by Victor Infante
It was a cross-dimensional throw down across time and space, with superheroes, monsters, magical warriors, superintelligent machines and more duking it out for Metaphoric Supremacy, but in the end, it came down to one titanic tussle: Los Angeles poet Rick Lupert's Kermit the Frog vs. Orange County, California poet Jaimes Palacio's King Kong.
And in the end, it was easy being green.
That's right, Rick Lupert has won his third round of #FantasyPoetrySlam in a row, leading #TeamMuppetTheater – which comprised himself, Providence poet Ryk McIntyre and Worcester poet Chris Reilley – to triumph over their opponents with a whopping score of 272! In the individual rankings, Lupert was the overall winner with 257 points!
It was a cross-dimensional throw down across time and space, with superheroes, monsters, magical warriors, superintelligent machines and more duking it out for Metaphoric Supremacy, but in the end, it came down to one titanic tussle: Los Angeles poet Rick Lupert's Kermit the Frog vs. Orange County, California poet Jaimes Palacio's King Kong.
And in the end, it was easy being green.
That's right, Rick Lupert has won his third round of #FantasyPoetrySlam in a row, leading #TeamMuppetTheater – which comprised himself, Providence poet Ryk McIntyre and Worcester poet Chris Reilley – to triumph over their opponents with a whopping score of 272! In the individual rankings, Lupert was the overall winner with 257 points!
But it wasn't a walk: Heavy competition came from the direction of #TeamMonsterIsland, as King Kong, Godzilla and their ilk – brought to life by Palacio, Justin Lamb of New Orleans and Christian Drake of Massachusetts – with a hefty score of 148, led by Palacio's monster-sized score of 115, giving him the 2nd place overall score, even though Kong was forced to bow before Kermit.
Interestingly, the giant monster poems were among the most meditative and spiritual, in their way, of all the entries, so kudos for finding philosophy among the rampage!
Coming in with a valiant third place was #TeamMandalor, representing a galaxy far, far away. New York's G. Kagan Trenchard and Michigan's Scott Beal turned out two of the most highly regarded and praised poems of the bunch, with Trenchard scoring 53 points – third place overall – for their exploration of “The Mandalorian” as a trans allegory, and Beal taking 22 points for his portrait of a stormtrooper wondering, “Maybe those WERE the droids we were looking for?” The Force was definitely with this duo!
Coming in with a valiant third place was #TeamMandalor, representing a galaxy far, far away. New York's G. Kagan Trenchard and Michigan's Scott Beal turned out two of the most highly regarded and praised poems of the bunch, with Trenchard scoring 53 points – third place overall – for their exploration of “The Mandalorian” as a trans allegory, and Beal taking 22 points for his portrait of a stormtrooper wondering, “Maybe those WERE the droids we were looking for?” The Force was definitely with this duo!
In fourth place as an individual, Karrie Waarala of Michigan scored 43 points for #TeamNarnia and much praise for her reappraisal of Susan, from the Narnia books, coming in fourth place as she and Maine's Christopher Clauss took for 60 points as a team, scoring them fourth overall.
While those were the highest scoring teams, this competition was ranked on a highly unscientific method that involved “liking” videos on YouTube, and as such, there were some fantastic and extremely underrated videos in the bunch that didn't come out on top: Some excellent poetry, some avant-garde strangeness, some outright silliness – all of it made for a grand old time, and all of it was a blast to watch. So to all the competitors in this year's #FantasyPoetrySlam, THANK YOU! This one has been the most fun so far, and thank you to Rob Sturma and FreezeRay Poetry for giving this silly little game a home. Enjoy, and until next time, may the odds be ever in your favor!
Below: some of the other entries based on Hitchhiker's Guide, X-Men, Dungeons & Dragons,
Game of Thrones, Stephen King and Eternia!
Game of Thrones, Stephen King and Eternia!
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