Phil, apparently trying to block Derrick's face.

What a fun night! It was Providence's "Decathalon" Poetry Performance, a competition that featured some of the Northeast's top poetry teams competing in ten themed rounds, including a group piece round, a impromtu writing round, and a chubby bunny haiku round. It was a chance to laugh together, share some new work, and take some risks. Poetry godfather and friend Derrick Brown hosted the competition and did a pretty incredible set afterward. In the end, Providence walked away with the win, assisted by a perfect score from both the fabulous Jamila Woods and myself. Thanks so much to everyone who came out, an extra big thank you to Meg Thoma and Sarah Quenon who put the whole event together. --P

What an incredible honor! After months of competition, making it through the preliminaries, semifinals, and a hard fought Championship round this last Thursday, I am humbled to finish in the #1 spot and be named Providence's Grand Slam Champion! This is huge news - it means I will move on to national competition, performing at The National Poetry Slam this summer and The Individual World Poetry Slam this fall. A huge congratulations to the other three qualifying members of the Providence National Team who will go to The National Poetry Slam with me: Jamila Woods and Kai Huang (My close friends and teammates on the 2010 Brown University College National Team!) and Trevor Byrne-Smith (who tied me for first at the Grand Slam!). See you all at Nationals!   --P

What a wonderful opportunity - a full length, no-holds-barred feature on our home turf. The energy was palpable, the audience was amazing, and the room felt absolutely magical. Thanks so much to the hundreds of students, professors, and community members that packed the house!  You made this an incredible show to end our four years at Brown with. We wouldn't be anywhere near where we are today without you! --P

It was such an honor to be invited to an Acumen Fund event.  I have been a fan of Jacqueline Novogratz for a long time, and I think the people at Acumen have been doing some really amazing work.  Plus, being asked to be in the same room as such impressive folk as Gretchin Rubin, Jawad Aslam, and Chris Hughes was a huge privilege.  Much thanks to James Wu for all his help!  Listen to what Dan Blumberg had to say about me: (It makes me blush!)

Hooray!  It was so much fun to be back at UNIS!  I attended UNIS for 13 years of my life!  It was wonderful to see my old teachers and beloved faculty. Our workshop at lunch was also terrific, it made me proud! Much thanks to Dr. Rajan, Mr. Muslin, Dean Magnus, and Ms. Downey for having us, and to everyone who came to cheer us on.  (Also, thanks to my little brother for saying that I didn't embarrass him too badly...) I couldn't have asked for a lovelier homecoming. --S

What a great morning at Sophia Academy.  Nothing like a room full of smart, sassy middle school girls to wake you up and keep you on your toes!  Sophia Academy is a wonderful place, and I was especially fond of the tennis balls on the feet of their chairs!  It makes scuffling around so much quieter!  Thank you to Joanna for her help in bringing us!  We hope to be back soon! --S

After being named Brown University's Grand Slam Champion, it was an absolute honor to represent Brown at College Nationals (also known as CUPSI). Brown made quite a stir - in our first year ever attending Nationals, the Brown team and I made it all the way to the semi-final stage and were given an award for "Pushing the Art Forward", competing with pieces that challenged and experimented with the artform of Spoken Word Poetry. A huge congratulations and thank you to my team members Jamila Woods, Laura Brown-Lavoie, Kai Huang and Tim Natividad - I couldn't have done it without you! --P

My first time performing in the UK!  And what a "brill" time it was!  The Global Health Campaign is a new organization with its eyes on big things, and it was an honor and pleasure to be a part of its early stages.  Performing with the talented Abbe Smith was great, and I can't even begin to express my gratitude to the Teece family for all their hard work and generosity.   --S

Its hard to put into words how wonderful this show was. The audience was intensely animated. The theater was gorgeous. And sharing the stage with such phenomenally talented poets is always an absolute treat. It brought a huge smile to my face to reconnect with some poets I hadn't gotten to see in a while, and was great to finally meet some I hadn't run into before. We all got to sit and watch each other's set, which made the whole event that much more special. Its always fun to get to joke around with someone in the greenroom, and then hop into the audience and appreciate how deliberate and skilled they are at their craft.

