Fifteen poets packed into the slam this past Wednesday in the hope of becoming the next Boston Poetry Slam representative at the Individual World Poetry Slam this October! With only eight slots available in the May 29 World Qualifier Finals, poets were pulling out all the stops… But they only had two rounds and a total of three minutes –that’s a two-minute round and a one-minute round– to do it.
We kicked off with stellar sacrifices from Nora Meiners and Tom Slavin, then we were off for another thirty (!) speedy poems! When the dust cleared, some very decisive, independent judges had made it clear who they wanted to see advance. Final rankings after two rounds were:
- 1. Jade Sylvan* 52.7
- 2. Sean Patrick Mulroy 52.6
- 3. Omoizele Okoawo 52.1
- 4. Bobby Crawford 52
- 5. Kieran Collier* 50.6
- 6. Michael Monroe 50.2
- 7. Sophia Holtz 49.6
- 8. Zanne Langlois 49.3
- 9. Meaghan Ford 48.9
- 10. Ed Wilkinson 48.7
- Nathan Comstock
- Eddy Martinez
- Zeke Russell
- Brenna Kleiman
- Dave McKenna
*Jade Sylvan and Kieran Collier have dropped from Finals, bringing the ninth- and tenth-ranked poets back into the competition.
Thanks so much to everyone who competed, and also to our judges: Chris and Michelle, Andrea and Aradice, Greg, David, and Charlotte! Remember, we’ll be back with those top eight poets on May 29 for the World Qualifier Finals, where we’ll go four rounds to select just one poet to represent us in October.
But wait: what happened to the rest of May? Don’t worry, folks… There is lots of poetry happening between now and then, starting up with Rachel McKibbens this coming Wednesday. We’ll also kick off the first slam in the latest 8×8 championship series. See you there!
Boston Poetry Slam Online