Two years ago, I signed up for my first poetry slam. I’d been writing poetry most of my life, but never wrote anything to perform it for people. I found this poetry competition and felt called to attend. As the competing poets gathered to hear the rules, the host told all of the poets, “At the end of the day, tell your story. These people may never hear it again, and they are here to hear you.” It was something like that. I was half-way listening because I was nervous, but I caught that part.
We often hear from celebrities and influencers, but the real heartbeat of the city is in the people we pass every day. This post celebrates those voices whose work is changing lives locally but in powerful ways. Since it’s National Poetry Month, we’re talking poetry.
Poetry often tells stories that history books leave out. The beauty of artistry is using your creative expression to preserve culture. All we need is the platform.
That’s how I discovered Pure Ink Poetry and Brandon Williamson. He hosted the poetry slam that I attended and uttered those words above. Williamson created Pure Ink Poetry in 2012 with Buffalo Graphic Design and Studio Artist Julia Williamson and Chicago Multimedia Performance and Visual Artist Bianca L. McGraw.
Pure Ink Poetry’s mission is to develop a collective community of poets, artists, and performers while providing a creative and encouraging space for open mics and a fun and competitive setting for slams. Pure Ink Poetry was born from the spark of a once-discontinued, now revived, open mic at the Em Tea Coffee Cup Café. The Em Tea Coffee Cup Open Mic is the place to be on Tuesday evenings. This year, they celebrate 25 years of poetry open mic events at the establishment. Many renowned Buffalo poets say that the Em Tea Cup is where they found their poetic home.
Buffalo poet Vonetta T. Rhodes holds the weekly Poetry Open Mic with guest hosts on Tuesdays at 7 pm on 80 Oakgrove Ave., Buffalo, NY.
Another space that brings poets “home” is Buffalo Wordism, the premier non-competitive open mic event for spoken word artists. But there is no Wordism without Kendra Durand.
Durand held open mic events here in Buffalo, and Pitts was an attendee. When Durand passed, Pitts wanted to carry on the legacy and create something similar to what she did, which was to create a safe space for people to come and share their stories. That even includes people who had no intention of getting in front of the microphone. At Buffalo Wordism, when someone who has never shared before decides to come up and share a word or a poem, the crowd all says in unison, “Welcome Home!”
These are just some of the voices doing the work of amplification in the community. As content creators, we have a responsibility to amplify the voices that are not always heard. That’s the purpose of this medium: to increase our community engagement and display that public media is a space for all. Like the poetry outlets such as Pure Ink Poetry, Buffalo Wordism, and the Em Tea Coffee Cup, when you create a space where people feel comfortable and secure to share their stories, more people will feel encouraged to speak their truths.
To continue to foster community engagement, we need the community. We have a role, but you do as well. I encourage you to attend an open mic event or be a judge at a poetry slam event. I encourage you to support a community garden. I encourage you to share the work of a local content creator online. The more we share and create safe spaces, the more robust our community will be.
Thank you to those who continue to create, organize, and uplift voices.