Sunday, May 21 see who is the best poet! Step into the lyrical coliseum and duke it out with the lions of verse at the Toronto Poetry Slam <www.torontopoetryslam.com>. It's a three-round spoken word battle, the first of three qualifying slams for the Toronto slam team to compete sin the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, plus special guest feature Brendan McLeod from Vancouver. At El Mocambo, 464 Spadina Ave. poet sign-up 8:30pm, show 9pm, $5

Tuesday, May 23 The Art Bar <www.artbar.org> Poetry Series presents Irving Layton Tribute Night: a group reading by six of Irving Layton's former colleagues and students, who will pay tribute to the late poet and read some of his work. Victory Café, 581 Markham St., 8pm , free.

Derek Forgie slams down the stand-up at the Oasis in a “Night of Passion with Jillian Thomas.” Wednesday, May 24, 5 bucks. Good times. 294 College Street.