Spoken word events worth knowing about in Toronto, September 2013.

With Labour Day weekend, the Ex shuts down, the school year begins, and the local artistic community quietly continues to go about its business. As the days shorten and the temperatures moderate, it's a good thing Torontonians can still catch a good poetry show to keep things heated up around town. Here's a peek at what's in store for the rest of a busy September in the local spoken word scene.

HOT TICKETS

WORDSPELL SPOKEN WORD FT. JILL BATTSON & VANESSA MCGOWAN / SEPTEMBER 4 / 8:30PM / FREE TIMES CAFÉ / $6 & UP

The city's only female-centric spoken word series celebrates a year of operations with feature sets from McGowan, a well-known voice in the local community, and Jill Battson, a veteran performer and past poet laureate in Cobourg with hair as fiery red as her poetry. Check out a sample of her words here:

SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO SPOKEN WORD CIRCUIT PRESENTS THE P.O.E. / SEPTEMBER 18, 19 & 25

The SOSWC is a consortium of spoken word groups that stage monthly spoken word events in London, Guelph, Hamilton, Burlington, Toronto and York Region. Thanks to the support of Canada Council for the Arts, they bring a high-profile artist each month to perform at the venues on the circuit. This month, the Circuit will experience 2012 Toronto Slam Champions' Cup winner The P.O.E. at Bill Brown's 1-2-3 Slam 5th Anniversary Head-to-Head FUNDraiser (September 18), Burlington Slam Project's $100 Season Opener (September 19) and the YorkSlam Team Send-Off Fundraiser in Richmond Hill (September 25).

SPEAKOUT POETRY SLAM HOSTED BY DAVID DELISCA / SEPTEMBER 20 / 7:30PM / DANIELS SPECTRUM / $15

This annual event will be staged this year in the beautiful new space in Regent Park quickly becoming associated with some large-scale spoken word events put on by the people of SPEAKout. The quality of the poets who have competed at past slams has been very high. Here's one sampling of what has been seen in the past:

SOULSTICE MUSIC & POETRY FUNDRAISER / SEPTEMBER 27 / 8PM / TRANZAC / $15-$25

The second annual fundraiser in support of the Put Food in the Budget campaign will feature performances by musical features Hush Money plus poetry from the 2013 Bill Brown's 1-2-3 Slam Team and R.I.S.E. Poetry Movement, among others. The night promises to be one of the most energetic and engaging of the season. Check out what R.I.S.E. can bring to the stage, and then try to come up with a good excuse not to come out and support a great cause ...

OTHER SHOWS AND EVENTS

• School Night: Spoken Word Masterclass ft. Lillian Allen / September 3 / 7pm / Go Lounge / $6
• Acoustic Soul Tuesdays / September 3, 10, 17, 24 / 8pm / Pero Restaurant and Lounge / $5
• The Art Bar Poetry Series / September 3, 10, 17, 24 / 8pm / Black Swan Tavern / PWYC
• Livewords/ September 5 / 7:30pm / Black Swan Tavern / free
• Sunday Poetry/ September 8, 15, 22, 29 / 11:30am / Ellington's Music & CafĂŠ / free
• Lizzie Violet's Cabaret Noir ft. Andrea Thompson, Frenchie Fatale and Hugh Wilson / September 8 / 7pm / The Central / PWYC ($5 suggested)
• R.I.S.E. Poetry Movement / September 9, 16, 23, 30 / 6:30pm / Burrows Hall Community Centre / free
• The Emerging Writers Reading Series / September 10 / 8pm / Duffy's Tavern / PWYC
• BAM! The Toronto Youth Slam / September 11 / 6pm / The Central / $5
• Plasticine Poetry hosted by Cathy Petch / September 15 / 6pm / Pauper's Pub / free
• Roots Lounge Open Mic & Poetry Slam/ September 15 / 7pm / Harlem Restaurant / $5
• Toronto Poetry Slam / September 15 ft. Lisa B & September 29 ft. TPS Slam Team / 8pm / Drake Hotel Underground / $5
• Loose Leaf Poets & Writers/ September 16 / 7pm / Maple Leaf House Grill & Lounge / free
• Hot-Sauced Words / September 19 / 8pm / Black Swan Tavern / PWYC
• Queen Gallery Poetry Night / September 24 / 7pm / Queen Gallery / PWYC
• The Beautiful and the Damned hosted by Duncan Armstrong / September 26 / 7pm / The Central / PWYC
• Loose Leaf Poets ~ 100,000 Poets, Musicians & Artists for Change / September 28 / 6pm / Maple Leaf House Grill & Lounge / free
• The Underdog Poets Academy / September 29 / 7:30pm / The Central / free

For more listings, head on over to the events calendar or check out the Cytopoetics Events spoken word blog for local info updated weekly during the month.

Have a spoken word event coming up that you'd like us to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO events calendar.

Photo of David Delisca by Steven Mansour