The 2010-2011 season of the Jambalaya Soul Slam kicked off on August 21st at the Hayti Heritage Center. The Broad Daylight Slam took place at 2pm. The time was moved due to the Bull City Slam Team's participation in the National Poetry Awards later that evening. We were excited to get the season started after an exciting summer.

There were 9 poets who competed. They were SLAP, Tavis, G, Jake, Potts, Collete, She Seven, Vespertine, and Axiom. This slam would decide the Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS) representative for Durham.

Our feature was Xplicit. He was on tour from St. Louis, MO. He kicked off the slam with selections from his LP "Realize and Relax".


After the feature we kicked off the slam. We started with a calibration poem by host Dasan Ahanu. After the sacrifice, we began the first round.

Round 1
Tavis – 27.7 Collette 24.3
SLAP – 25.7 She Seven- 24.5
G- 26.5 Vespertine- 22.7
Jake- 27.7 Axiom- 26.5
Potts- 22.3

We had to say goodbye to 3 poets after the first round. They were Collette, Potts, and Vespertine. We took 6 poets into the second round.

Round 2
Tavis- 27.2/54.9 Jake- 26.5/54.2
G- 27.9/ 54.4 Axiom- 27.6/54.1
SLAP- 27.3/53.0 She Seven- 27.0/51.5

We took 3 poets to the final round. We said goodbye to SLAP, She Seven, and Axiom.

Round 3
Tavis- 28.2/83.1
G- 29.2/83.6
Jake- 27.1/81.3

The final round was tense as G pulled the victory from Tavis' grasp. G will be the IWPS representative. He will be traveling to Charlotte, NC in December to compete. The St. Joseph's Historic Foundation and the Jambalaya Soul Slam will sponsor his registration.


The next slam is September 18 in downtown Raleigh as a part of the Sparkcon Arts festival. www.sparkcon.com/poetryspark.