Let the Mormon Poetry Slamming Begin!

From Axel Kirch (moontan) on Flickr

The Mormon Poetry Slam submissions are in: fourteen poems from six readers. Not a huge turnout, but enough to have some fun over the next few weeks as I post the readings, you listen to them and share them (far and wide), you vote for your favorite performance, and your votes determine a winner.

Here’s how the competition will go down:

Beginning Monday, November 25, I’ll post a performance each weekday (barring Thanksgiving) until I’ve shared all fifteen. That will round things off Friday, December 13, after which I’ll open the voting.

The performance with the most votes after the designated voting period will win the Audience Choice Award. As the event organizer, I’ll also give an Organizer’s Choice Award to the performance of my choosing (natch).

Each winner will receive a copy of one of the following (per their choice):

• Fire in the Pasture: Twenty-first Century Mormon Poets
• Harvest: Contemporary Mormon Poems
• Field Notes on Language and Kinship (paperback)
• A single-author poetry collection published by a Mormon poet (chosen from a list as the winner pleases)

To prepare you for the show, here’s the list of participants and the days they’ll be featured in the competition:

And so it will come to pass.

Stay tuned and keep your ears with us beginning Monday: the winner’s fate depends on you. (Or something like that…)