Welcome to the Big Cheese Poetry Slam, a competition designated to run these poets some cheddar!

On the 2nd Tuesday of Every Month, up to 16 poets compete against each other for the Top 3 of the Evening. The Top 3 poets of each month’s Big Cheese Poetry Slam will have their poem PUBLISHED in an anthology series at the end of the season! In addition to publication, these Poets of the Evening will receive a CASH PRIZE! 3rd place gets $25, 2nd place gets $50 and 1st place will receive $100, bragging rights AND a victory lap poem!

“How do you determine the Top Three?” I hear you ponder.

Here is the breakdown:
We have Two Rounds of Poetry with an Intermission in between. The first Round consists of up to 16 poets– each have 3 minutes with a TEN SECOND grace period to share their work with the audience. From 3:11 onward, the poet will receive a deduction of .5 points for each 10 second increment they go over time. At the 4 minute mark, they will be disqualified.

“Points?” Ohhhh yes, there are POINTS! Each poet will receive a score after their poem from 5 randomly selected judges in the audience that evening. They are scored on a scale of 0.0 to 10.0, based on merits such as: emotional impact, structure, projection, innovation, memorization, tone, rhythm, figurative language, form, sound, originality, social commentary, symbolism …or whatever system they think best suits placing a number to a feeling.

We drop the High and the Low scores to then use that Total Score to determine who our Top 5 poets are going into Round 2, which follows the same format. We add up the Total Score from Round One to the Total Score of Round Two in order to find our Top 3 Poets: the winners of cash prizes, publication, and bragging rights!

There will be a FEATURE for November's Event! Here's a few words about Jane Belinda:

Jane Belinda is a queer poet and fiber artist from Portland, Oregon. They are the Director of Portland Poetry Slam and one of the co-founders of the Bigfoot Poetry Festival. They were also a finalist for the 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam, despite being non-binary and not of this world. Jane uses poetry and humor to explore the oversaturation of grief that comes with living in Late-Stage Capitalism. They are so happy to be here!

Audience:
If you want to see the metaphors fly, come on down to the Hi-Lo Hotel on September 10th at 6:30pm. Tickets are $10 presale and $15 at the door. If you are a student, veteran, or have an Oregon Trail Card, tickets are $5 at the door upon identification. If cost is a barrier, ask about our NOTA Program, Donated Tickets, and volunteer options! No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Poets:
If you got the mac, then we’ve got the cheese babeyyy. Here is this month’s Sign Up List. Please check in with the host by 6:45pm to be considered for this month’s Slam. 16 poets will be randomly selected throughout the night. If you are not selected, you automatically get a spot in next month’s slam as long as you are in attendance.

We will see you there!!

Questions? Email bigcheesepoetry@gmail.com