BUSBOYS AND POETS Present: the BELTWAY POETRY SLAM 2.25.20
Date and Time
Feb 25, 2020 9:00 pm
Location
450K
450 K St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20001
Feb 25, 2020 9:00 pm
450K
Busboys and Poets Presents the Beltway Slam: THE LAST CHANCE SLAM
Hosted by Pages Matam with DJ DOUBLE A1K
FEATURING: PORSHA OLAYIWOLA
BOSTON POET LAUREATE, Slam Champion, And Award Winning Author & Playwright
Black, futurist, poet, dyke, hip-hop feminist, womanist: Porsha is a native of Chicago who now resides in Boston. Olayiwola is a writer, performer, educator and curator who uses afro-futurism and surrealism to examine historical and current issues in the Black, woman, and queer diasporas. She is an Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the artistic director at MassLEAP, a literary youth organization. Olayiwola is an MFA Candidate at Emerson College. Porsha Olayiwola is the author of i shimmer sometimes, too forthcoming with Button Poetry and is the current poet laureate for the city of Boston.
ALL THOSE PARTICIPATING IN THE SLAM MUST ARRIVE BY 8:30 AND BUY THEIR TICKETS IN PERSON!!
$5 Cover. On the day of the event, tickets can be purchased online starting at midnight and in the restaurant starting at 10:00 AM (cash only). No refunds. Ticket purchase limit of 4 per person. Guests must have their wristbands (tickets) on upon entering the event.
Seating is available on a first-come, first-seated basis. No saved or reserved seats are allowed. Failure to check-in within 30 minutes of advertised start time may result in forfeiture of seats.
Rules and Procedures for 2020-2021 Season
Each open slam will be two rounds. Standard PSI rules apply (3 minutes, own work, no props, etc). The first round will have 12-15 poets and the order will be by random draw. The top eight poets from the first round will move on to the second round and the order will be high to low from the first round.
Participation by Lottery:
The list for the night will be held by the Bout Manager. Poets MUST speak with the Bout Manager in person on the night of the slam to be placed on the list. Doors open 8:30 pm. The slam list opens at 8:45 pm. Slam begins at 9 pm.
The Draw (if there are more than 12 poets):
The draw will happen at 8:50 SHARP. If there is a lottery, the pull to determine who is slamming will also determine the order in which they will compete. Poets MUST be present at the time of the lottery/draw. If a poet’s name is pulled for a lottery and they are not present or very easily locatable, they forfeit their place and are not eligible for the bonus entry described above. If there is no lottery and a poet is not present or easily locatable during the draw, that poet will compete first; if they are still not present when their name is called during the first round, they will not slam that night. Specialty Slam Dates and Info: Team semi-finals:
The top 12 poets from the season will compete with 3-minute poems. Any poem from the season can be repeated for the semifinals/finals but you cannot repeat the same poem(s) you do in semifinals in finals.
Only the top eight advances to the finals in April. The top eight order also decides the order of first-round in Finals (i.e. if you won semis, you go last, etc…)
Team finals: April
Top four make up the team with the Grand Slam Champion. Poets will compete in a three round slam (all three-minute poems) where the four poets with the highest cumulative score will be named the team for the National Poetry Slam that year. Poets may not repeat poems from semi-finals. The team may opt to allow the 5th place poet on the team as an additional member.
Slam for WOWPS (Qualifiers, then Top Four in Finals)
Slam for IWPS (Grand Slam Champ gets an automatic bid into IWPS Finals, everyone else goes to IWPS Qualifiers and Top Three + Grand Slam Champion go to IWPS Finals)
