Denice Frohman, a finalist in the Pigeon slam series, enjoying the feature poet at the March 2012 slam.

Here at APIARY, we are in the shout-out business. The high-five market. The commerce of compliments. We’ve made it our job to seek out the awesome literary projects of this great literary city and tell as many people about them as want to listen. Sometimes, it’s hard to know which great poet or chapbook or workshop we should highlight at any given time – there are so many!

But today the choice is easy, because our favorite new slam series, The Pigeon Presents: Philadelphia Poetry Slam, is holding its finals TOMORROW NIGHT.  (Founders Jacob and Alyesha are also helping to host our launch party on June 1 – THAT’S how much we like what they bring to the stage.)

Jacob Winterstein and Alyesha Wise started the Pigeon in part to rejuvenate Philly’s adult poetry slam community. Sure, there are lots of open mics, but in terms of competitive venues, we’ve been lagging behind New York and DC. So they’ve brought in top poets from outside Philly as features, injecting a little adrenaline and new energy into the scene. They also offer workshops before each event, to let newbies feel their way into maybe writing their own poems.

The Pigeon makes it a point to be welcoming to newcomers every first Friday. You know it’s a good event when you overhear your fellow audience members saying, “This is my first time at a poetry event, but this is fun!” Most importantly, the quality of the work onstage is excellent. The right people win for the right reasons. The Pigeon demands excellence and the competitors deliver.

This event will feature the winners of all previous slams going up against each other  - the fruition of Jacob and Alyesha’s work for the last 7 months. So go check it out. We’ll be there. And you’ll get a preview of the fun we’re going to have on June 1.