Tonight we went to attend another Poetry Slam put on by the Full Moon Poets. We were there last year and enjoyed it very much.

This year I was one of the five judges. I was judge number three, the one that was booed most of the time for giving the low scores – in case you are reading that and you were there.

Again, I was impressed with the quality of the work. This contest was again a battle of the two giants, Rudy Francisco and Corey Taft. Corey recited the last work of the day: “Say Anything to Me” and he took the only score of  the night of a perfect 50, five judges all with a perfect 10. Corey is amazing. Rudy won the contest by a tenth of a point ahead of Corey. I was a little disappointed because Rudy used his poem “Stripping” as his number two work, even though he had used it last February when he also won. I deducted a half a point for that. Most of the other judges do not appear to have known or noticed that — of course, you had to have been there last year to know.

If you ever have a chance to see a poetry contest, or if you live in the San Diego area and can go to the poetry slam, do it. You will be surprised how much your expectations will be exceeded by the experience and the quality of the work you will witness.

Job well done, all 17 contestants. It was an honor to listen to you.