Pictures of Sam in action can be found 2002 Features section of the Photos page.

Following the open Tim Mason hit the stage. The sparse but apprecative crowd listened in pure silence as Tim served up offerings like Chocolate and experimental new works that get into an other species mindset such as Going out to Sea. He touched on the nature of the artist with this line "to be an artist is easy... breathe." He closed his 40 minute set with a favorite that echoes his presence on our stage, for he spoke gently, like water cracking stone. If you missed him tonight you missed a treat.

Pictures of Tim performing for the Poets' Asylum can be found in the Photos section of this site - just go to 2002 Features section.

The open mic started sans amplification due to a mic cord that took a walk. :-( We started off anyway and soon Mr. Bill showed up with borrowed equipment to piece together a 4 line mixer with a tube mic to give extra volume with damaging to vocal cords. The poetry was good either way, amplified or not, especially since we welcomed back Jack McCarthy after a long absence.

Following the open C.R. Avery of Vancouver, BC showed off the stuff that made him the talk of the 2001 National Poetry Slam in Seattle. Picture a man in dark vest, wde baby blue tie, red Yamaha keyboard hung 'round his neck, and a harmonic in his mouth. His beat boxing, harmonica playing, improv slinging style set the place on fire. C.R. teamed up with locals Sou and Jared to form the group Boom Chasers. Together they performed piece that was showcased in Seattle, Flee by Night. It was sweet. And if that wasn't enough a small group gathered on the sidewalk in from of the Java Hut throwing down song and verse even though it was a wee bit nippy out. If you missed this one you missed a guarenteed winner. Better catch him the next time he's in the area.

Pictures can be found by clicking the Photo button to the left an going to the 2002 Features section.

And if that wasn't enough to make you happy and smily we slammed as the fifth qualifying slam for the 2002 Worcester Slam team took place. 5 competitors went 2 rounds. Thanks to all who competed, judged and applauded tonight. Congrats go out to Rushelle Frazier and Jon Wolf, who head to the semi-finals in April. More details will be posted on the Slam page once I get some sleep.

And then Lucy Anderton of Chicago and Dawn Saylor of Kalamazoo tore the place down and rebuilt it with poetry!!!! The dynamic poet-divas brought hard core words to us while the rest of the world watch a bunch of guys in tight pants grab each other. Their lose! These two are great, awesome, amazing and more fabulous than a 47 yard field goal with 7 seconds on the clock. A standing ovation and an encore piece by each brought another week at the Asylum to an end.

Pictures of Lucy and Dawn in action can be found in the Photo section of the website. Catch the Messy Hair Tour if you get a chance.

We started the night with a packed house, standing room only open mic. It seemed like every spot was filled within 2 minutes of the sign up list being opened. Some amazing stuff was shared. Thanks to everyone who came out.

Then we had a featurette from the delicious Cass King. She was in Massachusetts for the Vancouver Slam team appearance at Boston University Saturday and joined us at the Java Hut. She gave us 3 wonderful pieces and sold the last of her books.

And then the main event... Shane Koyczan took the stage for a 75 minute feature that held us transfixed with joy. This was stellar verse from the Individual Champ of the 2000 National Poetry Slam. He started with a freakin' hillarious piece staring skinny white boy Craig Nelson that had the room in laughing their hearts out. A great set including some new work, such as O Canada and a cover of Geoff Treancher's Don't Know How I Got There. Cass lent her vocal stylings to The Importance of Having Lists. Bowing to audience pressure (and the guts of a middle school student who covered Shane's work for an English assignment) Shane finished up with Beethoven and then the heart touching Help Wanted.

Following the open we held the 7th Qualifying Slam for the 2002 Worcester Slam team. The 8 competitors (including 3 first time slammers at our venue) went 2 rounds before 5 critical judges. Thanks to all who competed, judged and applauded tonight. Congrats go out to the winners of tonight slam, Jack McCarthy and Bill MacMillan. Jack has declined the opportunity to take part in the semi-final so Bill and Jesse will head to the semi-finals in April. Find all the details in the Slam section of the site.

