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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

EPTimes Interviews FHS, C.N. included

Dear readers, the following is a link to a formal interview:

click link! --> El Paso Times Interview for Slam Offs & Poemic

Following, is are exerpts from the article.

{The best of El Paso's slam poets will gather for the Free Holé Slam Off at 7 p.m. Tuesday at The Percolator, 217 N. Stanton. Thirty poets will compete for a chance to represent El Paso at the Individual World Poetry Slam in Cleveland. The top four poets will win a spot on the El Paso Poetry Slam Team, which will compete at the National Poetry Slam in Boston in August.

Poets will have three minutes to read their work and are then judged. The slam has three rounds: Poets

with the top scores move into the next round until the final four are left standing.

Karla Nabil, another poet, began writing basic prose and short stories when she was 16.

"I really didn't have an aim in my early 20s, but once I got back to El Paso after serving time in the Navy, I was introduced to the poet scene," said Nabil, now 32. "Once I started with the Free Holé Slam, I started to get more involved in the workshops and I noticed I was becoming not only a better writer, but a better performer."

Nabil said that once she sits down to create her poetry, it's as if a spirit takes over her body.

"I write down the first thing that comes to my mind," she said. "And when I'm done, it's like, OK, that's it. Somehow I've been able to write three-minute pieces in a span of about 15 minutes and I'm ready to perform it. It's just a part of me." }

...>

{"Slam poetry is made up of your delivery, your presence and your words," said Salas, who will be one of the competitors Tuesday. "When you write something and you want someone to feel it, it's your job to deliver it them, to open their mind and make your presence felt."

The Free Holé Slam Poets is an offshoot of several El Paso poetry groups. It was formed by local poets Jen Shugert, Ray Ramos, Leon de la Rosa and Darlina Magallanes.

"Originally there were five of us (the other poet was Herminia Escajeda), and we called ourselves Four Beans and a Cracker," Ramos said. "But Jen left, so we called ourselves the Four Beans. From there it went to Four Frijoles and evolved into Free Holé Slam."

"We had all seen other slams, and we wanted to bring that back to El Paso and see if it could work here," said Shugert, who left for college and returned to El Paso about two years ago. "I had gone to Boston slams, to Austin slams, and I spent a lot of time at the Hollywood slams, which many people consider to be one of the meccas of slam."

Shugert, Ramos, de la Rosa and Tabitha Harkness represented El Paso at last year's National Poetry Slam in St. Paul, Minn.

The group has poetry slams once a month at The Percolator. These are not your typical poetry readings.

Some poets use traditional theatric devices, such as shifting voices and tones, to get their points across. Some use tap-dancing or beatboxing or choreographed movements to add flair to their words.

"There are some people in academia who are very turned off by us," Shugert said. "They think we are a fad based on outrageous language and screaming. It's not a fad -- the first slam nationals started in 1985, so we have been around."

As proof that slam poetry is here to stay, Shugert points to the number of teams from around the world that make an annual trip to the United States to participate in the championship.

"As far as slam being outrageous, it's a claim based on the fact that we have no censorship," she said. "You can curse, you can say whatever you want and it tends to be accepted by the slam audience. That doesn't mean it's outrageous; it means that it's honest."

The beauty of slam poetry is the diversity of the participants. }

Thursday, April 21, 2011

"Coveting Lo Ajeno" - Slam Performance

December 21, 2010


Free Hole Slam competition @ The Percolator cafe.


El Paso, TX


Poets in this video: Leon de la Rosa & Karla reading for Chevalterre Nabil


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