Twelfth Annual Celebration of Poetry
Saturday April 12, 2014. 9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Salem Church Library, Meeting Room A
2601 Salem Church Road, Fredericksburg VA 22407
Sponsored by Riverside Writers
9:30-10:00 Registration (Riverside Writers Members may sell their Books.)
10:00-10:30 Open Mike Poetry Reading
10:30-10:45 Discussion of Poetry Slams and Instructions for the Slam
10:45-12:00 Poetry Slam (Bring two poems.)
12:00-1:00 Lunch Break
1:00-1:20 Riverside Writers, Jim Gaines, President
1:20-2:30 Open Mike Poetry Reading
2:30-4:00 Featured Poet Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda. The Dramatic Monologue and Persona Poem
In this workshop, participants will let go of the “I”-centeredness of much of today’s poetry scene and explore the highly imaginative dramatic monologue and the persona poem to capture the voices of literary, historical, or imagined figures. Writing exercises will center on perfecting images, diction, dialect, and typographical arrangements to produce memorable poems that bring to life an array of speakers. This interactive session is tailor-made for anyone with a willingness to explore the unique qualities of written language that help define another person’s voice. Follow-up exercises and an annotated bibliography will be provided.
Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda served as Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2006-2008. She holds a B.A. from the University of Mary Washington and a M.Ed., M.A. and a Ph.D. from George Mason University. In 2007 both universities gave her the Alumna of the Year Award. She has published six books of poetry and co-edited two anthologies, most recently Four Virginia Poets Laureate (The Poetry Society of Virginia, 2006). Her poems have been nominated for six Pushcart Prizes and appear in numerous magazines. Her numerous awards include five grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts. An accomplished visual artist, she teaches art-inspired poetry workshops for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
For More Information Contact Larry Turner, 4208 Stonehaven Way, Fredericksburg, VA 22408, 540-710-2518, Thanz3000@aol.com
Driving Directions The library is about a five-minute drive from Exit 130B on I-95. Go west on Plank Road (Virginia Route 3) about 1.7 miles, and turn left on Salem Church Road. Drive south about 0.8 miles and arrive at the library on your left. The library is a two-story building that looks like a one-story building.
Parking: Parking is available in the library parking lot.
Rules for a Poetry Slam
Poetry and Performance:
1) All poetry must be the original work of the slammer.
2) Slammer cannot use props or musical accompaniment (other than that which they can make with their own body). Slammers cannot employ costumes, nudity, or animal acts.
3) Any subject matter or style is acceptable.
Rounds:
1) A slam is typically 1 or 2 rounds. The first round in a two round slam can be an elimination round.
2) Each slammer has 3 minutes to perform during a round. There is also a 10 second grace period. A deduction of .5 points occurs for every ten seconds (or fraction thereof) that the slammer goes over 3 minutes, ten seconds. At 4 minutes, the slammer is cut off.
Judging:
1) 5 judges are randomly picked from the audience. Judges cannot be directly connected to any of the slammers.
2) Judging is done Olympic style, 0-10 with one decimal place. The high and low scores are dropped and the remaining scores are added together. The highest score during a round wins the round.
3) A calibration poet will be provided for judges to “practice” judging. The calibration poet’s score should be used as a benchmark (anything better should be scored higher; anything worse should be scored lower).
4) Giving a perfect “10” is a privilege, not a right.
Audience:
1) Judges SHOULD NOT be influenced by the audience.
2) The audience SHOULD try to influence the judges.
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