The 2009 Poetry Grind Individual World Poetry Slam Qualifier is this Thursday September 3rd
Rembrandt's Dutch Pub
703 McKinney Ave Dallas, TX
8pm

Based on cumulative participatory point totals, the following poets are officially invited to compete in the Individual World Poetry Slam Qualifier Invitational.

Jason Carney, Eric Breland, Deborah Victory, Trayce Cochran, Joaquin Zihuatanejo, Justin David Tate, Colin Gilbert, Amy Weaver

Alternate 1: Roderick, Alternate 2: Damascus

The following poets have qualified but have opted out of competing in this year’s qualifier.
Ronnie K. Stephens, Bob “Whoopeecat” Stephenson, “Konnichiwa” Zach Schrotter

Konnichiwa Zach will act as host/timekeeper. Whoopeecat will act as bout manager/scorekeeper. Sacrifice poet is yet to be determined.

The format will be as follows.
Each poet will compete in 4 rounds of competition with no eliminations. The rounds will be in the following order and will have the following time limits.

1 minute
4 minute
2 minute
3 minute

The bout draw for round 1 (1 min) will be a random out of the hat draw.
The bout draw for round 2 (4 min) will be reverse order of round 1.
The bout draw for round 3 (2 min) will be random out of the hat draw.
The bout draw for round 4 (3 min) will be reverse order of round 3.

5 judges will be selected and score on a 0.0-10.0 system. Normal instructions-judge on the poet/performance, don’t be swayed, be true to yourself, be consistent. High score/low score eliminated, add 3 in the middle.

Each round will have a 10 second grace period before points are deducted for time violations. 0.5 will be deducted for every ten seconds over, starting at the :11 second mark. (example: Billy Bob JoeBob competes in the 2 minute round. His poem goes 2:14 . The judges award him a 28.2. After the .5 time penalty, his score is a 27.8.)

Scores are cumulative. In the event of a tie for first place, a 3 minute poem head to head slam-off will decide the winner (10 sec grace period in force). Going over 3:10 in the tiebreaker will result in immediate disqualification. If both poets go over time, they will have a 1 haiku head to head—there must be a winner.

The winner will be awarded the opportunity to represent The Poetry Grind at the 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam competition to be held Oct 8-10 in Berkeley , CA . The Poetry Grind will pay the entry fee for our chosen competitor, however all other incurred expenses including food, travel, and accommodation are the sole responsibility of the winner. We will have a fundraiser night and feature spot for the winner at our show scheduled for October 1st at Rembrandt’s.