Is it physically possible to overdose on poetry? Over the last three weeks, I’ve heard over 250 poets in 8 preliminary slams, 4 semi-final slams, last-minute workshops before the slam, street-side ciphers after the slam — shit, I hear metaphors and similes in my dreams every night. Dreams, I say….

America is not a total police state, but Oakland sure damn feels like one sometimes. Police murders of unarmed civilians, ICE raids outside middle schools, cops brutalizing anti-war protesters down at the docks — welcome to The Town. And now, just down the block from me in Fruitvale – the…