You know how sometimes, even though you are a pretty darn good poet yourself, you feel some people are just totally off the hook, completely untouchable?!?! Well, that's exactly how the undersigned felt listening to the members of the LA Slam Team do "their thang."On the evening of June 7th, the last of the local slam finals was held at the Green in Culver City to determine who the 4 team members and 2 alternates would be to represent Los Angeles in the National Poetry Slam in Seattle, WA in August this year. The original lineup was supposed to have 15 poets, but due to Ben Porter Lewis and Tiffiney Scott withdrawing from competition (they qualified for the Long Beach and Hollywood teams respectively), and two other poets not showing up on the "battlefield," the number was reduced to 11 (in no particular order): Shihan, Melinda, Jaha, Sekou Tha Misfit, Omari, Gimel aka King Lyric G, Poetri The Poet, Bridget Gray, Rachel Kann, Snowplow, and El Rivera. Of course, the slam was too close to call until the very last moment of the last round. That's when Shihan pulled out his heavy artillery and came out on top. Sekou, who was secure enough to talk about his "Insecurity," took second place (Koo-Koo!), Poetri charmed his way into the third (Way to go, my brotha!) and Omari came in fourth. Now, something very interesting happened with the two alternate spots... They were originally won by Bridget Gray and Rachel Kann, but these generous ladies decided to give up their spots, since they already qualified for the Hollywood and Long Beach teams respectively. That opened the door for Gimel and Jaha for whom, in my humble opinion, that door should have been wide open all along. Now, let's keep our fingers crossed for these Magnificent Six that they may continue to shine as brightly as they did at the Green and make the rest of the nation green with envy at the nationals!
Grazing on the Green and raving for LitRave,
Jelena aka Helen the Bashful Dragon
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