Tonight started out with the ever popular open mic - filled with familiar faces and a few new ones (keep coming back). Then Michael Brown took the stage and offered up a mix of fresh works along with a handful of favorites, like Ali. No stranger to the Poets' Asylum he kept things moving, working from the middle of the room without the mic, offering a first-class performance.

Following the open mic Tony Brown took the stage as the feature instead of MC. He said the theme for his set was questions since a number of folks have pointed out that at 42 he is, at least in the Douglas Adams sense of the word, the answer. Starting with a bit of the Bard himself and flowing into pieces such as Only A Test, First Letter Home, favorites like Punk, a song from 1959 called Long Black Veil and fresh works like The Child is Father to the Man he shared some of the Q+A of his life. Good stuff and a wonderful cap to what was a long day for some. Thanks Tony.

Following the open Sarah McKinstry-Brown took the stage and gave us a set of pure poetic bliss. Her moving words and gentle motion captivated the gathered. The honesty of her work, shown strongly in The Truth, offered us an example of what good words, held achingly close to the soul, can be. Thanks Sarah for feeding our want.

And as if that weren't enough we then held the last qualifying slam for the 2002 Worcester Slam team. The top 2 finishers tonight move on to the semi-finals in 2 weeks (April 21st). Thanks to all who competed, judged and applauded tonight. Congrats go out to the winners of tonight slam, Chris Johnson and Skinny White Boy. The details have been posted on the Slam Info page for those who are interested.

Maybe it was the fact that Monday is a holiday for some in this great state of ours (Patriot's Day, aka Marathon Monday). Or it could have been the excellent weather. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the promise of stellar poetry. Whatever the reason the Java Hut was packed and the place was jumpin' more than that gothboy on one too many Psycho Blasts.

A open mic should always be like this. Full of good verse, bright shiny poets, full of insight into their fellow being and a willingness to share a word or two or 100. We celebrated Eleanor's 78th birthday too!

And then Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz took the stage and rocked the place big time. For those not in the know, Cristin is the host and slammaster of one of the kicin'est readings in NYC, the Urbana Poetry Series. She started out with a tribute to her Mom (hint - it's where the O'Keefe comes from boys + girls), followed up with pieces of the "Jason series" and then moved on share pieces about working on the "adult interest" sites on About.com. Cristin closed her set with the Sass Manifesto. The gathered loved her work, offering thunderous applause and calls for an encore. Virginity for Sale was the perfect cap for a wonderful night of poetry - hope you caught it.

Want to know who won? Well you should have been at the Java Hut!!! Heading to the finals in 2 week are Seren, Rushelle, Bill, Jon and Debbie. They'll join Corrinna, Ed and Nina on May 5th for Worcester's killer 7-round slam finals to choose the 2002 Worcester Slam team that will compete in Minneapolis, MN in August.

All the details, scores and little bits of info (like why there were only 7 competitors tonight, why 5 folks moved on to the finals tonight and what the capital of Georgia is) will be posted on the Slam page after I get some sleep.

Following the open Mayda del Valle took the stage and wowed a packed house with her strong words. Showing what it takes to be the indy champ of NPS she worked the room, pulling the audience into her poetry with tight phrases and fluid movement. With poems paying homage to the Windy City and her mama's cooking she earned a standing ovation from their audience. As an encore she offered up Redefinition, sharing her vision of herself. I think The end line from Tongue Tactics best sums up Mayda's performance tonight... like whoa!.

Thanks to our 5 tough judges - Lisa, Dave, Tim, Gwen and the team of Woody + Dave Gibbs. They kept the scores tight and kept us waiting until the end of the night to see who would be on the team. The award for enthusiasm goes to our killer audience who kept the energy level high throughout the course of the night and let the judges know when they didn't agree with their scores.

But enough of that. You want to know who won this silly thing called slam. And the winners are Corrina, Seren, Bill and Rushelle with Jon as the Beaver, I mean alternate. Congrats to all!

All the gory details (i.e. the scores and a note about the line-up) have been posted to the Slam page. You can also find a few pictures in our Photo Gallery.

