Participants find some level of artistic beauty in the concept, and poets will show up and try to win a spot at the event, happening at 7 p.m. Thursday at the La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas, 471 S. Coast Highway 101. Admission is free, though cash donations from the audience go to the winning poets.
A poet delivers his work at the Full Moon Poets' Winter Poetry Slam in
2007. The slam returns on March 8. North County Times file photo
Poets and potential poets should show up at 6 p.m. to register. Those whose names are picked from the popcorn bucket are allowed to read three of their poems ---- all must be three minutes or fewer in length ---- while five judges (randomly selected from the crowd) assess their skills. Seventeen poets perform, though many more might try to get one of the spots. In this celebration of the spoken word, no props, sets or costumes are allowed.
"Sometimes we get 30 or 40 poets, sometimes not that many; we never know until that night," said longtime event organizer Danny Salzhandler. "We have a real mix of young and old and different styles. We get the very serious and the very funny."
Salzhandler said the poets are always treated with respect from the audience and allowed to share their views ---- political, personal or other.
"It's the judges who get booed the most," he said.
It's all part of the fun of the Poetry Slam, now in its 14th year.
"It's one of those events where you leave your ego at the door, and for the most part encourage your fellow poets," Salzhandler said. "Everybody has a different style. The judges are asked to judge 50 percent on craft, and 50 percent on style."
The local poetry community lost two major figures during the past year, including longtime event supporter and former Encinitas Mayor Maggie Houlihan, who died in September, and regular Poetry Slam participant Robert Kelly, who died around the same time.
"Robert was a real favorite at the slams," Salzhandler said. "He was well into his 70s, and performed beautiful, old school-style poetry full of emotion and spirituality. He would show up at the event on the back of his friend's motorcycle."
Most longtime Poetry Slam fans likely also remember longtime Poetry Slam emcee Robert Nanninga, the Encinitas activist and arts supporter who died in 2009.
"We've lost some good people," Salzhandler said. "The wonderful thing about North County is that there is so much new talent arriving all the time. We have a strong future for poetry around here."
Visit www.fullmoompoets.org or e-mail fullmoonpoets@speakeasy.net.
http://www.nctimes.com/entertainment/attractions/best-bet-at-la-paloma-poets-again-ready-to-rumble/article_53087f3b-f1a8-569a-9564-014d65b84185.html
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