SAY WHAAA...? SLAM

I really wanted to write a blog about the slam myself and Stu Freestone put on last week immediately after the excitant of the gig itself, but one thing led to another and it’s taken me a while to get round to it.

Essentially, I’ve always found York a very literature and page-poetry heavy city.  That’s in no way a criticism of that style or genre of writing, I have the utmost respect for the nights which cater for poets who like to casually share their thoughts.  The positives are obvious, a safe, pleasant space.

But as someone more interested in the performance side to poetry, I wanted to run a slam for some time.  Teaming up with fellow poet Stu Freestone, we decided to go for Say Owt Slam.  The core idea is, it will be regular enough to be on people’s radars, but not too regular that it becomes stale and samey.  It will try and feature guest poets, and I hope these will represent the LBGTQ+ community, as well as female and poets-of-colour, and also bring poets to York who would not necessarily gig.  But importantly, the idea was it would be an exciting, dynamic and fun-fuelled space for noise and commotion.

We weren’t disappointed.  The crowd brought their energy and spirit making it a lively night, but more importantly each poet was absolutely top form.  Brilliant comedy poems, brilliant political poems and brilliant performances.  I was seriously blown away by such energy.

Here’s a review

Here’s the next one