Birthday Boy and Poetry Slam-The Week That Was

   This week, Bryant, my son, celebrated his 32nd birthday.
   Now, this still kind of blows me away that I have a son in his thirties but I try not to dwell on it too much, it could be that he is blown away by having a Dad in his sixties!

Myself and Bry

   We graciously shared him with Lindsay, his girlfriend, on the actual day of his birthday, Wednesday, and made arrangements to get together with him the following night.
   We ended up taking him out to Beer Town for supper. Beer Town is a fairly new restaurant here in London which specializes in a variety of different kinds of beer (naturally). I actually had a fruit-infused beer, which was quite tasty (but not gluten-free, which means I might have been playing with fire...) We found the food to be excellent as well and the service very good, to boot. Highly recommended!


Bryant and Doralyn

   After supper, it was off to Michael's and we managed to track down a frame suitable for housing Bryant's autographed Patrick Roy jersey. Hard for me, being a Boston fan!

   On Friday night, we attended this month's edition of the London Poetry Slam. Went there with our friend, Louise and her friend Jacek. The two of them had been to the previous month's Slam and reported having had a great time so we joined them on Friday.
   A poetry slam is basically an opportunity for a poet to get up in front of an audience and recite a poem and then....get judged on it! Five or six judges with scorecards, scattered throughout the audience, rate every poem, much as in a diving competition. You end up with scores such as 8.6 or 7.2 or that ever-elusive 10.0. At the end of the evening, the poet with the most points wins! Just not sure what exactly they win, likely some money.
   There is also a featured spoken word poet every month and this month it was Titilope Sonuga. She is an amazing poet and for the better part of ten (?) minutes she mesmerised us with her presence and the wonderful things she did with words. You can read about her and find out more about the London Poetry Slam here.
   Throughout the evening, the audience is encouraged to be loud and boisterous (though perhaps not when the poet is reading) and regularly shouts out encouragement. If one of the judges posts a score you don't agree with, you are free to berate them. If you approve of poem as the poet speaks, you snap your fingers. Poets must speak the truth and the audience must show the love.
   There is an entry fee if you wish to engage in the competition but if you are simply "testing the waters" then you are encouraged to sign up for the open mic portion of the contest.
   Many of the poets spoke from deeply wounded areas related to abuse, incest and race. A couple were quite humourous. All were passionate. Together, they did what poets , I believe, were meant to do---bring you to self-examination. I wouldn't be surprised if we go back!