(posted on www.torontopoetryslam.com by Dave Silverberg)

What a year it’s been at Bam!

It all culminated with the wild Finals night at The Central in downtown Toronto. Eight young poets battled it out for five spots to make the first Youth Slam team, reppin Toronto. The energy was thick in the air, the venue was packed and the poets brought it.

We had Ron regale us with his hate-on for coffee, Stephen waxing poetic about Bill Shakespeare, Pablo telling us about his South American dad, Michael detailing a horrific battle scene (and dude is close to 12, if that). First round was hot hot hot and what better way to get the night even more hype than a kickass feature?

Barbara Adler rocked the feature stage with tight spoken word, accordion tunes and memorable lines. I couldn’t help but notice all the kudos she got after her set. Truly impressive.

The second round gave us some more high-energy poetry. Stephen got us laughing with his recollection of losing his virginity, while Alex brought the performance chops with a piece about self-esteem. Izayana gave us a powerful punch of descriptive writing, and Ronza wrote a a well-written piece about a very odd love affair.

When the dust settled, the first Bam! team was formed: Stephen, Alex, Ronza, Romil and alternate Pablo. More info at Pan’s post here:
http://torontopoetryslam.com/openmic/viewtopic.php?id=1203

What a fun night, what a historic night.

And if you want to check out the Team, you have a chance in December — they will be the December feature at Toronto Poetry Slam! Check back at this site for details on the exact date.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the Bam! Slam, and look for its return with an Anything Goes edition going down in January.