A REGULAR poetry event in Reading has crowned its winner for 2024 following a hotly-contested final event at The Rising Sun Arts Centre last week.
Dreading Poetry Slam sees Berkshire’s bards competing monthly with slam poetry, with a winner chosen by audience ratings.
The Grand Slam final saw the winning competitors from its monthly events competing for the title of the year’s top poet in a tense two-round heat.
Ten poets performed two poems each, covering topics as diverse as tackling garden pests, the rehabilitation and stigma of offenders, struggles with addiction, past loves, and event poems about the event itself.
Following the opening rounds, attendees were invited to take part in the usual impromptu poetry slam and challenged to perform short-form poems on a given theme written during the course of the event.
Winners were also named for the year’s monthly impromptu slams, as well as the regular caption competitions the event holds online.
Four poets then moved onto the final round: Richard Stephenson, Tilly Harrington, and Pam Ski– all joint third in the judges’ first round ratings, and score leader Jay Woods.
Following four impassioned performances, Jay Woods emerged as the winner of the evening–and the year.
Of the victory, Jay said: “It feels very nice, especially as it’s only my second slam event, with my first being the event I qualified in.
“So this is my first Grand Slam and it was a lovely night– it has such a welcoming vibe, with so many good poets, who had me on the edge of my seat.”
He explains: “The poem which I won the final round with I first wrote in 2016, when I was 18, but I didn’t write for years.
“Then last year I set myself the task of getting back to performing, having not performed since then.”
Pam Ski, one of the evening’s runner-up finalists, said: “Tonight had such a lively atmosphere, and with it being a final saw a lot of people here.
“You hear the other poets and you can’t help but think how amazing they are– they write such different kinds of work, which really blows you away.
“It makes you appreciate poetry more and more, and so to reach the final I was shocked; I didn’t expect it because the standard was so high.
“I tend to perform quite jolly poetry, but it fosters an atmosphere where you can be a bit more emotional, which was absolutely great.”
The Dreading Poetry Slam returns to The Rising Sun Arts Centre from 7.30pm on the first Sunday of each month.
