Wow. That three-letter word sums up the talented wordblasts we all enjoyed at the TPS Semi-Finals at the Cervejaria back room. Twelve poets sweated and emoted through two rounds, giving us enough mental nourishment to last until the finals. Here are some of the highlights, in my humble opinion:

• Krystle getting massive laughs with her “Skip-It” reference. Toys ARE funny.
• Arianna hobbling on stage like the trooper she is and belting out two brand new pieces
• Tomy Bewick floating through the room like a poetic warrior, delivering his poem with the energy we’ve come to love from Bam-Bam.
• Electric Jon’s duet with Spencer, which was awesome and brave, considering he trashed his chances at making the Finals (two point deduction for team pieces). But EJ doesn’t care about competition, which is why we dig him.
• Val rocking the second round with a new poem on self-loathing, complete with lines about Field of Dreams and masturbating to the Aunt Jemima package
• The White Noise Machine giving Advertising a new flavour, as he does every time he performs his now-classic piece
• Jill Binder getting heavy on us one round, and then flipping the script and going funny. Well done.

Not to be missed was R.C. Weslowski’s set after round one. The Vancouver spoken word master didn’t disappoint audiences who were hungry to learn how the night was filled with poetry, thanks to Steve Nash. We also gobbled up his call-and-response pieces, and many of us will forever the risque jokery of his Terry Fox bit. Who knew Toronto audiences could be so sensitive?

When the dust settled, the scores (courtesy of Shram) gave us the top 8 moving on to the Finals. In order from highest to lowest, here are the poets you’ll be hearing on July 21:

So mark your calendar and Facebook your friends — the July 21 Finals are shaping up to be another fun and electric night. And thanks for supporting spoken word in the city.

This entry was posted by Dave under Slam roundups.