St. Albert slam poet Troy Suredoll remembers receiving third place for writing a Remembrance Day essay. But on Thursday night, he made his own history.
With a few tongue-in-cheek jabs at Shakespeare, he was voted top dog at Art Out Loud’s inaugural poetry slam.
“It’s a thrill – absolutely,” says Suredoll, whose nervousness was evident in his shaking hands during a spoken word performance of Shakespeare’s Conspiracy Theory.
With lines borrowed straight from Shakespeare’s text and skilfully woven into his cryptic verse, he delivered a comedic performance that captivated the audience.
“This is a special feeling. I do it for myself. It comes from my soul and I get a charge out of making people laugh,” says Suredoll, who spoke about being inspired by the Beat Generation’s poets – Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg to name a few.
Art Out Loud, the city’s newest poets’ collective, paired with St. Albert Library to host Wild & Woolly Words. Covering a broad stroke theme of words and language, the one-hour event featured five slammers.
Art Out Loud member, Christine Babiak was motivated to organize the slam providing local poets with a much-needed local platform to share their verse.
In addition to Suredoll and Babiak, the slam attracted Carla Mage, Kathleen Ryks and Margaret Lumley. The topics varied from cowboy poetry and family reminiscing to an inspirational poem.
Poets were given three minutes to deliver their best. Over and above the allotted time, a long-winded poet was penalized. Judges included Mary Pinkoski, the reigning National Poetry Slam Champ, Heather Dolman, St. Albert Library public services manager and Gazette staffer Anna Borowiecki.
Babiak kick-started the slam with a short intro that concluded with, “Just get up there and let ’er rip.”
Her poem, The Cowboy in the Bookstore, was a colourful take on a poetic Marlboro man, but she ran over the limit and had points deducted.
Second place winner Kathleen Ryks introduced Vocabulary Games, a spirited pastime between brother and sister.
“I wasn’t expecting this. To have a group that’s no relation to you, affirm your skills are good makes you want to keep on working at it,” Ryks says.
Third place winner, Margaret Lumley charmed the audience with her Scottish burr conveying The Path You Choose, a lyrical poem with delicate rhyming elements.
There was actually a tie for third place with Mage’s Words From Home, a delightful presentation tracing the quirks of parents and children. However, Mage ceded third place to Lumley.
Most telling of this debut event’s success was that poets and audience hung around to chat for a long while. Part of the chatter included a possible second slam in the fall.
As a final announcement Pinkoski invited all interested poets to attend the Rouge Poetry Slam Finals at the Artery on Jasper Avenue on Tuesday, April 24 at 8 p.m.
