War of the Words

Poetry is not all old-fashioned hearts and flowers. As delivered by members of the Slam Nuba Team, poetry is vital, thoroughly modern and not remotely well-behaved. See for yourself tonight, when National Poetry Month gets off to an invigorating start Friday at Slam Nuba Team Slam Off 2009, at Crossroads Theater, 2590 Washington Street. Sign-up is at 7:30 p.m., and the poems start flowing at 8; you can be a spectator for a $7 cover. But that’s just the start of the slamming action. Saturday afternoon and evening, Slam Nuba will host a series of workshops and performances at Crossroads. “Want to Write a Slam Style Poem?” runs from 1 to 2:30 p.m., followed by “Slam Poetry 101” from 3 to 4. Then there’s the Haiku Battle from 5 to 6:30; bring at least twenty poems and you could win $50. Finally, the Slam Nuba Showcase takes the stage from 7 to 9 p.m. Just $5 gets you into the Saturday events; for advance tickets, call 303-832-0929 or go to www.slamnuba.com.

Fri., April 3, 8 p.m.; Sat., April 4, 2009