ENCINITAS — Between the jeers and cheers, the finger-snapping and the whooping and hollering, poets ascended the stage at the historic La Paloma Theatre to recite the spoken word.

The annual Full Moon Poets Winter Poetry Slam was held Feb. 1 in front of a packed house. The open call began at 6 p.m., when hopeful poets put their name in a hat, from which only 17 were selected at random to perform in the first of three rounds. The competition gives participants three minutes to recite an original work without props or costumes, but with plenty of emotion.

Some participants never even looked out into the audience, as the bright spotlight shined upon their faces, mumbling only a few sentences and then taking their seats. The topics ranged from the reflective — a road trip taken during youth or experiencing abuse — to the rantings of a barista who apparently has had enough of her customers talking on their cell phones while attempting to order a no-foam, extra-hot double-latte.

Judges were also selected at random from the audience. The five-member panel scored each poet on a scale of one to 10. Some were more generous than others — soliciting a range of responses from other audience members.

Corey Taft, 23, won first place, taking home $525 in prize money collected before the first round from the audience. Taft is a veteran performer at the poetry slam, where he took third prize last summer.

He said the size of the audience is inspiring. “I do a lot of poetry readings, but they’re mostly at small coffeehouses. This is awesome that so many people show up to hear poetry in Encinitas,” Taft said.

Terry Hertzler, 57, made it to the second round. His first-round poem, “A Dangerous Place and the War on Abstract Nouns” dealt with the current administration’s position on the war in Iraq. As a Vietnam veteran, Hertzler said he is appalled at the situation in Iraq.

His words seemed to sting the audience as he recited from memory the words President Bush has used to describe war.

“It seemed an appropriate poem to choose (to perform),” he said.

Unlike Taft, this was Hertzler’s first appearance at the event. Hertzler, who lives in San Diego, said he writes every day and that serious writers do not wait for inspiration. “It is a combination of skill and art,” he said. “You can teach the skill part.”

San Diego State professor and local resident Mark Freeman produced and directed a documentary on the poetry slams held at La Paloma. With funds from the city’s community grant program and San Diego State, Freeman was able to feature eight local poets in “Poetry Live(s).” The half-hour documentary aired on KPBS Feb. 4.

“Poetry is not about dead, white men,” Freeman said.

Rather than being something relegated to dusty books on the back of a library shelf, poetry is “alive in the words of poets — young and old, male and female, black and white,” he said. “It’s in the streets, in our bedrooms and in our lives.”

Full Moon Poets will hold another poetry slam at La Paloma this summer.