YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett

Well the Poetry Slam was very well attended both in terms of audience numbera AND performers. Most read really good work. About three people were not ready for prime time in my opinion but got into the top ten.
I liked the poems of the people who won. The Winner was a Ms. Vanessa Alvisio of Toppenish gulag. She can rhym on the fly and that is really good if you can do it well, further she can in two languages, Spanish her first language and English. She is a very cute lady too, and I liked how real she was about her life!
runner up Wendy Warren read, behind the exterior of a mild mannered reporter lurks a WILDWOMAN! I had no idea her sex life was so interesting!
the other runner up, Mark Burns had some very clever work, and it was enjoyable.
I would have liked to at least be in the Top Ten, but know what? at least I like who won, and had a nice evening out.

A few people read very good stuff, Kim Roberts, Linda Brown,her poem about the socks was cool. and Randy Gottlieb read wonderful stuff, same goes for the always worth reading and hearing Keely Murphy.

The Black Box was mobbed! people were sitting on the floor.

Here are my suggestions for improvements of the experience....
1. Could the Judges picked at random please be given the rules in front of all of us?
2. They can then go to the room where they deliberate, and be given a time-limit.

I think these minor changes would be improvements to the event.
The other thing is a venue like the new Chartwells location would be nice since there are numerous comfy chairs. Perhaps this would make it possible to have coffee and snacks available. That last is just a thought. The event is growing which should please poetry lovers everywhere in our Gulag.


communal yak farm yakima gulag
Perhaps more open reading situations such as other slams would be a good thing too. In easily accesable locations, would be a nice thing. There are a hell of of lot of good writers stranded in this gulag for one reason or another.