Show Report – Sept 28th
Oh it was close. Oh yeah. Final round poets were all within .2 of each other. Point 2!!!
Finals always is crazy.
Highlights included Jack Rusks round one poem about building a house that turned into a metaphor for building a community and a life. Round one also brought us one of my favorite John Staedler poems… and the judges hated on the funny. Why judges? Why can’t poets be funny. Round two highlights included Dusty Rose’s stellar performance of a classic. In round three the poets were: Dusty Rose (who won round one, round two, and scored a perfect 30 in round three); Lee Knight Jr. (who brought the experience and passion of classic work); Lyrical I (who ripped a poem about love dedicated to his grandmother that had passed away the very day); and Al Moyer (reading the most moving performance of his poem ‘blood stains’ that I have ever seen).
What a night to remember.
Al and Lee Knight TIED in the third round, yes, this meant that the final round would be a three poets deep.
In the final round Dusty delivered it strong, and for some reason the judges decided they weren’t feelin’ it enough to give her the 29.8 that she needed to lock the other poets out (we do cumilative 3rd and 4th rounds). Lee Knight tore up the stage, getting the dirty high score, but had a TIME PENALTY in the 4 min round. BOOO. Al didn’t flinch, didn’t stumble, and Santa Cruz has its IWPS representative. Let’s give it up to all of the poets who read and made the night happen. To all of the audience members who came out (the slam covered IWPS registration!). And to the organizers that make this thing happen.
