Dominic Berry opened his set by calling the audience ‘cats’ as in the 50’s beat term – because ‘cat’ is gender free but still sensual. The cats at Hot Damn this month at the Supermarket frolicked through a show of strong open-stagers, strong slammers – including two new tabbies to the Hot Damn! stage.
Cathy Petch set the tone with her saw rending of the gay national anthem (What is it? You’ll have to attend a show to find out.) I hit the open stage with three pieces inducing the one below.
Some lines from the artist slam round: ‘on some chunks of this world I deserve to die’ ‘my breath claws for freedom’ ‘too fucked to fuck’ ‘people ask me when I knew I was trans, I ask them hen they one they were straight’ ‘my name is silence’ ‘Vanessa’s not my name – it doesn’t fit.’
I met feature Dominic Berry (http://dominicberry.net) at Capturing Fire in Washington DC. He wowed there with his energetic, funny & at times deeply touching poetry. It’s always good to see a poet do a set that isn’t under the influence of the pressure for judges’ points. Dominic stretches out, takes his time to make his piece breath fully as they come alive and draw us in.
His first piece capture the cadence and physicality of a deeply troubled man ‘silence sits so clammy beside me’ ‘my confidence is getting hungry’ ‘at night it feels like that day is getting further away.’ In his Coming Out Vegan’ he is loud & proud about being a ‘celery munching queen’ who ‘ravishes radishes.’
His series of gaming poems, set to funky music, was full of fun rhymes ‘splatter me with flattery’. It made me think of a gay The Streets. Even though I don’t know the gaming world I certainly understand sexual desire for unreal men 🙂
A dynamic set performed with theatrical gusto and verbal inventiveness that I enjoyed. If you missed him here you can catch him at Capturing Fire this June. (photos in this post are all from Washington DC)
After the break we were treated a fine singing cat -who didn’t sing memories. The energy was raised for the final slam round. Some lines: ‘a rumour mill of revolution’ ‘a one way ticket that’s not even in my name’ ‘post card from a high functioning borderline kid’ ‘our knees touching under the table of the diner’ ‘going from playing dress up to putting something resembling armour’ ‘I don’t need you to like me.’
Oodles of prizes (including poodles) were give. Kay Kessirer won the evening’s round & is now in the running for the trip to DC in June. The next TO Hot Damn! will be at the Supermarket March 16 and the second season grand finale will be at Buddies in Bad Times on April 21. All the hep cats will be there.
Moment of F**king Silence
a moment of silence
to respect
those who have been silenced
to offer a dignity
a solemnity
all that’s missing
is the hashtag
a #moment of #silence
that’s better
showing support
without doing #anything
because those who have been silenced
and by silence
I don’t mean marginalized
I don’t mean neutralized
I mean murdered
killed by others
by their own hand
by neglect
by #silence by the face of shame
where is the moment of retaliation
oh no we can’t do that
because doing that
will sink us down to their level
getting even isn’t justice
it doesn’t get good press
#victimization
gets all the good press
a moment of violence
of striking back is tut tut not adult
we must have silence
so the healing can begin
why not a moment of vanity
in which we all pull out a mirror
to contemplate our own faces
to see where we fit in
to see what healing means
while the screaming is still going on
to figure out why
forgiveness is more fulfilling
that taking the victimizers to task
for their behaviour
where was their forgiveness
so I don’t forgive
that’s my flaw
I’m called out for being bitter
not understanding enough
unwilling to make a social context
that rationalizes actions
that spring from a troubled childhood
from a drug addled brain
from a books of words holy pages
that approves
making victims of others
in the name of righteousness
a moment of silence
to prove that I am emotionally more mature
I can take it
I can rise above
the blood soaked streets
an angel of mercy
fuck that
fuck fuck fuck that
I don’t care about
perpetrators’ apologies
how they feel remorse
I don’t want revenge
I want it to stop
I want an eon of silence
not a moment of silence
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TOpoet 
