Cleveland ushered in the Rustbelt Regional with 50 performance poets competing with hell-bent conviction, as competitors went all out denaturing written poetry into the spoken word experience. Verbal inflictions of psychic rape saturated the air, and it was necessary to abandon your lifestyle practices, culture and all social mores to appreciate the over-the-top emotions and crazy ass, unforgettable lines: "The only thing he holds sacred is pain...hear this pimp mutherfucka ready for the coming of Christ...not even Woodie Guthrie can kill all the fascists," from Jim Dwyer of Dayton, who also won the indie finals and $100. David from Milwaukee, WI got into the anxiety of performance time requirements, "I've got three minutes to push poetics to the masses...in three minutes I will part the red seas..I've got three minutes to say everything and nothing." Dasha, also of the Milwaukee team represented the feminist right, "I'll be able to fuck and be free," in a reflective moment of female sexual freedom.

The performers expressed challenging poetic principals, with poems that demonstrated critical thinking in paradox and metaphors, which kept audiences contemplating to the point of mental whiplash. Cleveland's slam team won the first round Friday night with a score of 83.7, but no one could touch Ed Mabry from Columbus who achieved a perfect score that evening. By Saturday night, Cleveland came in 4th out of the ten teams that participated, with Columbus taking the title home and $500.

My fave messages from the slam included afflictive confessions from Devious of Dayton, Ohio "I'm going to hell on a scholarship..." and Nicky from Pittsburg who fired out familial confrontations, "I never wondered when you murdered me, I fought for my skin and scars; my blood owes you nothing: fuck you for treating me like there was no way out..." We were loving the eloquent anger (to quote Steve Goldberg, "We love anger!") and the poetic penetration that occured while hearing the poets, and the immediate identification with its parallels to our own lives. It's why I've got an insatiable admiration for those who choose to go farther with their own words, rather than use any other form of creative expression. The event made for an emotionally invasive and intense weekend of poetry, kind of like therapy but without the shrink, summed up best by Ben Jones of Detroit, "I will fuck with your psyche." Bring it on...we're ready. from Cool Cleveland senior editor Tisha Nemeth (:divend:)