Poetry Slam Unearths Spoken Word Talent

Miles Merrill with Poetry Slammers Megan and Jason

Poetry Slammers Jacqui and Robyn

Poetry Slam host Miles Merril entertained the audience with his sound effects and poetry

Winter by Megan Roweth

Warm woolly jumpers covered in snow,

Bonfires burning bright,

Frosty white, cold at night,

Heaters a burning light.

Reading Banjo by the fire,

Pretty soon I start to tire,

Trickling away like sand and dirt through your fingers.

(Written & performed by Megan at Banjo Paterson Festival Poetry Slam, reproduced here with permission)

We opened up our Banjo Paterson Festival Poetry Slam to people of all ages on Saturday afternoon at the CWA Hall. Spoken word artist and host Miles Merrill performed his own brand of poetry for the fantastic audience who thoroughly enjoyed the spirit of the competition.

Four performers bravely took to the stage – Jason, Megan, Jacqui and Robyn – and impressed the judges chosen from the audience with their wonderful performances. The scores were very close – Jason was placed 4th with “Castlereagh”, Jacqui was 3rd with a poem about Spiders, Megan came 2nd with “Winter” and Robyn took out first place with her amusing poem about shopping. In a wonderful gesture, Robyn gave her prize of a $100 gift voucher to Megan, aged 6 years, for her standout original performance on the day.  The crowd burst into loud applause for this act of kindness. Jacqui also entertained everyone with a spontaneous second performance called “Cockroaches” which involved audience participation and had everyone laughing. Thank you both performers and audience for a great afternoon of entertainment.