The third Poetry Slam & Open Mic night of the 2015-2016 school year was hosted on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016 at 6 p.m. in the Black Box Theater. Despite the original date being snowed out and an intense rainstorm, the night carried on successfully with a packed audience and a new theme: Anti-Valentine’s Day.

To match the theme, lighting in the Black Box was purposely toned down to darker, cooler tones than usual. However, not all was drab and eerie, with a huge array of talented Bobcats taking the stage for the Open Mic, which was kicked off by Mo Tacka, who performed her signature jokes and read an original poem. Kayla Reagan and Brenton Duvall also gave some impassioned readings of their own, with Duvall even cleverly rhyming each line. Several regulars also performed, with Senior Ben Rynes treating the audience to a jazz piece, Sam Cranford and Alex Folmer performing their own original songs, and Chris Lovorich reviving his solo project with a cover of the Plain White T’s “Hey There Delilah,” which was met with enthusiastic response, with audience members even raising their phone flashlights up as “lighters.” In conclusion of the Open Mic, our beloved pop-punk band of Bobcats, “The Average,” performed their original song, “Bel Air” and a cover of Blink-182’s “Alien’s Exist.” During the latter performance, lead singer and guitarist Hector Belarmino demonstrated head-banging and jump-kicks never before seen upon the Black Box stage.

“The Average just gets better and better each time,” says Mr. Taylor, organizer of the event. “Having a drummer [Riley Young] has definitely helped them.”

Following the Open Mic and a brief intermission, host Julie Stuck announced the beginning of the Poetry Slam. After going over the guidelines, Mr. Taylor performed his poem “Dear Quiet Boys” as the slam’s “sacrificial goat.” His performance was met with a perfect score of 30.0 by the judges, who were now properly calibrated to judge the other performers. August Napolitano, Praise Flowers, and Mary Talbard.

Napolitano started the slam with their poem titled “Testing the Waters,” Flowers gave it her all in her first slam performance ever, and Talbard matched the theme with two back-to-back poems; one about anti-love, one about love. After the judges had deliberated for the last time, the winners were announced, with Praise Flowers in second place with a total score of 53.8, and August Napolitano and Mary Talbard tying for first place with a 56.8.

“There’s nobody else I would’ve been happier to tie with, and I can’t wait to join forces with August in the duet slam!” Talbard said.

In just two weeks, there will be another slam night on Mar. 9. It will be a “Team Slam” – each performance featuring two poets writing and reading two of their original poems. It will be in the same place at the same time, so be sure not to miss another night of great fun!