The 2007 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word could end today, and I would be satisfied by the sheer awesomeness of the performance poetry I have already had the chance to witness. Luckily, there's still another two packed days left, and I'm super glad that I don't have to leave Halifax just yet.

As you can tell by the amazing video of LEVIATHAN performing above, the Toronto poets have been holding it down and representing our city with style, as the Toronto teams currently sit in second and fourth after the first round of competition in the National Slam.

The festival kicked off on Wednesday night with a fantastic showcase by the Word iz Bond collective introducing the poets and fans to the great city of Halifax through poetry and music. Thursday's program featured the CFSW Youth Day where poets and musicians went to Dartmouth High School to make music and share spoken word with the young people of the city. The youth day was attended by all the competing poets, as well as two special representatives from Toronto, the always enigmatic Eddy da Original One and the crushingly powerful Spin, who brought their spoken word stylings and musical flows to the youth.

Last night, the competition kicked off with 32 poets from eight teams from across the country bringing the best of their game for round one of the National Slam. After the dust had settled, Vancouver sat atop the leaderboard, but the Toronto Poetry Slam team was firmly in second place while the Toronto Up From the Roots team secured fourth place. The top four teams after the second round tonight will compete in the finals on Saturday.

Before I head off for another fantastic day of spoken word (including an open mic session at Dalhousie where I'll be debuting a new poem I just wrote), here's a great video of Toronto team members Amanda and Krystle performing during the first round of the national slam.

Check back tomorrow for more videos and coverage on the Toronto teams at the 2007 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Halifax.