Vampires suck...

These were the first words of the night at my first official poetry slam, throw down, this is a show-down, hell no i won't slow down...

My friend knows a friend who are both members of this poetry, spoken word artist collective where they wax and weave words wondrously in weally weally cool ways (much like I am trying to do, but not really succeeding. Although I really like the aliteration.) So I went to this exposition of prose in a professional capacity to be a picture poet and document the night with my camera. I have always enjoyed clever thoughts presented through stories and poetry and song, but this was something extra special.

I have always thought that poetry groups were fairly extreme. They were for people who liked hearing themselves speak and would sit around in tweed blazers, sipping tea, and using big words that very few people understand or they were for left over beatniks from the San Fransisco Bay area that spoke in awkward rhythms as they stroked their little soul patches (i have a soul patch and I do that all the time actually). But this was different. I kind of knew these groups existed where people actually have fun with the spoken word. Where they clap and yell out their agreement when a poet puts together a thought that just blows the mind... and there were many instances where this happened.

These people were out on a saturday night laughing, joking, drinking, and enjoying life. They were friendly, encouraging, and very welcoming. They cared about the people who were presenting and their hearts and minds were open to new ideas and would never, ever judge the person sharing. These people have taken words and spoken life in them. Wild, crazy, passionate life that it contagious and uplifting.

Words --> Spoken words --> Living words

There is definitely something we can learn from these pioneers of prose. The ability to take words that are expressions of their soul and hearts, speak them for the world to hear, and because of their passion and the truth that embeds each word brings life... wow! I am going to go back. The church, the community, the collective of poetry is full of life.

... and vampires more than just suck, they bite big time.