filter Cafe

This past September I found myself in conversation with a local artist, Jeff Drennan who goes by the stage name Bo Gus. We were reminiscing over the days of the London Poetry Slam and how it was such an important event for local writers to find community in which they can express themselves, test their material, and grow as artists.

For over a decade the London Poetry Slam was a cherished event that happened regularly in various spaces around town. At one point, it was held at the old APK, where Los Lobos is now. It bounced around to a few locations, but found a home at the London Music Club on Colbourne St. Now, I am bringing it back to filter Cafe along with Bo Gus so that we can continue the legacy that the London Poetry Slam started over a decade ago.

Many poets got their start performing at the London Slam, as it provided a rich environment for creative writers. Drennan recalled the slam “being a great group of people, a safe place for people to speak their truth about the world they live in and how they feel about it.” As we talked, it became clear that we had to bring the slam back. Drennan pointed out that he “met many people who didn’t even think they’d be poets come to the slam, hang out, get inspired, and turn into just incredible poets themselves,” demonstrating how the poetry slam provides cultural and artistic exposure that just isn’t captured in other settings.

Although Drennan acknowledges that it is “entirely strange to give art a rating out of ten,” it is part of the appeal of the slam that it is a competition. So for all the poets out their ready to share your work, get excited for an enthusiastic audience to tell you just how much they love your work. The evening is structured in three rounds; the first round has 12 poets, the second round has 6, and the third round finishes off with our 3 strongest poets. At the beginning of the evening 5 judges are selected at random and are provided score cards to provide the evenings official results, but audiences are encourage to ‘show the love’ for every poet that shares their work with us. So if you are ready to perform, be sure you bring 3 poems that are 3 minutes long and are ready to connect with the audience.

In addition to providing London with another opportunity to express ourselves and expand our cultural repertoire, it also provides an opportunity for London to connect with other nearby cities, and potentially reach out on a national level. Right now Drennan says “there are slams happening all across Canada,” and locally in Toronto, Burlington, Guelph, Ottawa. Yearly there are opportunities to build a London team and perform in regional and national competitions. But competition aside, it provides a robust community in other parts of Ontario and Canada for poets to connect, learn, and develop artistic expression with each other and bring those artists to London in turn.

Filter Cafe is excited to be hosting this long overdue event as our first event in the city. We hope to be delving into a lot of different artistic programming as the months and years come, but we are very excited to bring the slam back and can’t wait for you to join us this Saturday, Dec. 20^th to welcome and be enriched by local poets here in London.

Poets can sign up at 7PM and performances start at 8

See you there!