| |
Slamming at The Poetry and Words Tent
This page is provided only for information, it does not apply to the 2002 festival.
|
What happens when a performance poet gets mugged?
Both parties come away a little richer for the experience.
On Sunday at the Poetry and Words Tent this joke was reversed when seventeen performance poets mugged a sun-dazed Glastonbury audience with a fine display of verse and verve.
Hosted by the inimitable Marcus Moore and Birdman, this vicious cabaret was the sixth Glastonbury All Comers Poetry Slam. Slam came to Britain by way of Glastonbury in 1994, and this gripping competitive poetry format has taken a tight hold of the minds of poetry audiences ever since. Glasto 2000's Slam was no exception; it grabbed Babylon-weary festival goers by the ears and dragged a couple of hundred of them into the shady confines of the Poetry Tent.
The Slam offered a joyous mix of moods and ideas: from Brenda Reed-Brown's toughened eulogy for her late husband to Andrew Walker's 'sleazy and confused' love poem. There was not a duff poem in earshot (despite a few fluffed lines and pregnant pauses) and it was thrilling to see so much energy on display on a hot Sunday morning.
Since Slam is a knockout competition, someone always has to win. It may seem tough, but the poets who reached the final were on spectacular form and deserved it for their haggard electricity alone. Steve Tasane (pictured below) appealed to the party crowds with sharp, witty and intelligent poems about drugs and their potential dangers (particularly to sniffer dogs), whilst Paul Stones questioned and railed against consumer culture with his poetry of domestic culpability.
Steve Tasane won, but the point and the beauty of Slam is that it doesn't matter; the fact that you've spent two hours enthralled by different ideas and senses of humour is what counts. Dare you miss it in 2001?
Adam Horovitz
|
|
|
© 1994-2000 Glastonbury Festivals Ltd.
Copyright Notice Site Credits
powered by easynet |
|
|
|