It has gotten to that point in the day when morning and night all start merging into one general sense of fatigue. But the keys of second-year College student Spencer Cummings' keyboard still are hot, as he types away at 4:00 this Tuesday morning.
"It was one of those intense nights when you get into it and write for a long time," Cummings said. "You don't want to stop -- you might not lose a lot, but might lose that little bit that'll give the poem its edge."
And for the Poetry Slam competition, which will take place at the former IGA building downtown at 9 tonight, Cummings -- and the nine other student participants -- need all the edge they can get.
The Poetry Slam and Performance Night is among the events of the "$" Arts Fringe Festival, an extended art show that has accompanied the Virginia Film Festival for the past several years. Like both festivals this year, the competition revolves around the theme of money.
For second-year College student David Rose, organizer of the event, theme was among one of the many guidelines he designed for the competition's creative success.
The basic structure of the event is pairs of poets presenting one poem at a time, after which the audience nominates a winner through "cheering, booing, and any means they deem appropriate (although tossing rotten vegetables is strictly prohibited)," as Rose so eloquently states in his "Ground Rules for the Poetry Slam Competition."
Thus, the competition sorts through the ranks, with the winner of each pair reading a new poem for the next match, until there remains only one -- "the Grand Conqueror(ress) of the Slam," as Rose has dubbed him.
In preparation for the competition, Cummings and others are preparing six to eight pieces that somehow relate to money. Performance poetry, which can incorporate props and costumes, always has interested Rose, he said, which is why he wanted to introduce the competition to the University. Rose also is the president of the Sullen Arts Society of Creative Writers, which will be cosponsoring the event.
As Cummings prepares for the big night
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