July Open Mic Nights to Explore the Power of Poetry

Over three consecutive Saturdays (July 6, 13, and 20), Listening House will be holding a series of Open Mic nights—a series designed to explore and reveal the power of poetry to change lives.

“We hope to create a space that enables participants to understand and reveal how they’ve been able to process trauma and turn it into something beautiful,” explains Andrea Hinderaker, Listening House’s Volunteer Coordinator.

The three-part workshops are the result of the efforts and imagination of Walter Taylor III, who credits poetry for transforming his life out of drug addiction and homelessness. His company, MIND INK, is sponsoring the events. The Open Mic nights at Listening House follow in the footsteps of similar events he’s been involved in around the country. In Baltimore, for example, he was the spokesman for the Writer’s Group, a collective of homeless and previously homeless poets.

Everyone is eligible to participate. Each event will run from 8:30 - 9:30pm CST. Participants are asked to register by 8:25pm.The three-night Open Mic nights will occur as a progression, as follows:

Night 1: July 6 – The first night will give folks the chance to present their own material expressing their life experiences.

Night 2: July 13 – Participants will be given a topic, around which they will be asked to create content.

Night 3: July 20 – Participants will present what they’ve created on the topic given on Night 2.

In an article for the Baltimore Sun, Taylor explained the power that writing poetry had for him. “As I wrote, it seemed that part of me grew larger. I saw differently, thought more openly, and felt safer. Whatever it was, I held onto it, because all that I was used to before was feeling very alone and scared.”

July’s Open Mic nights will allow participants to understand, develop, and share their own stories.

Send questions to andrea@listeninghouse.org