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Open Mic Highlights
It was one of those weeks where I (Michael F. Gill) wrote a haiku about each poem on the open mic, and then read them all at the end of the open mic! Here they all are:
Bailey
i’m a mummy
with iridescent scales—
god has a sense of humor
Mazat
my brain is a crater
burying decades
of ancestral outrage
Edie
we end the heartache
by rubbing our nipples
while everyone watches
Tim G
don’t empty the silo
to double your money—
raise banana trees
Abby M
I need 11 months alone.
How long is the bus ride
to Sydney?
Charlie R
grey whales bellow
below our collective seas—
i have got to come down
Jenn M
love is a million second comings
alive in your chest
earthquaking
Jayda
what to do when you are
waiting for a bus:
write haiku forever
Farah
be be be don’t don’t don’t
with so many rules
how does one fall in love
Isaiah
fond memories of
chocolate truffles
while browsing missed connections
Eri
data points
jagged shadows
storms dotting on an old film reel, spinning
Nick R
from the nose and mouth: blood.
dictators come
but they never really go.
Anh
love you had
but weren’t able to express:
salt burning my nostrils
She Wisdom
i am so emotional—
sometimes people
are just too peopley
Jay G
the past is gone
and walking next to me:
strangers in the rain, we talk
Tom Daley
the sign behind you reads
“HAIKU PRIMARE”:
here is a child’s first haiku
Abbie L
you can leave:
a city is not a place
someone was built to stay in
Sue S
every word in your head
superimposed
on top of another word
Stevie
all we did was breakup songs—
then we broke up for real—
we love the sun
Will S
this moment here is so fresh
how would you like
to hear a brand new song?
Will L
i keep writing this haiku….
17 syllables…..reasonable!
Ward
on remaining and remaining
and remaining:
i’m choosing to stay
Kai
in stars and time:
how many of our memories
are stuffed inside them
Aparna
when i say fuck i mean fuck
when he says fuck
birds fall from the heavens
Brynna
hair maintenance but you
replace the word “hair”
with the word “depression”
Myles
i make a joke
about being too punk for this haiku
and it ends
Feature
Skyelyn Riggs-Davis was our featured poet this week! Skyelyn gave us a set that was full-on theater, packed with story-telling and queer poems that were all memorized (“off the dome!”), and even the transitions between each poem felt like advances in the plot of a larger movie taking place. While we did hear great work about going to Kansas right after it was added to the Trans do-not-travel list, and a bi-sexual skewering of Shakespearean sonnets, the most moving and raw moments of the night were where Skyelyn performed poems about their brother and sister while they were in the audience, seeing Skyelyn perform live for the first time. One of the more unique features we’ve had this year!
Coming Up This Wednesday
This week we will have our traditional extended open mic and an open poetry slam! If you have 3 original poems that are 3 minutes or less, you can compete! The winner gets $75, and the top 2 slammers get invited to the 2027 BPS Team Selection Slam.
– MFG 🚪
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