Team Utah climbed the hill

Now the six qualification heats of Poetry Slam Team Contest 2014 have received their verdicts. In heat 6 we saw the biggest comeback ever in the competition, when Team Utah went from being ranked 6th on first day to finally reach the top spot after last event.

That happened thanks to Sam Hamills lines from the poem "On the Third Anniversary of the Ongoing War in Iraq - a letter to Hayden Carruth". It received maximum 11 points and helped the team to advance and pass the leading team of Copenhagen-Malmoe.

I specially liked the way his words acted like a Poetry Authority, enforcing a wake-up call to the public and their lack of commitment. 

Yes, poetry saves lives. 
All wars begin at home 
within the warring self. 
...

We write the poetry we must.

Also Claude Beausoleil from Team Montreal received 4 language points in the round for his poem "[Language is an exile At the borders of the moment]".
The Team of Copenhagen-Malmoe became runner-up in the heat. And actually they ended up with same point as the previous best runner-up, Team South-Holland, so I let both teams participating in the finals.

Final Score Heat 6:

Team	Content	Language	Day 4	Total
Utah	7	4	11	28
Öresund (Köpenhamn+Malmö)	3	0	3	27
Montreal	5	4	9	25
Nya Zeeland	6	1	7	24
Barbados	4	0	4	22
Edinburgh	1	0	1	17
Oberösterreich	2	0	2	11

***

After six weeks with 168 poems from 168 poets we have reached the final week of competition. Upcoming schedule:

During Saturday (August 16) and Sunday (August 17) the blog will present the poets with short biographies. I will also publish my favorite poems from the qualification heats.

Between Monday (August 18) and Sunday (August 24) the Judges of Content and the Judges of Language will read the poems and give their ratings.

From Monday (August 25) the results will be published in "Poetry with Blues". 

The winning team and the final score will be announced Friday (August 29).

***

Here you have the final eight. More about them on Saturday.

Amsterdam		Dublin
Eva Gerlach		Simon Ó Faoláin
Judith Herzberg		Harry Clifton
Anna Enquist		Patrick Kavanagh
Esther Jansma		Eavan Boland
Vancouver		Utah
Brad Cran		Katharine Coles
Chris Hutchinson		Lance Larsen
Evelyn Lau		Larry Levis
Lisa Robertson		Sam Hamill
Iceland		Copenhagen-Malmoe
Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl		Marie Silkeberg
Gerður Kristný		Morten Søndergaard
Sjón		Jenny Tunedal
Einar Már Guðmundsson		Klaus Rifbjerg
Sachsen (Saxony)		Zuid-Holland
Christian Lehnert		Erik Lindner
Barbara Köhler		Tonnus Oosterhoff
Durs Grünbein		Arjen Duinker
Volker Braun		Cees Nooteboom