intensity

It's iWPS week, something for which we've been preparing for a couple of years. On Wednesday it will happen. By Sunday it will be over. It feels like just before a Christmas we have never experienced, and we're responsible for it going well.

This week, 72 performance poets will come to Vancouver to compete for the title of Individual World Champion. A few hundred audience members each day will enjoy the shows. Our little committee of six people has planned, prepared, promoted and even sold all of the tickets. We'll be joined by about the same number of people from PSi - the big Poetry Slam organization that puts together this tournament and the summertime "Nationals" for slam poetry teams. Together we will make the tournament and surrounding festival events happen.

I feel energized and mostly confident, thanks to this great team I'm working with. We did it once before in 2005 at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. This festival is almost like a second baby. We know what we've got ourselves into this time, and what we want to do differently and the same as last time. We also know it will be overwhelming - stressful and wonderful simultaneously, and that every one is different, no matter what you do.

I have most of the week off work to rest up for late nights, and run around doing errands during the day if I'm needed. There are daytime shows on Thursday and Friday and a skating party and ball hockey on Saturday afternoon. Saturday night will be finals night followed by a party and I know I'll cry. This baby flies out the window before the light of dawn Sunday. In the meantime, I'm ready to enjoy the show, meet lots of great people and see/hear/feel poetry like I never have before.

question: are you coming?

mompoet - boggled in a good way