K-Dense• Show poetry

Hi. I'm Curtis E. Meyer.

I'm an journalist, essayist, and writer of short stories and articles, and above all Slam/performance poet living in Winter Park, Florida. My works have appeared in various publications.

I am a five-time particpant at The National Poetry Slam as a member of Team Orlando. I am the 2007 and 2008 Broken Speech Poetry Slam Grand Slam champion, and 2009 Broken Speech Poetry Slam Gnad Slam runner-up. I also host a spoken word poetry open mic every Wednesday. (Address listed below.)

I am also one-fourth of Quarantine Unit (or Q-Unit for short), Orlando, Florida's premier Spoken Word powerhouse alongside writers/performers Jared Rice, NonaLeona, and Ronin.

www.myspace.com/quarantineunit

I also have a solo album of poetry titled Certainy. If you are interested in purchasing a copy, they are ten dollars ($10.00) cash or check, and available through mail delivery if you contact me with an address to mail one to. I'll send you a return message once supplied with a check to my home address, which I'll provided privately. If you wish to contact me, here's my personal myspace address, but please, just because you visit me doesn't mean you're automatically going on my friends list:

www.myspace.com/kdense

Here are some venues I perform poetry at on a regular basis. If you live in or are going to be in the Central Florida area, you should check them out:

Backroom Words
Held every Tuesday at 9:00PM

Will’s Pub
1040 N. Mills Avenue
Orlando, Fl, 32803
Phone: 407-898-5070

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Diverse Word Open Mic
Held the first tuesday of every month at 8:00PM

Dandelion Communitea Cafe
618 N. Thornton Avenue
Orlando, Fla 32803
Phone: 407-362-1864

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Real Open Mic (Hosted by me!)
Held every Wednesday at 8:00PM

Urban Deli/Bookstore!
625 E. Central Blvd.
Orlando, Fl 32801
Phone: 407-650-8004

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Soft Exposure Open Mic
Held every second Wednesday at 7:00PM

Infusion Tea
1600 Edgewater Drive
Orlando, Fl
Phone: 407-999-5255

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Open Mic Poetry
Held every Wednesday at 8:30PM

Austin Coffee & Film
929 W. Fairbanks Ave.
Winter Park, Fl
Phone: 407-975-3364

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Speak No Evil
Held every Wednesday at 8:00PM

Mark's Caribbean Cuisine
10034 University Boulevard
Orlando, Fl 32817
Phone: 407-699-8800.

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Broken Speech Poetry Slam
Held every Thursday at 9:30PM

Stardust Video & Coffee
1842 Winter Park Rd
Winter Park, FL 32789-5819
Phone: 407-623-3393



Slam (For those curious who wish to ask the question): n. A form of competitive Spoken Word poetry with roots dating back to the first Olympics in ancient Greece.

In Slam, poets are scored for a number of rounds (typically three), by three or five judges randomly chosen from the audience on a scale of zero to 10 with one decimal point on a combination of performance ability and quality of written material. In the case of having five judges, the highest and lowest scores are dropped.

To wit, two 10s and a 9.5 equals a score of 29.5.

A "30" (Three 10s) is considered a perfect score.

For the most part, poetry slams have three rules that if ignored result in penalty:

1) Although quoting and parodies are allowed, all poets must present overall original work for all rounds.

2) No props, instruments, costumes, or other materials that would otherwise enhance the quality of one's performance are allowed.

3) All poets are given three minutes to perform onstage with a ten second grace period.

To find a poetry slam near you, or to look more into the genre, please go to:

www.poetryslam.com

www.slamnation.com

www.podslam.org