Event organizers claim that the annual Taos Poetry Circus, which kicks off Saturday, is one of the largest events of its kind in the world. Year after year, the Circus, organized by the World Poetry Bout Association, attracts some of the greatest names in contemporary poetry with fans from all over the world attending.
The festival will begin on "New Mexico Poetry Day," with the opening event "Poetry and Music at Taos Pueblo." Host Jeff Romancito will feature Taos Pueblo youth with Tiwa and American Indian poets, a drum group, dancers and a no-cost pueblo meal. Admission is $5.
"The Heavyweight Champion Poetry Bout" promises to be one of the best in years. A "Poetry Bout" is a 10-round competition where each of the poets take turns reciting previously written pieces scored by three unbiased judges. The order of the pieces is not predetermined and is instead based on the other poet.
The last bout is usually the Wildcard, where two poets pick improvise on a random word picked out of a hat.
Poet Pat "Velvet Hammer" Payne, a multimedia installation performance artist, will challenge poet and film star Saul "Amethyst Rock Star" Williams - co-star and writer of the award winning movie "Slam" - for the coveted title of World Champion Heavyweight Poet.
Saul Williams competed in the event last year where he challenged three-time Heavyweight Champion Sherman Alexie.
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"The Tag Team Poetry Event" - another crowd favorite - promises a good performance. Former World Heavyweight Championship Poet Andrei Codrescu and his partner Anslem Hollo, from Naropa Institute, will face Canadians Jill Battson and Sheri-D Wilson. Tag Team, a relatively new event, has been featured at the Circus for the last two years. It is much in the style of the World Champion Heavyweight Bout, but includes the "tag-team" feature found in professional wrestling.
The Circus also will feature an eclectic mix of contemporary poets for its various traditional reading series. The "Contemporary Voices" series will include Sekou Sundiata, just off a tour with Ani DiFranco, and nationally acclaimed award-winner John Balaban.
The "Global Voices" series will feature Juan Felipe Herrera, founder of Teatro Tolteca, and Suheir Hammad, the "Poet Laureate of the People's Republic of Brooklyn."
The Circus also includes a series of workshops on poetry to run concurrent with the rest of the events. "Mexican Bob's Poetics and Performance Camp" will be instructed by former World Heavyweight Champion Poets Ntozake Shange, Andrei Codrescu and Terry Jacobus, along with "Luminous Animal" poets Anne MacNaughton, Peter Rabbit and Amalio Madueno.
Also featured are a three-part Open Poetry Slam and an nXt Generation Youth Slam.
The Circus will be held in several venues, including: the CafÇ Tazza Coffeehouse, Taos Pueblo Day School, El Taose§o Restaurant and Lounge, Taos Children's Library, Bataan Hall, MagicCircle CyberCafe, and the Sagebrush Inn and Convention Center.
Tickets for the individual events run between $3 and $75 and will be on sale at Page One Bookstore. They may be ordered on-line at wpba@laplaza.org or toll-free at 1-877-203-9520. Also available are special package deals that include multiple events.
