On Tuesday, January 15, the women of the poetry world in upstate New York will again take over the stage at Valentine’s for Nitty Gritty Slam #35. This will be the third and final preliminary bout to determine who will be representing NGS at WOWps (Women of the World Poetry Slam) in March 2013.

And we will have a featured poet that you will not want to miss! (See below)

Any female poet who competed in the last two WOWps prelims, but did not come in either first or second is invited (and encouraged) to come back and slam again for a spot in the finals. The rounds will again be a little different for NGS #35. Poets will compete in four rounds with four different lime limits (1, 2, 3, and 4). Poets, please be prepared with four of their own, unique poems.

Then, on February 19 the top two poets from this slam will join Elizag, D. Colin, Tasha Davis, and Alyssa in the final bout to see who will be going to Minneapolis in March.

The Women of the World Poetry Slam was introduced in 2008, in which only female and female-identified poets are allowed to compete.[2] The first WOWPS was held in Detroit, Michigan and the first WOWps champion was Andrea Gibson. The 2013 Women of the World Poetry Slam will bring up to 80 female poets from all over the country to the city of Minneapolis, March 6-9 for 4 days of competitive poetry performance. Only poets who live their lives as women are eligible to compete in this slam.

As an added bonus we will also have a featured poet at NGS #35. McPherson from the 2012 Nuyorican Slam Team will be our special guest. He is a very talented poet, writer, artist, and performer from New York City and absolutely wowed us in Charlotte this past summer at the National Poetry Slam.

McPherson is an orgy of art forms constantly evolving into something new. When he turned eighteen, he left Oklahoma commenced his artistic assault on Manhattan. He earned a spot on the 2012 Nuyorican Slam Team, placing 3rd in the prestigious National Poetry Slam. He performed two pieces on final stage, the Knight Theater, where scenes from the Hunger Games were filmed. McPherson was on the 2008 Urban Word outh slam team, which took second in Washington DC and won the ‘Speak Green’ slam at the Kennedy Center. For his performance in dance and choreography, The Apollo Theater asked McPherson personally to help celebrate in their 75th anniversary special performance. ‘FearNone’ debuted his one-man show entitled “Riding Wolf” (directed and co-developed by the brilliant Queen Godis, choreographed by the exceptional Nicco Anann and sponsored by Urban Word NYC in collaboration with the Dance Theater Workshop) at DTW, where he utilized his skills in poetry/rap, acting and freestyle dance skills. McPherson is in the arts for God, money, and to live his life to the fullest, so full that it overflows even after death, drowning the grim reaper. He is currently working on his first novel, which will destroy this planet.

* NOTE – This slam will not be an open slam. Only women poets will be able to slam. The open mic will be for all poets and spoken word artists who want to step up to the mic with a special two poem limit.