Poetry Slam Winners are……………

Poets Josh Simpson, of Bathurst, and Alan Fragar, of Cowra edged out Frank Daniel, of Canowindra, to win a place in the Australian Poetry Slam State Final coming up in Sydney on 13 November. Frank Daniel, Alan Fragar, Kim Core, Matthew Ryan, Seamus Leyland, Dimas Bakini and Josh Simpson, of Bathurst, performed well and entertained the large crowd at the exciting theatre sports style event held at Cowra for the first time. Matthew spoke about being True Blue, Frank Daniels told the story of Martha Mary Regan, Dimas talked about life after leaving Sudan with some great rhymes involving kangaroos, Seamus told a funny story about UFOs – The Truth is Out There, and Kim Core implored us to tell real stories in her rhyme. Josh won the crowd over with his thought provoking poem Let us picture a world and Alan also won with his take on poetry slams incorporating an amusing topical limerick. The scores were close with five judges, chosen randomly from the audience, scoring each performance. The Australian Poetry Slam 09 is an initiative of the State Library of NSW, and is supported by state, territory and public libraries and festivals across the country. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding & advisory body.
Pictured above is Frank Daniel, 3rd place, host Miles Merrill, and Poetry Slam winners Josh Simpson and Alan Fragar. Pictured below is the performers goofing around with host Miles Merrill.