Just two days left until Can You Hear Me Now? 2016 kicks off.

The poets are madly writing and memorizing their poems (still?!?). The coaches are nervously planning their trips, calmly reassuring their poets, and desperately emailing their questions. The judges are expertly honing their judgments by scoring everything they see, from meals to driving skills. (“I give the pancakes an 8.4, but Mr. McSleepy gets a 6.9 because of his lack of commitment and a 0.5 point deduction for taking longer than 3 minutes to change lanes,” one judge was heard saying on the way to work this morning.)

All because in just 40 hours, more than 100 Alberta poets will converge on Ernest Manning High School (20 Springborough Blvd. SW, Calgary) in an epic battle of words, wit, woefulness, whimsy, and theatricality* to determine the greatest poetry slam team of this generation!**

Bring a non-perishable food item (a donation for the Calgary Food Bank) to gain entry for the weekend, with everything starting at 3 pm on Friday, May 13. The full schedule can be found on the Attend page, so stop by, say “Hi,” and experience some spectacular poetry!

*Of course “theatricality” breaks both the rhythm and the alliteration of the other words, but this is a blog post, not poetry – what did you expect? If you’re a sucker for rhythm and alliteration, you better attend the slam this weekend!

**This comment is merely for hyperbolic effect and is not an actual description of any award or prize actually being awarded or prized at CYHMN? 2016.