The 2010 Fringe Festival is a month away, and you know what that means. It means free beer for poetry people and lots of crazy time for Tod Caviness.

For those who are new this year, here’s the deal: J. Bradley and Tod Caviness are looking to schedule poets for the 4th annual Fringe Poetry Smackdown on May 22 and 29. Tod is also manning the Fringe Poetry Vending Machine throughout the festival (May 20-30) and am looking for all the help he can get manning that. Details on both below:

FRINGE POETRY SMACKDOWN

… will be two shows, taking place at 10 p.m. Saturday May 22 and 29. It’s your basic poetry slam format, probably three rounds with elimination. Eight poets per slam. The twist is that you’ll be snarked on “American Idol” style by Fringe celebrity judges. They’ll give some commentary after each performance, argue with each other, the whole deal. Thick skin and sense of humor mandatory. Big prizes for the winners, swag for everybody. Check our spot on the Fringe website.

If you can make it to one or both of the Smackdowns, please let me know. And let me know which one. And let me know soon. And consider yourself hugged.

But wait, there’s more!

FRINGE POETRY VENDING MACHINE

This is a booth Tod runs on the Fringe Festival lawn. He’ll have a laptop and printer there, and anyone who comes up to the booth with $5 (or buys us a beer) can have their own poem custom-made for them. They pick the title and give 3 words to use somewhere in the poem – the rest is up to the writer. Historically, this has been a favorite part of Fringe. You get to hang out, drink, gossip, and write all day. It’s the loosest poetry workshop ever. The money goes back to the Fringe, but the beer is all yours, and there will be a prominent little space to sell any chapbooks or merch you have.

Tod will be sending a schedule with the exact operating hours soon, but for now – just let him know if you’re interested in helping staff the Vending Machine and on what days. The general hours are going to be after 6 pm on weekdays and all day on weekends, from May 20-30.

Contact: Tod Caviness