On May 11th A slam was held to find out who the members of the 2010 Portland slam team would be. Its still an amazing thing to read. The fact that Port veritas 1. exists and 2. sends a slam team to compete nationally for Portland when no one else does, is amazing. Its a big responsibility.

10 poets competed at a very high level and were all incredible. If you havent been a part of it you need to know its mind numbingly taxing to compete in one of these things(from a mental standpoint). Out of 10 Olivia came in 8th while turning in one of the best nights she’s ever given. That was how good this was.

1. Wil came in first because of his consistency and ability to pick the right piece for the crowd. The piece he closed with is an admission that he ran off on his daughter and some crowds can see it as an brave and mature admission of flaws in his character and an attempt in the right direction. Some crowds look at him like he is eating his own poop. He didn’t do the best he’s ever done but he didnt screw any round up and the pieces themselves are good enough that they dont need his best every time. Just his best attempt.

2. Krista came in behind him, she has a lot of gifts as an artist. She has an undeniably interesting mixture of personal strength and quiet sadness, frailty, that she can express as a single voice. She doesn’t have to switch gears from strong and defiant to hopeless, its all there without effort. Her perspective is completely fresh.
3. Kait-The hardest poet to help improve is the one who is skilled with words but doesnt have their own voice. They write how they think writing should sound or look. Kait is not like anyone else on the planet. Funny,off putting, and completely invested in every word. She owns every second and makes you rent it from her.
We used to worry about having female poets on the team and I always hated it. I wanted poets on the team to be valued just because they were good. I didnt want us to have to search for demographics. I won.
4. Ryan-One mans energy can change the world. I don’t care if you believe me. Ryan is where he is because he works a lot harder then a lot of other similarly talented people who just don’t scramble for the best possible performance like he does. He’ll scream till his face is crimson to make you feel what he is saying and then do it again next round. He’s a big bad ass dude who will fuck you up with poetry.
Nate-He shouldn’t have done the Catholic poem(anti-catholic) but he loves it like Tiger loves blondes(getting the all the left over Tiger jokes out). He did the love poem and and it was like the end of Joe Versus the Volcano. Pretty damn cool.