About 30 poetry fans enjoyed a night of witty and amusing poetry by spoken word artist Tug Dumbly (pictured) at the Australian Poetry Slam heat held last night. They also heard contemporary poems from local poets. Tug's poems “I Like it Strong” and “Ordinary Australians” received great reactions from the crowd. There were five contestants for the Poetry Slam – Patricia Stevenson, Alan Fragar, Darrin Yates, Joshua Simpson and Wolfgang Kline. They performed a range of poetry from traditional rhymes to lyrics about love, nature, life, garbage and storms. The winner, judged by the audience on the night was Darrin with a poem commenting on people taking the time to connect with their inner self – titled Beautiful Mind. Joshua Simpson of Bathurst, and Alan Fragar of Cowra, also won the opportunity to be at the Regional Final to be held at Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre on Saturday 7 August at 8pm during their Cabaret Kite event. For tickets contact BMEC.