Slam dunk for new poet

Scott-Patrick Mitchell, soon to be published in New Poets, won three heats and beat 50 competitors to take out the 2010 Perth Poetry slam.

Mitchell took to the stage for the final with nine other poets, including last year’s winner Mark Lloyd. He won the slam with ‘the foot tango’, a cheeky poem about foot fetishes set to the beat of a tango.

Mitchell said he’d participated in four state and national slams but that this was the first time he’d made it to the final.

“I entered my first slam in 2007 and bombed. Since then I’ve been getting progressively better,” he said.

Mitchell said winning the slam reaffirmed his decision to undertake a Masters in performance poetry because it showed him he had what it took performance-wise.

“Hopefully it’ll give me the gall to enter the nationals too … albeit with a new, just as audacious piece,” he said.

Mitchell will be performing at Fremantle Poetry Month in July 2010. His work is published in Fremantle Poets 1: New Poets.