TWENTY of Guyana’s poets gathered at the Castellani House, Georgetown, on Saturday night for the National Poetry Slam and, at the end of the night, Jamicia Mc Calman- Nelson emerged as Guyana’s poetry slam ‘champ’.

The ‘slam’ featured several dramatic pieces with the poets speaking about societal ills and tackling local issues in their own way. Mc Calman- Nelson- through her piece ‘Another One’- tackled the scourge of domestic violence.

Passionate and clear, hers was a message that too many women are hurt and lost to violence. And before another woman winds up hurt, or worse, dead, she pleaded for the scourge to end.

Her chilling piece found favour with the judges, allowing her to edge past 19 other finalists and cop the first place prize of $200,000.

“Honestly, when it reached second place and I heard that my name was not called, I started walking back to my car, because I believed that there are many amazing presenters.

“… But God gets all the glory. When I found myself stumbling with my words, I asked God to say them as he wants me to say them. I wrote this piece since 2018, and this is the first time, I tried learning it. I trust that it sent across the right message to the audience,” the poet told the Guyana Chronicle moments after it was announced that she won.

After Mc Calman- Nelson came Jalen Chancellor while Kean Dey took third place. They also walked away with cash prizes. Importantly, all of the finalists took home $10,000.

Franale Holder, the coordinator of the event, told this newspaper that the aim of the event was to spotlight some of the talent that exists locally.

“… It is to bring to the fact that we have great writers in Guyana and the fact that they are very expressive and are able to articulate themselves in a very dramatic manner. So, the purpose of this is to encourage them to do what they do best and that is writing dramatic pieces or just doing slam poetry in general,” Holder said.
She also opined that local poetry, once nurtured and supported, can be internationally recognised.

The National Coordinator further explained that she has done her best, sharing her knowledge with the poets to keep them going on from strength to strength.

“I would have shared my knowledge with them, being a writer myself, as to how you can present your pieces to the world and even if they aren’t cut for the stage, they also continue to write and definitely have actors or somebody else do your pieces because, as they say, the proof is in the pudding,” Holder said.

Well-known playwright and dramatist Al Creighton said that the poetry event was part of the Guyana Literary Festival that was held at the weekend. The festival was organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. Another highlight of the festival was the return of the Guyana Prize for Literature.