By Matthew Abrey
Poetry and wrestling are two things that most people usually don’t associate with one another, but on May 17, these two vastly different worlds will collide at the Inspired Word Café‘s ‘Summer Slam’.
The Laurel Packinghouse will play host to the brainchild event of the Inspired Word Café, an organization committed to showcasing the talent of local poets through a series of fun and inclusive events, such as Thursday night’s wrestling/poetry hybrid.
“Summer Slam is an old wrestling event, and so we thought it would be fun to have an event that had the fun and performativity of a wrestling event and the lyrical competition of a poetry slam.” said Summer Slam co-organizer, Cole Mash.
“This event isn’t like anything else you will see in Kelowna,” continued Mash. “IWC has moved into the realm of interdisciplinarity, utilizing the skills of our incredible team of poets and performers to put on a great show.”
The event features a line-up of eight local poets, hand-picked by organizers, who will battle it out with their words, while leaving the wrestling displays to the professionals.
17 year-old Maddie Bishop is the youngest competitor at this year’s competition. She caught the eye of organizers by performing at various open-mic nights over the past few years, and is very excited to have been invited to this year’s slam, which is expecting crowds in the neighbourhood of a few hundred.
“It’s an honour to be competing against these amazing poets,” said Bishop. “It feels like I’m playing in the big leagues of Kelowna now, and it’s very exciting.”
Doors open at 6:30 Thursday evening, and tickets are still available at eventbrite.ca
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