2:30pm Friday 14th December 2012
By Jessica Marshall Mchattie
For those who haven’t attended a Hammer And Tongue slam before, a little explanation is necessary: for three rounds, poets perform on stage, and selected audience members award a score out of ten.
In the first round, there are eight poets, then five, then three finalists.
December’s Grand Slam featured eight winners from the year’s monthly events plus a special guest, the brilliant Byron Vincent.
In the Spoken Word scene Vincent is something of a demigod, his self-deprecating, slightly bitter charm equally endearing and provocative. His performance was raw, original and sharp.
Hammer And Tongue was held in the intimate Komedia studio bar and hosted by Mike Parker and Rosy Carrick, whose on-stage patter was warm, funny and interactive.
The eight poets battling were a varied collection, some local and some from further afield, but all with the accolade of having won previously so standards were high.
As with any event that scores the competitors, not everyone in the audience agreed on the performers’ merits but the three finalists were worthy: Little Creature’s spirited and witty delivery, previous winner Spliff Richards’s heartfelt and genuine verse, and the 2012 champion Tommy Sissons’s storytelling talent were unquestionably fine examples of modern poetry.
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