Final of slam poetry tournament

Apollo and the Muses; by Raphael

Tonight was the final of the slam poetry tournament in a very crowded theatre.

Many people had to stand, some of those outside the entrance.

Ten poets had made it to the final round: instead of eight, as intended.

However, one of those ten did not come on stage: Harry Zevenbergen had become ill.

First on stage was poetess Susanne Metaal.

She already was someone writing poetry well, and reading poetry well.

The question with her was sometimes in the past: is her poetry especially fit for her reading it out; or more fit for reading it yourself from paper, with more time to discover subtleties?

This time, her poems were more immediately accessible, and went down well.

The first one was about gnomes and Lord of the Rings movies.

Her second one was about “choice” for consumers, so much promoted by corporations and Rightist politicians: who ignore that people want something good, not a confusing choice between over-complex alternatives.

Whether it is in jeans; mobile phones; privatized energy and health care which bring consumers just trouble: one good thing is better than lots of questionable ones.

However, Susanne’s last line was: One man? Maybe that is too restrictive.

After a pause later, the same nine poets, in reverse order.

Susanne Metaal’s poem then was about traffic.

Second on stage (and second last after the pause) was Peter van den Berg.

Many of his poems were fast: real slam poetry in that sense.

His first poem was an adaption of an Ajax football song.

The second was on how refugees are treated in The Netherlands.

Then, a poem on the Dutch Sinterklaas holiday.

And on Louis Sévèke.

After eleven people died in the Schiphol fire, Louis, organizer of their commemoration, was murdered in Nijmegen (by an extreme Rightist?).

Then, Gijs ter Haar from Amersfoort.

With a long poem, with a line “I wish there were more poets than soldiers”.

After the pause, a poem on dancing.

Then, Christiaan Mooiweer from Delft.

He read poems on madness; on love; and a sonnet.

Then, Gerard Beentjes.

His poems included one on climate change.

Then, Jaap Montagne came on stage.

This time not as a slam poet, for which he is best known, but as a guitarist and singer.

He played Just like a woman, by Bob Dylan.

Later, after the pause, Like a rolling stone, also by Dylan.

Then, Paul Groenendaal.

Poems on the Frisian language; and on a dead man.

Then, Simon Mulder.

With poems in archaic language on subjects like death.

Then came Upperfloor.

This Rotterdam poetess was maybe the best of the night in her reading and interaction with the audience.

She spoke to an older man in the audience as if addressing the young girl that poem was about.

As final one: local poet Germen Bergervoet.

Already when still making his way to the stage through the crowd, he started reading his first poem.

His work was on subjects like Leiden local dialect.

Then, the verdicts came, of the votes both by the three person jury, and the audience.

The audience voted for Peter van den Berg; just ahead of Susanne Metaal.

The jury vote was won by Gijs ter Haar; just ahead of Upperfloor.

A special prize was for Simon Mulder.

All three winners then read an encore poem.

And now, from the Google cache of my old ModBlog blog, on a preliminary round for this:

Slam poetry night at the theatre Comments: 2

Date: 11/9/05 at 12:03PM

Mood: Listening Playing: Poetry in motion

Tonight, I went to the theatre for a slam poetry tournament.

More precisely: the second bit of its first round.

Last week, two of the participants then had made it to the final round, later this month.

They were Susanne Metaal and Peter van den Berg.

This time, in between the poetry, there was music by Roy Santiago.

The first poet was Martin Aart de Jong, whom I had also heard earlier.

Second was Lotte Asveld. She is from The Hague, but also organizes poetry nights in Leiden.

After her came Gijs ter Haar from Amersfoort. He read sonnets.

One of his poems was on the Hiroshima nuclear bomb.

Then Christiaan Mooiweer, maybe the most typically “slam” poet of the night.

He declined to use a microphone, as he thought his voice was loud enough.

Then, last before the pause, Pom Wolff. His poems had macabre humour.

After the pause, the same poets came, in reverse order.

So, Pom first, Martin Aart de Jong last.

Martin’s poems included one on Dutch immigration minister Verdonk.

While the jury was deciding who of the five poets would win, there was a performance by Alex Franken.

He did two poems and several songs, with guitar.

In a later part of the slam poetry tournament, he will be a participant.

Finally, on behalf of the jury, Han Ruijgrok said Gijs ter Haar had won, and would proceed to the final round.

A poll of the audience decided Christiaan Mooiweer would join Gijs in that round.