We had our second bout last night, against Honolulu, Durham (NC) and Milwaukee; came in second to a very loud and energetic Honolulu team... they got up on the stage and simply owned it. Most of the pieces we heard last night were very much of the "I'm loud and I have an agenda", which was a bit sad as I tend to go for the much more literary stuff a lot more... but seeing Honolulu's very tight performance was awesome, and both Durham and Milwaukee had some really nice moments in their poems.
As a result of this bout, our total score is a 3 (220.3 cumulative score) [a 1 for first place in a bout, a 2 for second place, etc), which puts us in 3rd place overall among teams who have completed both bouts, and virtually guarantees a spot in the semi-finals.
This is pretty exciting.
In other news, I read "My Drifting Ship" by Shannon Leigh (she's a slam poet from Austin/Atlanta (both communities claim her) who died in a cave-diving accident a month or two back). The book is poems by and about her, and all of its proceeds go to her family to help them pay for medical expenses.
My reaction is a simple: Wow. She's talented. She's talented in the same way that someone who is one of the best that ever was and will be is talented. I've read "Underwater" twenty or thirty times and it still surprises me.
While reading Shannon Leigh's book, I ate a delicious omelette from Marigold's Kitchen. We had pancakes there the day before, and an omelette yesterday. It was awesome.
Other highlights:
-Seeing Beth just nail "Blue Shirt".
-Rocking the audience with "Redwood Spines"
-Seeing a bit of the haiku deathmatch... I wasn't feeling too great (back spasms), so I skipped out after the first round, but it was enjoyable.
We're only practicing, going to workshops, and seeing bouts today. I think I'm going to go see Hampshire College v. Denver Merc (there's a LouderArts v. Chicago Mental Graffiti bout going on at the same time, but I like Hampshire and Denver's stuff).
I plan on spending at least a little bit of today wandering around downtown Madison. This city is so beautiful. I wish I could spend summers here.
More to come when we figure out what we're doing for semi-finals and when/where/against whom.
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