After the open Gary Hoare took over the mic for an amazing set. Gary is no stranger to the Asylum, heck he was an inmate, I mean member, of the 2001 Worcester Slam team (and the 2000 Providence team as well). Before he got to the poetry he offered a confession, 2 songs, a short description of impatience, a disclaimer, an essay from his new book, Fact, Fiction, and Blatant Lies, an excellent satire of Tony Brown's Punk, his manifesto and a short story. After all that there was only time for one poem. From the line waiting to get a copy of his book at the end of the night I think it's safe to say the crowd loved that piece. Thanks Gary, it was worth the wait.

After closing out the open mic with one of my favorite pieces Tony turned the stage over to this weeks feature, Keith Roach. It was a treat have Keith on our stage. He offered up 11 poems in his set, among them Siren's Song, which he said was as close to a biography as he had and the simply titled yet very poignant Miss You. His poems reveal an artist who works hard at his craft - molding words into something with deep meaning that is still accessible when heard. Thanks for a great feature Keith.

First we had our regular open mic with a mix of new faces and the usual suspects. The features son, Drew, even read. Lots of love poetry tonight. Must have been something the air. Very cool.

Following the open mic dan day took the stage commando style. Host with the most, Tony Brown, didn't get to say more than And now for the feature, before dan appeared in the back of the room with a shout and took over the stage in commando jacket, sunglasses and the obligatory beret. Proclaiming himself the anti-laureate he proceeded to served up a steaming set straight from the land of 100+ degree days. Of note was a dual voice piece with his son Drew about unemployment, an anti-love poem called of sex + basketball and where have all the radicals gone, an anti-war piece. dan spent most of his set off mic, making a real connection with the audience with fine words and well crafted meaning. dan was a regular at the Ayslum before moving to the Southwest (Tuscon to be exact). While this visit was short he left a lasting impression on the audience.

Following the open mic the 2002 Worcester Slam team took over the stage at the Java Hut. Bill, Rushelle, Jon, Seren and Corrina showed us their well crafted work. No longer a band of individuals they are now a team that has practiced with each other and the words show it. Their pieces have been tightened, strengthened, tweaked to be sweeter to the ear while still packing a punch where it matters. Excellent work considering the short time since they were facing off in competition.

We'll be hearing more from the team over the next couple of months through regional competitions. And of course there's the big team send-off on August 11th. Check out the Sunday page for all the relevant dates.

Following the open mic Howard Frost brought swords and sorcery to the Poets' Asylum. The long time inmates of the Asylum remember Howard from his past visits and he didn't disappoint those newer to the scene. Visiting from his home in the UK where he works for the evil empire known as the IRS he brought a bag of tricks, I mean words, that tantilized the mind with imagery. We even had dreary weather to make him feel right at home. If you get a chance to hear him read jump at it. And grab is chapbook; it's only $2 and worth so much more.

The Java Hut was jumping as a standing room only crowd came out for poetry. The open mic got things off to a fabulous pace - great words were sailing through the air. It's always nice to hear new voices and tonight we had a couple. Come again. Plus the regulars fed us on their words. Good stuff!

Once we wrapped the open the 2 teams faced off. The four poets on each team competed before the 5 tough judges. It was a great bout with a very vocal audience letting the judge know when they didn't agree with a score. In the end the totals were Providence with 107.9 and Worcester with 110.6. Great performances by all the poets - Sage, John, Jared, Bernard, Bill Corrina, Rushelle and Jon. Thanks to our judges as well - Andrew, Josh, Shana, Diana and Alex.

Following the open the featured poet, April Ardito took the stage. April gave us a tasty 30 minute set that was, in her words, all about boys. In addition to her own work (including A Love Song, a person favorite) she covered Rachel Hyman and Patrick Washington. She has a new book out based on letters she wrote home during her cross-country road trip last fall. It was great to have someone who has given so much to the performance poetry community reading works from the heart. Don't be a stranger April.

