It Happened at Poetry Night...
Blake, a 62-year-old English teacher, was crowned haiku champion. Sophie, a 16-year-old poet, read a poem aloud for the first time. Martese, a Downtown Streets Team member, learned haiku minutes before the show began, entered the competition, and haiku-battled his way into the semi-final round!
A young boxer who rode his bike to Poetry Night came out swinging about love on the mic. Three poets cried. One was from Turlock (but that's not why she cried). The audience cried too. The humanity was strong that night. :)
The Protected Poet, Julian, returned from recently being anointed Berkeley Co-Grand Slam Champion, blessed the mic, then sold-out of copies of his debut poetry collection. Lady K, who drove all the way up from Fresno, crushed her performance piece and took home a handmade trophy for Best Poem and a $100 prize, which was donated by a tall, dark, and anonymously handsome fellow with a big heart. The good vibes runneth over at Poetry Night.
Then came an historic moment when we had the privilege of announcing that the next poet to come to the microphone was the city of Modesto's newest Poet Laureate, Angela Drew! The cheers were deafening. Modesto's first African American Poet Laureate. An ILL LiST Poetry Slam Champion! Author of Elderberry Wine! That Angela. Angela Drew who performs in Oakland and Atlanta, teaches Zumba in Modesto and still makes time to attend a downtown open mic at Lofi Labs. A true poet of the people! The voice of so many powerful women embodied in one soul! That Angela Drew came to the mic. And it was a monumental moment that I won't try to rewrite here, but when she delivered her poem and her remarks dedicated to Sonya Massey, we all felt it. We were inspired and so damn proud that she will represent poetry in our city.
Sure there was also a lot of laughter and kazoos buzzing from the mouths of everyone in the audience because that's how we judge haiku: by the volume of the audience's kazoo! But there were also so many touching and inspiring moments throughout the night – like Marina's song, Rebecca's "scream," Courtney and Krystle's haiku-hug heard 'round the world – all of these moments and more deepened our appreciation for each other, for our town, and for life.
Moments like these reinforce our commitment at the Modesto Artists Movement to cultivating more shared experiences that further deepen our appreciation for self-expression, for the arts, and for each other. Thank you for coming to our Poetry Night & Haiku Battle. We can't wait to do it again soon.
P.s. We almost forgot Kamisha who kept hilariously yelling, "Me!" everytime we asked the announcer for the name of the next poet. When the sign-up list was complete, we gave her time on the mic and she improvised a great poem about Oakland before scuttling off like Cinderella, leaving a poem behind instead of a heel. We hope to see her at our poetry ball again soon!
