It”s all over and done. The National Poetry Slam Finals ended Saturday night with a bang at the Palmer Events Center in Austin, Texas. Reported on the NPS Website, the final scores were :

Miami with a 83.1.
DC-Baltimore with a 84.1.
NYC/LouderARTS with a 85.7.
Austin/Southflavas with a 86.4.

And the winners of the 2006 National Poetry Slam is Denver with a 87.4.

Poet Don McIver who blogs at Confessions of a Human Nerve Ending volunteered to help out at the Nationals, and his blog gives a great account of what it”s like to be part of the furor of the crowd. His team, Albequerque, made it into the Semifinals, which is an honor in and of itself. He”s posted some great pics of poets leading up to the bout, including one of Denver gearing up, and one of Denver and Albequerque working together on a poem to honor Trinidad Sanchez, who passed away on July 31. (More about Trinidad Sanchez at Labloga)

Team honors are only half the story at the Nationals, though. In addition to the team bouts, the top ten scoring poets throughout the first two days of bouts go on to compete against each other for the Individual Slam Championship – popularly known as the Indies. This year, the Indies included one of my local favorites, Worcester team member Erin Jackson who rocks the house whenever she takes the stage. Erin went into the finals as the third-ranked poet in the slams. At the end of the night on Friday, the results were (as reported by GotPoetry:

1. Anis Mojgani, of Seattle
2. Alvin Lau, of Chicago
3. Jon Goode, of Atlanta Java
3. Lee Knight Jr, of Palo Alto.

Erin placed 7th in a field that started with over 300 poets. Not too shabby at all.