• By Central Library
• Posted Friday, June 22, 2012

The Word Is Out Open Mike Poetry

The Word Is Out Open Mike Poetry Night at the Central Library began in 1997 after a well-attended five segment PBS series entitled “The United States of Poetry” was shown on every Tuesday in April that year. Jill Hinckley-Noble volunteers to keep it going, giving it a name, a monthly theme and a monthly featured artist. During the last 15 years we have had many professional and amateur performers featured, they received a small gift of thanks and the rapt attention of their audience in the Central Library’s auditorium. Many poets have grown in their work and have gone on to become published.

We have had published poets Carl Martin, Teri Kirby Erickson, and Bill Griffin, dramatists Annie Johnson Hamlin, and Logie Meachum, musical poets: Bernice McFadden with her three conga drums, and Carl Martin, a professional traveling performance poet who often prefers to play the guitar. Poets have performed commemorative pieces such as sisters Jayne Penne and Ann Little, as well as Patricia Leftwich and Shashi Kiran Midan. We have had devotional poetry, teenagers rapping their poems to tell the story of the pain of their age growing up in this age. In addition, many individual poets whose work defies any genre have performed. In the last 15 years we have laughed, we have wept and we have been challenged by one another’s work to feel the meaning of the perspectives of others.

We encourage everyone to join us on the last Tuesday of every month in the Auditorium of the Central Library at 7pm to enjoy The Word Is Out Open Mike Poetry Night.

Last Tuesday of the Month
Central Library Auditorium @ 7pm
Open and Free to the Public