The show was hosted by Brandeis University, and raised money for a camp in Hinchem, Haiti started in 2009 by a current Brandeis student. The camp, which works to empower youth through education, has now taken on all new responsibility after the 2010 Earthquake. For more information, check out the camp's website.  A huge shoutout to everyone at Brandeis who helped put the event together, as well as the very talented Brandeis slam team who also performed and held it down. Great to reconnect with everyone! --P

In the face of such a difficult tragedy, it was genuinely inspiring to see how many people came together to support this touching benefit. The auditorium was packed with over 500 people, and the benefit was able to raise over $2,600 that will go directly to Haiti relief efforts.  A geniune thank you to everyone who helped coordinate the event and to all the people to came out and supported. Our hearts go out to everyone who is feeling the effects, both mentally and physically, of the terrible tragedy. --P

What an absolutely crazy twelve days! We somehow crammed in 12 performances, 15 workshops, 1200 miles, and 4,500 total audience members! Now exhausted, inspired, and happy, we are heading back East. Thanks so much to everyone we met along the way: we were so moved by the support, kindness, and love that so many of you showed us. Thank you all and we hope to see you again soon! --P&S

This is our second time performing at Bishops, and we had forgotten how incredibly talented they are. Not only did we have a great audience to perform in front of, during our workshop portion people came up and shared their own work and we got to workshop it hands-on. I am always blown away by the level of talent people possess - we felt lucky to hear a lot of wonderful pieces and meet some inspiring people! Thanks so much to Anna for all of your help! --P

Oh man, what a show.  The folks at Uncultivated Rabbits, UCI's Spoken Word group, really know how to throw an event.  They packed the house, gave us some killer openers from UCI, and even made us a cake!  We were absolutely pumped, and the audience was super responsive.  So much thanks to Susan Diep and all the other Rabbits, and friends and fam who made the trip out— we had a fantastic time.  (A special shout-out to the folks from Pali who made a pilgrimmage from LA to see us a second time around!  You guys are dedicated!) --S

 What a terrific group of students, and a lovely bunch of teachers.  We were a little nervous about working with students who are younger than we are used to, but the kids we met at the Pegasus School were unbelievably excited about getting their Spoken Word feet wet!

We had an assembly for the entire 6th, 7th and 8th grade, and were able to work hands-on with all the 7th and 8th grade English classes. We were very impressed by the work they produced and the enthusiasm they showed! Thanks to Paul Greenwood for all his help! --S

This is the third time we've gotten to perform at Sage, and it is always a special show for us. Sage is not only my old high school, but the site of my poetry upbringing. I remember scribbling verses in the columns of my math notes, and my first ever public performance on the school's main lawn. It was wonderful to be back - we had about 400 people in the crowd, including teachers, family and close friends that have all meant a lot to us through the years. Thanks so much to Jason Gregory for having us back again, and everybody who

came that has supported us through all these years!  --P

I love this venue!  Café Royale was such a great show last year, and we were so excited that they invited us back again this time around.  We were especially thrilled to invite our good friend Maxwell Kessler, Emerson SlamMaster and Heavy Metal Guru to share our set.  Max is currently on tour as well, so if you see him on the road, make sure you say hello!

A bonus surprise was having a bunch of friends from the Bay area come through, including another one of our favorite poet friends, George Watsky. George just dropped his first hip-hop album, which you should definitely get your hands on.  Seriously.  Much thanks to Les for hosting us, and for all the friends and fam that showed up to support! --S

Whew!  What a way to start our 2010 tour!  Two marathon days at Fremont High, jam-packed with performances and workshops!  We did three different assemblies for 300+ students each, and even though it was so early in the morning, the audiences were great!  We were thrilled when we invited people up to perform with us, and a whole bunch of students jumped up to volunteer.  Fremont Poets Represent!

