WWWWWHHHHHHHHAAAAAATTTTTTT Too thrilled to be hosting the fiercest Queen of Queer Fabulosity and Wicked Sharp Wordsmith Paul Tran and our 5th open slam of this quarter, that’s what!

Hosted by CE Bain!!!
$5 // All Ages

(Please note: the Bureau is closed on Mondays. We open at 6 PM on Mondays for the Union Square Slam.) 

6:00pm: Free Poetry Workshop, hosted by Sara Emily Kuntz
7:00pm: Sign-ups for open mic and slam begin
7:30pm: Open Mic
8:00pm: Feature
8:30pm: Slam

About our Feature:

Paul Tran is the 10th ranked slam poet in the world. His Pushcart-nominated work appears in Prairie Schooner, The Cortland Review, The Offing, and RHINO, which gave him a 2015 Editor’s Prize. He has received fellowships and residencies from Kundiman, VONA, Poets House, Lambda Literary, Napa Valley, Home School Miami, and the Vermont Studio Center. Paul is the first Asian American poet to represent the Nuyorican Poets Cafe at the National Poetry Slam in almost 20 years. He lives in NYC, where he is a graduate student at NYU.

About our Slam:

::Union Square Slam National Team Competition::

There are 3 quarters of competitive poetry slam, each culminating in a Semifinal. Each quarter consists of six open slams (one or more of which is a New Shit slam — competition in New Shit slams counts towards your total points!)
Each open slam will :

•consist of up to 8 poet competitors

•have a 3 min time limit for each round with a 10-second grace period

•will go from 8 in the first round to 5 in the second round and 3 in the third round (this is subject to change depending on the number of competitors that night — see below)

•be scored cumulatively — the winner of the night will have the highest cumulative score from all three rounds.

At the end of each quarter, the poets with the 8 highest cumulative scores FOR THE QUARTER, are invited to compete in Semifinals. If a qualified poet opts out, then the next highest ranking poet qualifies. Semifinals are run using the same rules as the Open Slams. The top two highest ranked poets in each Semifinals bout will advance to Finals Stage, along with the top two winners of the Last Chance slam.

Last Chance Slam will be INVITATIONAL only to include the top 8 poets who have the highest cumulative scores over the entire season/all three quarters, but who didn’t not otherwise qualify for FINALS.