With best girl Lucy Anderton by his side Nick closed out the Stealing Home Tour in fine style with a visit to the Poets' Asylum. Nick and host Tony Brown have had an ongoing online pirate fixation for many months and tonight we found out who the true pirate was (well not really). However it gave us an excuse to say "argghh" a lot, corner Nick with a sword wielding crowd, and have him be confronted by a knight in shiny armor (courtesy of Higgins Armory).

And there was poetry too! Great words in the open mic including a couple of dynamite pieces by returning college student Star. Before the feature Tony and Nick faced off in a head-to-head pirate haiku deathmatch. Hilarious stuff was tossed out by both poets with Tony snagging the victory and Nick eating the pie. And then Nick gave us a superb feature. His works covered a variety of themes - from sports to love to a cover of a side-splitting old man piece by Bill Campana. The thunderous applause brought Nick back on stage of one more piece; a mad crazy funny letter from the hospital to the love of his life, Ms. Lucy Anderton.

Following the open mic Erika, Ted, Dave, Victor and Gwen battled it out in our first ever Win a Feature Slam. Time limit was extended to 4 minutes to allow the poets to try pieces they wouldn't normally be able to slam with. If you weren't there you missed some excellent poetry. After two rounds Dave Macpherson finished on the top a mere 6/10ths of a point ahead of Gwen and earned a feature on August 18th. Congrats to all who competed on your hard work. Thanks to our judges and especially the audience.

Here are the scores for those who are interested...

Following a shorter than normal but still kickin' open mic the slam teams from Worcester, Burlington (VT), Providence (RI), and the Cantab Lounge competed in a standard issue regulation slam following all those pesky national rules. The Java Hut was standing room only for most of the night and the energy remained up, up, up until the last poet left the stage. Scores were tight all night long and time penalties played a part in the final order. At the end of the night the Cantab came out on top followed by Worcester, Providence and Burlington.

A picture of the participants can be found in our Photo Gallery.

Following a short open mic the home town team (that would be Worcester for those of you just tuning in) went head-to-head against the Cantab team. Each team sent up 5 poets (4 plus their alternate or a reasonable facsimile there of), the judges did their magic and at the end of the night the team from Worcester came out ahead.

Following the head-to-head slam the top scorers from each team, Corrinna from Worcester and Marlon from the Cantab, performed one poem each to crown the Indy champ of the night. The crown went to Corrinna with a perfect 30.

In the second round each poet was given the opportunity to share a couple thoughts about this years Nationals. They each performed a poem that meant something special to them, offering some insight into the pieces before performing. The judges gave each poet a perfect 30 for their efforts. Much fun was had by all.

We started a new season of Slam as well with our first competition under the new structure. 5 poets performed in this 2 round bout. Thanks to the judges for their honest opinions and the audience members who kept the judges on their toes. At the end Christopher Johnson and Frank Miller tied for first with Deb Middleton coming in third. The details have been posted on the Slam page for those who like to see the gory details.

Following the open mic Ellyn Maybe took the stage and took our breathe away with well woven words and juicy phrases that linger long after the initial sounds have past. Her set included delicious morsels like Ball + Chain Records, Not Yet, and He Kisses Girls Just 'cause They Are Blond. Her work draws the listener into her words, wrapping the mind in the visual, and in the process, revealing the essence of her beliefs.

Five people competed in this weeks slam - Dave, Sean, Arron, Frank and Christos (yup, he's back). At the end Frank Miller took first place with Dave Macpherson and Christos earning second and third place. Thanks to the judges for their honest opinions. The details have been posted on the Slam page for those who like to see the gory details.

Then Seth Jarvis took the stage and showed us what happens when you add enthusiastic performance to well-written poetry. Seth performed a combination of his own work and covered the likes of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Tony Hogan. He paid homage to his family's long line of soldiers, taught us about twisted nursery rhymes, worked the goings on at the venue into his set and gave us a taste of things to come. To mangle a line from one of his pieces, this man deserves your attention.

Following a dynamite open mic Shane Koyczan took the stage and delivered an as-good-as-ever performance of both new work and favorites. After the obligatory Craig Nelson "love" poem he performed a 30 minute set that included an oral sex poem, a cover of Geoff Treancher's Don't Know How I Got There and Help Wanted. Lots of fun was had by all.