We also taught a whole bunch of workshops, with Phil taking over the library, and me set up in a small auditorium—some of the workshops were as big as 70+ each!  Great responses and participation all around.  Much thanks to Ruben Zamora for helping to bring us back, it's always great to be at Fremont!  On to the next! --S

What an awesome night of poetry! Four of us Providence poets journeyed up to Manchester, New Hampshire to represent our city in the annual NorthBEAST Regional Slam competition. It was truly an inspiring night; I was blown away by the level of talent across the board, and every city blew it out of the water. In the end though, Providence picked up the win, thanks in part to incredible performances from each of my Providence teammates. In true poet form, all the competitors went out together afterwards, and my win was avenged by losing many, many games of Arcade Buckhunter to the Boston team. A huge thanks to the rest of the Providence crew - Jamila Woods, Steve Subrizi, and Meg Thoma, and an extra shout-out to Meg who went on to win the Individual slam the next night!--P

I was up at 5:45am and on a train to New Jersey by 7:15am.  Fortunately, the good people at Rowan were prepared with coffee, and an energetic audience for my performance in the Student Center!  The performance was super, and I was off to a quick lunch and an interview with Ron Block on his radio podcast, "Writer's Roundtable" on Rowan Radio, 89.7 WGLS-FM.  Then I led a workshop with the Undergraduate Writing program, followed by a workshop with the Graduate Writing program.  A very long day, but it ran smoothly thanks to the incredible help of Dr. Deb Martin and her sidekick Megan Reese. --S

Check out Sarah Kay on Writer's Roundtable HERE

This was such an incredible show to be a part of. The WORD! Show is a showcase of many of Brown University's most talented poets, and it was an absolute pleasure and honor to be part of the experience. Simply being in the company of so many other talented artists is inspiring and uplifting, but then having the opportunity to share that creative process with an audience was truly magical. We were lucky enough to have an overpacked crowd for all three performances, and everyone involved walked away feeling really proud of what we had put together. A huge thanks to all the other poets, the people who came and watched, and everyone behind the scenes that made the show possible! --P

The illustrious and awesome Kelly Tsai was in town, and I had the honor of opening for her. I had home field advantage as well as a lot of familiar faces in the audience. I'm pretty sure that when I'm old and decrepit, I'll look back and remember those big hometown performances as some of my favorite memories. Kelly was absoutely great - aside from killing her set, she was thoughtful, genuine and just plain fun. A big thanks so everyone in the packed house who came, and to Kelly especially for putting on a great performance. --P

This weekend, Sarah and I were invited to perform at the College Board's Annual National Forum. After being gone in Shanghai for all these months, it was really nice to be back up on the big stage with Sarah. The conference is enormous - over 1700 educators from colleges and high schools around the country - so we were honored to be asked to perform. But we felt at home right away - the conference was all abuzz with discussions about how to improve our school system and empower youth through education - a geniunely inspiring sight! Sarah and I got to perform a newly adapted duet piece, as well as our own solo pieces. It was wonderful to be back in the city, and meet some inspiring new faces. A huge thanks to Marge Nieuwenhuis for helping make it happen! --P

Today I was interviewed by Chris Lydon on Radio Open Source for his "Whose Words These Are" series.  It was fun to meet the infamous Lydon, and I came prepared with two pieces of my own, and one "poem that started it all"— Epitaph, by Merrit Malloy.  I was even prepared for some of the tricky questions he asked, but what I was not prepared for was being asked to perform "Hands"!  Lydon sprung the surprise request on me at the last second, and I was worried I wouldn't even remember the piece!  But I guess it's ingrained in me forever.  Much thanks to Hannah Olson, Ben Mandelkern, and Paul McCarthy for their help! --S

You can check out Radio Open Source and the full interview HERE!

