Slam champ Damien Flores to host poetry slam here Thursday

Slam champ Damien Flores to host poetry slam here Thursday

Nationally known slam poet Damien Flores will lead a writing workshop and be guest host at a poetry slam Thursday, Nov. 9, on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.

  • He will lead the writing workshop at noon in the Fireside Room of Koch Commons.
  • He will host an open mic session at 6:30 p.m., and a poetry slam at 7:30 p.m., in Scooter’s, located in the lower level of Murray-Herrick Campus Center.

All events are free and open to the public. Donations are welcome. Sponsors are PSST (Poetry Slam at St.Thomas), the University Lectures Committee and the St. Thomas Theater Department.

Flores, of Albuquerque, N.M., was a member of the national champion University of New Mexico Slam Team and helped organize the 2005 National Poetry Slam. He is the College Unions Poetry Slam champion and has performed across the United States.

His collection of poetry, “A Novena of Mud,” was published this year by Destructible Heart Press and he has been published in Bomb Magazine and “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” by Sun Stone Press. He is an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico where he is president and host of the poetry slam club, LoboSlam.

This is the ninth poetry slam at St. Thomas and the second this semester. At the hourlong open mic at 6:30 p.m., the microphone is available to anyone. The 7:30 p.m. poetry slam, meanwhile, is a form of competition. Those who would like to participate are asked to register at 6 p.m.; slots are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Each poet has three minutes to present her or his poem and there are two and sometimes three rounds of competition. Five judges, who score poems on a scale of one to 10, are chosen at random from the audience.

Prizes are awarded to the top three winners.

For more information about Flores’ visit or the poetry events in Scooters, contact Michael Arleth, the PSST president for membership, at mjarleth@stthomas.edu.