What is poetry? Women of the World Poetry Slam finalists

Denice Frohman, The Fuze (Women of the World Poetry Slam winner)

Last weekend, the 2013 Women of the World Poetry Slam brought nearly 80 poets from around the world to compete in Minneapolis over four days. In addition to competitive performance, the poets and the public were invited to participate in workshops including as No Shame No Silence: Addressing Sexual Violence in Community, open mics such as Nerd Slam, and curated poetry slams like Sassy Fat Girls!.

Related content:
2013 Women of the World Poetry Slam [slideshow]
Women of the World Poetry Slam: Minneapolis Qualifier

WOWPS is the largest gathering of women slam poets, so of course the competition was fierce. On Saturday evening, 12 poets took the stage at Aria to compete in the finals, with special opening performances by Desdamona and Katie Wirsing.

Before the finals, City Pages caught up with some of the evening's competitors (as well as the winner of the Youth Poetry Slam). We asked them to respond to our writing prompt "Poetry is..."

All photos by B FRESH PHOTOGRAPHY.

Falu, Nuyorican

Theresa Davis, Java Monkey

Ellyn Touchette, Port Veritas (Youth Poetry Slam winner)

Eris Zion Venia, Lake Effect Slam

Meg Waldron, Portland Poetry Slam