Open Mic Poetry Reading 21NOV09

Last night I attended an open mic poetry event sponsored by Troubadour 21 Magazine at The Beat Cafe in Warren Michigan. It was really crowed with about 50 people there.






Many came to see the featured poet Whitney Syphax Walker and she did a great job, brought down the house.










I read three of my poems early in the event including one from my forthcoming book Mice Verses Man.







It was fun seeing and listen to all my poetry buddies. You all did great work up there on stage.










William B. Burkholder - The MC of the event and also a staff memebr at Troubadour 21













Valencia 'Numi' Vanner













Dimonique Boyd













Crystal Reign Brock













Karma Sweetmain Williams - Co owner of The Sweet Epiphany in Detroit














Carla Dodd - The Troubadour 21 Poetry Editor













Candace Deekah Wyatt jammed a couple tunes for our listening pleasure















New friend Megan Collins who came in from Erie PA. She owns The Last Wordsmith Book Shoppe in Erie














and another new friend Dawn Shepler Shimp who came up from Ohio








I also had some great conversations with local Detroit poet Mark Durfee and I bought his latest book Stink - Poetry And Prose Of Detroit. Thanks Mark!

Thanks to Troubadour 21 for sponsoring the event and to The BEat Cafe for providing the venue.

Smiles!

Poetry Reading in Detroit

I finally got out last weekend and did a open mic poetry reading. This was my first one.

It was an event sponsored by Troubadour 21, a great new lit mag here in the Metro Detroit area. It was hosted by The Sweet Epiphany in Detroit. Proprietors Karma Qsaay and Jennifer Williams are providing the area a place to enjoy music, art, and poetry. They strive to educate and expose our youth to the arts in a positve evironment. Great people!

This was a two day event and I went on the second day. Poets that read on stage the second day included local poets Ber-Henda Williams, Brook Blander, Zach Ashley, William B. Burkholder, Carlton Smith, Matvey Troitsky, Karma Qsaay Williams, Jennifer Williams and myself. Diane Borsenik from Cleveland Ohio also came up to perform her poetry. Local artists Adam Klimec and Anthony Callis headlined the show with their their paintings plus other headliners included photography by Courtney McClenahan and wonderful hand-crafted jewelry by Christina Douglas.
I had a great time and stayed until after midnight, a long night but well worth it.

Thanks to The Sweet Epiphany for providing the venue and T21 for sponsoring the event.

Here's a couple photos of me reading there. Photos by Diane Borsenik. Thanks Dianne!