Hi Everyone:
Today marks the eighth and final day of VERSe Fest - Ottawa's new annual poetry festival and the first of its kind.
I've been to regular poetry readings before but only experienced my first poetry slam last Friday.
In a slam, poets read or recite their work in front of five judges and receive numeric scores over multiple rounds until the winner is declared. There were two rounds on Friday night.
Not only did I admire the beauty of the poetic language but the way the poets were able to memorize their work. I also enjoyed the energy of the crowd, which did things that included snapping fingers, cheering and clapping.
Although I do not like rap music, I found myself enjoying and even appreciating the kind of rap-like way (I guess it's because the poets didn't focus on pimpin' the hos among other things) in which many of the poets performed their poetry. Some were more dramatic than others with their tone and gestures, and each poet found a method that worked for him or herself.
Writing this post makes me wish that I had attended more of the VERSe Fest (http://versefest.ca/) events, but the great thing is that the festival will happen again next year.
Congrats to the VERSe Fest 2011 organizers and volunteers who pulled off the wonderful festival, and long live poetry!
Dahlia
No comments:
Post a Comment