After a quick one-day recovery from my Birthday Extravaganza in New York, Kayla and I hit the road and headed to Massachusetts for this exciting gig at Club Passim!  Club Passim has an amazing history, with a very impressive list of past performers: Joanne Baez, Suzanne Vega... lots of wonderful women have performed here!  So it was with humble hearts that Kayla and I took the stage.  It was a really lovely show, with an impressive audience.  Much love and thanks to the fabulous Ringelheim family!  Check out Kayla's beautiful music at her myspace!  (Or on itunes!) --S

What a wonderful night!  A giant room full of people I love, and a great celebration of poetry, music, and laughter!  Special thanks to all the people who came out to show love, and to the incredibly talented guest artists who graced the stage with me!  (Pictured here: Kayla Ringelheim, Emily Borromeo, Drew Nobile, and Lee Taglin... and also the brilliant Taylor Mali, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, and Shappy Seasholtz!) Phil sent his love from China, and we ate a piece of red velvet cake in his honor! --S

Today was the final performance for my Spoken Word class at Hope High School!  After a semester of working on writing techniques and performance tactics, we had a huge showcase in Ms. Thoma's classroom, and invited all of our friends.  The classroom was absolutely packed!  

Beforehand, nerves were pretty high, but the performance was a huge success, and Phil surprised us by stopping by to support and say hi!  Everybody made a ton of progress this year, and the performances were incredibly impressive.  Thanks so much to everybody for their hard work and beautiful words.  Have a great summer and I'll see you next fall!  --S

A very early morning for these two sleepy college kids!  It took me 9 phone calls to wake Phil up after he had slept through his alarm clock, but somehow we still made it to Dedham on time.  (Phil says it is because of his driving skills.)  Nobles School is absolutely gorgeous, and the students were incredibly eager to talk with us after our set!  We did two different performances in the arts building, a nice Q&A with some of the older kids, and taught a workshop with one of the eighth grade english classes.  All in all, it was a pretty speedy trip: Phil and I were back to Providence by noon!  Thanks to Ms. Lee for her help! --S

As Sarah tells it, by the end of this night, I had: got us locked out of the car, spilled on her dress, lost (and found) my wallet and got us lost in the sketchy part of Hartford (at 5 in the morning)(after making Sarah drive). 

But hey. Other than that, it was a completely trouble free show. 

All joking aside, the show was great. We performed in a beautiful oak hall which felt like Hogwarts and had some great openers including the love legend himself, Chase Caillouette. We tried out some new pieces, and Sarah threw down an impromptu duet with the talented Fadil on piano.  It was great to jam with other talented performers as part of "The Mill". Thanks to Chase for making it happen, my wallet for turning up, and Sarah for not kicking me out. --P

The Bishop's School in San Diego was a great gig today!  It was a pretty intimate group of about 20: mostly students, but also a few teachers and even some alums!  The small number was a really nice change of pace from the 500+ audiences we've been doing for the last little while.  We started off with a full performance set, and then got started on a pretty writing-heavy workshop.  Everybody participated, and we were floored by the quality of the material we saw.  Before we knew it, 3 whole hours had gone by!  Good thing there was a big supply of cookies to see us through.  We walked away creatively energized, and physically exhausted.  Poetry's a workout!  A huge thanks to Christie Ryan for putting us in touch with the lovely Anna Prouty, and a big shout out to Anna for bringing us! --S

Wow!  What a way to start our California tour: Three days of working with Fremont High School in a non-stop whirlwind of assemblies, performances, and workshops!  We started out on Wednesday with three back-to-back performances for packed theatres and gyms, with 800-900 students in attendance!  We also took a field trip next door to do a performance for the Fremont Union High School District Community School around the corner.  

Thursday we were able to get in the classroom, teaching workshops with seniors from the Myth and Folklore English class, juniors from the American Literature class, and freshman from the Literature and Writing class.  Special thanks to Ms. Goodman and Ms. Dwyer for lending us their students!  The workshops were pretty big, with upwards of 80 students at one time. Phil and I were teaching in separate classrooms so we could split up the number of people in one place!  We watched some videos, talked about the basics of Spoken Word, and did some writing prompts.  Everybody went home with a writing assignment and the next day, we did some real work on performance with individual poems.  The workshops were a huge success, and we got some great feedback from the students and the teachers about how much fun they had!  Special thanks to Ruben Zamora for helping make everything run so smoothly!  On to the next gig! --S

Two poets, one Prius, one cranky GPS system, two water bottles, Japanese gummy snacks, tangerines, and a bag of popcorn.  AND AWAY WE GO!