Boonaa Represents Toronto at TIPS

Last night, the Reverb rocked with some of the best spoken word this city has ever seen, as part of the 5th Annual Toronto International Poetry Slam (TIPS). With poets from across the continent all competing for $1000 and bragging rights, TIPS brought passion and intensity to the standing-room-only crowd that assembled at Queen and Bathurst this long weekend.

Despite the fact that poets from New York City came in both first and second — with Jamaal St. John winning his third title in five years — the Toronto poets that graced the stage made me proud to call this city my home. Of particular note was Boonaa Mohammed, Ryerson student and spoken word virtuoso, who finished in third place in the competition.

Want to know what you missed? There's a short spoken word video created by Boonaa after the jump.

For those of you that haven't had the chance to see Boonaa perform live just yet — or any Toronto poets for that matter — I'd strongly suggest you get to one of the many events by Up From the Roots and Toronto Poetry Slam (you can find detailed listings on our blogTO's events page) that take place across the city regularly.

Boonaa is also one of the poets that will be representing Toronto at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Halifax this October, so keep an eye out for blogTO's special coverage of the festival later this month.

(Image: Stolen From Africa from Boonaa Mohammed's Facebook profile. Video from Youtube.)