Yellowknife (Mar 05/03) - Maria Santos doesn't normally read poetry, and had no idea a "poetry slam" would be happening at Javaroma on Sunday.

But, before she knew it, she was participating in the contest with a bunch of friends, furiously scribbling a poem with the opening line "my mother told me."

All orchestrated by CBC, the poetry "face off", or "slam" is a national event that until Sunday had never included Northern poets. It does now.

Five poets were invited to square off against each other with words. The audience would be the judge.

Aaron Hernandez from, Yellowknife, Paul T'seleie, Fort Good Hope, Liz Gontard, Whitehorse, Andreae Prozesky, Yellowknife, and Jerome Stueart, Whitehorse, were chosen to compete and given a topic to write about: Escape.

The crowd favourite would then be flown to Toronto for the national contest, to be broadcast on Sounds like Canada April 7.

The judges were also invited to write a poem and get up and read it.

Dave Moss, who was just out for coffee with his wife and new baby, ended up winning an award.

He hadn't read like that since high school. But he said Yellowknife "should do this kind of thing more often."

Hernandez, a member of Liquid Eyez, had never done slam poetry before.

"I was a little nervous coming in," he said.

But he came away the winner after mesmerizing the busy coffee shop with a raw poem from the back street of life.

He talked about dreams, and the dangers of drugs.

He talked about having a kodak moment "you'll never get back," and about having a clean mind in spite of dirty thoughts.

Now Hernandez is headed to Toronto to represent the North.

T'seleie was just happy to be there.

He even won an award for his improvised poem about the ptarmigan -- a Northern theme all the competing poets were required to compose a poem about in five minutes.

As good as the writers were, no one could match T'seleie's knowledge of that comical bird.

"I was nervous," he said following the show.

"But it's a good thing. I've done talent shows, hip-hop back home."

But nothing quite like that.

As Gontard, a writer and magazine editor put it simply:

"It was surreal."