Few may know that in his spare time, Mr Brewis, Head of English at Cheltenham College, has been known both to compete in (and win!) Poetry Slams across the county and beyond. Just this weekend he won the Cirencester ‘Love’ Slam, competing against 15 other performance poets. In 2010 he was runner-up in the Cheltenham Science Festival "Slam the Atom" Slam and in May he is off to Swindon to see if he can notch up two consecutive slam wins.

An ex-army officer, Mr Brewis is a talented poet. He has been writing ‘page’ poetry since he was in Sixth Form, exploring [about] man's relationship with the world around him, the experience of being human and the effects of war. Since 2006, he has been composing performance poetry and participating in poetry slams in and around Cheltenham. In the Cirencester ‘Love’ Slam, the first round poems had to be on the subject of love and then the second and final round poems on any subject. In the second round, Mr Brewis attacked the sexualisation of young people in the media and in the final, he slammed about the experience of soldiers in Afghanistan. The latter scored an impressive 275 out of 300, the highest score achieved by any poet on the night.

For those new to the world of slam poetry, slams are held over three rounds. The first round normally comprises five heats of three poets. Each participant has three minutes at the mic to perform their own material, which is scored by a number of judges who scrutinise quality of performance, quality of written poetry and the warmth of the audience response. After the first round, the highest scoring poet in each heat goes through to the second round, plus the overall highest scoring runner up - there are thus six poets in the second round, where each has another three minutes at the mic. Eventually, in the third round, there are only two poets left competing for victory…

Slams are not the only kind of poetry Mr Brewis excels in however. On Friday 1st April he will be giving a talk at the Cheltenham Poetry Festival; ‘An Introduction to War Poetry for Children’. Suitable for children of any age, it will be a fascinating and engaging overview of war poetry from the verse of the late 19th century to the present day. The event will be hosted at 5pm at Cheltenham College. Then, on Sunday 3rd April at 12.15pm, he will deliver a second lecture: "War Poetry: Why we fight and what it does to us." Aimed more at an adult audience, this event will explore the progression of war poetry from Ancient Greek accounts of conflict to verse inspired by Iraq and Afghanistan - he will also read from his own work on the subject.

To purchase tickets or to find out more about the Cheltenham Poetry Festival (31 March – 3 April), please visit:

http://www.cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk/item/events/2011/agency/cheltenham-poetry-festival/26715/
http://www.cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk/item/events/2011/agency/cheltenham-poetry-festival/26753/