana who read a poem, fittingly enough, by William Butler Yeats. Brian Dorn read a love/sex poem, in his signature rhymes, “Inside of You.” Elizag read from her book Love Cohoes (Crandall, Dostle, & Douglass Books, 2014) the poem “The Spinner’s Prayer” spoken by an Irish immigrant. Steven Roberts continued the Irish theme with a poem from his trip to Dublin, “Finding Gold.” I’m not interested in St. Paddy’s Day, more interested in promoting (i.e., selling) my new chapbook from A.P.D. Coyote: poems of Suburban Living, so I read “Coyote 4.” Tom followed with 3 limericks, which I guess qualify as “Irish” poems. L-Majesty got us down to basics with a poem titled “For Sloppy Erotic Poets” a sex-word stew.

Judging the Slam

Then on to the Slam, tonight with 7 1st round contenders. But first there was the need to “calibrate” the judges scoring (& I was one of them tonight), so our host Kevin did a drinking song with audience participation (of course during the Slam the use of a prop, like a pint glass of beer, is strictly forbidden).

The Slam pieces were varied, starting with Ainsley’s “Open Letter from a Female Geek,” to Eliza Ryan talking about her tattoo, Elizag’s strident “Dear Young People,” L-Majesty on childhood, to “The Writer of Darkness” (Stephen) poem “Fighting Irish,” Illiptical on doing Slams, & Jimmy’s “St. Patrick’s Day” in rhyme.

Eliza, K.P., L-Majesty, Elizag

The survivors who went on to the 2nd round were, not surprisingly, Slammers Eliza, Elizag, L-Majesty & Illiptical. When the dust settled from that hot round it was L-Majesty & Elizag going head-to-head for #1, with L-Majesty taking it with his piece about losing his imaginary friends to rely on himself, over Elizag’s “The Poetry of Profanity.” Visiting Slammer Eliza Ryan took home 3rd place money.

The Nitty Gritty Slam happens on the 1st & 3rd Tuesdays of the month at The Low Beat, 335 Central Ave., Albany, NY, with an open mic first at 7:30PM — $5.00, less with a student ID (not one from your 1980s undergraduate days). A production of AlbanyPoets.com.