And then the real craziness started as 8 poets faced off before 5 randomly choosen judges for the Slam. This two round bout was fast paced as host Bill MacMillan kept the judges on their toes and the audience reved up to support the poets. Great work was performed by Mykal, Seren, Celena, Dave, Jack, Debbie, Frank, and Christos. Thanks to the judges for your quick and honorable efforts. When the final numbers were totaled Celena Glenn finished first, followed by Seren Divine with Dave Macpherson earning third place honors. The details have been posted on the Slam page for those who like to see the scores in each round.

Laura Moran then took the stage for a dynamite set of heartfelt performance poetry. Her vocal styles and powerful imagery were an amazing poetic experience that kept us on the edge of our seats for the duration.

And then we slammed... How important are time penalties? How important is the the difference between first and third place? Four competitors, including a first time slammer, matched poems before 5 randomly chosen judges. Host Bill MacMillan kept the pace upbeat and the scores were flying at warp speed. Excellent work was performed by Jon, Dave, James and Debbie. Thanks to the judges for their quick and honest work. After all the numbers were added up Dave Macpherson grabbed the top spot with Debbie Middleton earning second and Jon Wolf squeaking into third.

Wondering who went over time? Check the details from this slam (and all the slams this year) on the Slam page. Pictures from Ryk's feature have been posted to the Photos page of the website as well.

And then it just got better as Marlon Carey took the stage and gave us a diverse set showing off the range of his poetic voice. From the alliterative P Poem to the change the world Dorchester he brought us to the height of the mountain and safely back down the other side. His upbeat style and winning personality engaged the audience, drawing new arrivals in and keeping the regulars excited. He also announced that he has quit his day job to run away and join the artistic circus (i.e. he's leaving the area for a while and then hopes to do something artistic full time). And real soon now he'll have another book.

No slam tonight - 3 folks signed up and slammaster Bill felt it wasn't fair to the slammers or audience to undertake the slam with so few competitors. 1 point will be awarded to Daniel, Indigo and the silent one for their willingness to participate.

Chris Mellen captivated the audience during her 20 minute set, despite an uncooperative mic. Her work flowed from the page as she read poems about Celtic music, a "sappy poem" for her husband, a tribute to the beats and many more. She also included a piece developed in the Shakti Womens' Writing Pact about her fears and concerns following 9/11. Excellent work from one of Worcester's own.

And the slam rolled on Gary, Rushelle, Ed, Daniel, Dave, Ted and Christos competing. Thanks to the panel of judges for their hard work, to Dave Gibbs for being our sacrifice... poet, and to the audience for their applause and support of the performers. Once the numbers were checked (and double checked, never let a poet do math) Dave Macpherson nailed first, Rushelle Frazier snagged second and Ed Fuqua grabbed third. The details from this slam (and all the slams this year) on the Slam page.

Indigo Moor's first book, The Displaced Child, is awaiting a second printing from the publisher. Be sure to ask him about it next time you see him. It's worth the wait.

And then there was a slam. Five went in and two came out on top. The five competitors were Jon, Ed, Dave, Tony and Frank. It was a fun, high energy slam. The judges really had their work cut out for them, but they were up to the challenge. When the two rounds were over, Frank Miller and Tony Brown tied for first, earning each of them three points in the slam standings. Dave came in next, earning himself another point. Jon and Ed did not earn points but they won with killer poetry. A great evening!

Bill's 35 minute set included works from his new book, Talking with Mr. Albert, plus a cover and an old favorite. Many of the poems in this chap are based on writing suggestions provided from the audience back in August as Bill was preparing for Nationals. His set included a piece dedicated to the 8000+ who died on Sept. 10th (2001) who no one remembers and another one first posted to his Diaryland account. He also covered Peter Mulvey's Aurora Borealis. He closed the night with a crowd favorite, Writing Lesson #8. An excellent evening of poetry from one of the areas best.

A hearty shout out to the good folks from Bridgewater who came up to visit the Asylum and share their poetry - don't be strangers.