These were the best of the best.

I know that Doug brought them here to help make the slam a bigger deal and a more popular event in Fayetteville, but, since the crowd was small (by Walton Arts standards anyway) and the judges sucked, all they did was beat the shit out of us and make us realize that we have miles to go.

Mike McGee won the $1000, by .10 over Joaquin Zihuatenajo! .10!!!

I felt soooooo honored to be on the same stage with these people. I, at least, received the highest score of the Arkansas slammers (. . . or at least I would have if not for a .5 time penalty because I went 1 SECOND OVER!! Hannah Moore snaked me, AGAIN!). And the judges were terrible (except for two of them), they score-creeped like spineless bastards. Mad props to judges who stand their ground! I have GOT to go to a national slam event (there are two)! Being around people who are better than me, makes me better! I need that!

I could have scored even higher if I had done Female Dilemma instead of Book Sex as my second poem. I truly did not do justice to Book Sex, not like Wenesday, and the audience wasn't giving me the responses I still rely too much on to make me hit it like I should.
I think this kind of obsessing goes away as you perform more, and become more confident in your ability. Like Clayton not getting upset about not making the qualifier. He just said, thats "the nature of the slam." Plus, I think we begin to understand more and more, that "the points are not the point, the point is poetry" - Alan Wolf.

And I'm going to blame the fact that I only sold three chapbooks (and two of those to people who came out to support me at my request!) on the stark cover design, which I don't give a shit about. I love the cover. I'll consider it more of a challenge to be able to sell them.

Anywho. Gonna go have some beer and ice cream.