WESTERN BUREAU:
ORIGINALLY SLATED for Tuesday, June 29, the finals of the Poetry Klash competition will instead be on Tuesday, July 6.
Organiser of the competition Connie Bell said the change was due to a jazz and poetry show which was held earlier this month.
The venue remains the Weekenz Bistro and Bar on Constant Spring Road in St. Andrew.
Over the past three weeks, four poets have been added to previous winners, going through to the finals and a chance at a $30,000 winner-takes-all prize.
FIVE MINUTES ON-STAGE
Each poet will be given five minutes on-stage, during which they can do any number of poems they wish. They will be judged on creativity, impact, content, use of language and crowd response.
The judges for the finals will be Jean Small, Dingo and Hugh Douse from the Theatre Company and, with the number of poets in the competition and the strong possibility of guest poets, the finals get under way at 8:30 p.m. sharp.
Connie Bell will be the hostess, with music from Mutabaruka.
Connie Bell explained that the competition has a two-fold purpose. Pointing out that there has been a hard marketing drive in the inner-city communities, she said one objective was for people to turn away from violence and to their inner strength.
Another is to allow poets to earn from their talent.
- Mel Cooke
