SF, Ep. 52

April 19, 2014 — Elton John was right: Saturday night is alright for fighting. And Literary Death Match proved that in spades in a wild return to the Elbo Room that saw Sarah Frisch outduel Rachel McKibbens in a Lone Star Lit finale that went to sudden death, where Frisch chimed in with the right answer to win her the LDM SF, Ep. 52 crown.

But before the final ewas even a consideration, the night kicked off with Joshua Mohr (author of Damascus, and Some Things That Meant the World to Me) who read a hilaroius, lightning-quick excerpt from Fight Song, about a man with an Doritos-orange penis doing all kinds of things in the category of "sexy time." Next up was McKibbens (World Poetry Slam Champion (2011), playwright, essayist & author of Pink Elephant) who brilliantly fired off a pair of poems: one about infidelity, and a second called "Sunday Cross-Examination of My Future Next Husband." 

The mic was then handed over to the trio of all-star judges: performance poet Tim "Toaster" Henderson; Sylvie Simmons, renowned rock journalist/musician and author of I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard; and Eli Horowitz, co-creator of The Silent History and one-third of Ying Horowitz & Quinn. The three fired off wonderful barbs and witty commentary, with intangibles aplenty, before they made the night's first tough call: announcing McKibbens would be the Round 1 finalist. 

Then came Round 2, led off by the dual-robed Joshua Safran, who shined way-bright with a pair of excerpts from his book Free Spirit: Growing Up On the Road and Off the Grid (one about his mother's a-hole boyfriend, and a second about befriending "Ranger Rick"). Finally it was Frisch, a Wallace Stegner Fellow, Pushcart Prize-winner and National Magazine Award finalist, who read a stunningly beautiful/funny/moving story that featured an anal balloon and drawings to boot. 

Again the judges were center-stage, praising Safran's and Frisch's everything before finally deciding it would be Frisch who would advance as the night's second finalist. 

Then up stepped LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga to announce the night's finale: Lone Star Lit, in which he read off 1-star Amazon book reviews written about classic books. The finalists, teamed with volunteers from the crowd, traded points, and with everything to play for on the final question, it was Team Frisch who slapped the bell first, nailing the final answer, winning her the LDM SF, Ep. 52 medal and literary immortality to go with it.

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Follow us on Twitter: @litdeathmatch