Hello!  I hope you all survived Blizzard Nemo without any problems.  I, myself, feel that throughout the snowy mess that has been Nemo’s presence in Maine, poetry has been the best salve.  How else to soothe my cabin/dorm fever and angst over digging my car out of a four foot drift of cold stuff?  This means that I have so much to share with you all!  Not only have I recently been obsessed with watching YouTube videos of slam poet Sarah Kay, but I’ve gotten my hands on some information on features coming to our area that are worth killing for!  (Not really, but kind of.)

So, I suppose some of you might be wondering “Who the heck is this Sarah Kay lady?”  Allow me to educate you, please.  Ms. Kay is a spoken word artist from New York City who graduated from the United Nations International School, Brown University, and Brown University Graduate School’s Masters Program in the Art of Teaching Secondary English.  I know, she’s stinking brilliant.  She is the founder and co-director of Project V.O.I.C.E or Vocal Outreach Into Creative Expression with Phil Kaye (also an amazing poet).  This organization celebrates expression and encourages folks to use Spoken Word Poetry to better themselves and the world around them.  She is one of the many examples of how far loving and staying faithful in poetry can take you.  This young lady has been a speaker at the TED 2011 conference, the 2011 Cannes Lions Creativity Festival in France, a featured poet on Russell Simmons presents HBO Def Poetry Jam, and countless other marvelous and sometimes international stages.

There are certain poems I have come across in my life that stick with me permanently, and Sarah’s poem “If I Should Have a Daughter” is one of them.  After about ten seconds into hearing this poem for the first time I was nodding my head and smiling hugely at every single line.  “This life will hit you, hard, in the face wait for you to get back up just so it can kick you in the stomach.  But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air,” has to be one of my favorite quotes from her poems.  She’s powerful, and I recommend her work to any person who isn’t afraid to feel.  She will bring out the best and worst in you, believe me.  Don’t hesitate to watch those videos, I know you’re curious!

Now, about those features I mentioned earlier…there are four venues in New Hampshire and Maine that I recommend for everyone with a will and a way to get to them.  Every Sunday at 6:30 at Dobra Tea is Rhythmic Cypher (RC), every Monday at 9:00 at the wonderful Mama’s Crowbar is a 21+ reading named Poetry on Tap, Tuesdays at 7:30 belong to Port Veritas (PV) at Bull Feeney’s for just $3.00/person or two for $5.00, and last but certainly not least is Slam Free or Die (SFOD) in Manchester, NH at Millie’s Tavern on Thursday nights at 7:30 for $3.00/person.  Each of these events is 18+ (Poetry on Tap is 21+, as a reminder) unless you have a parent or guardian with you due to the places they are located, except for RC which is an all ages venue.  Every night these wondrous events have open mics that are for everyone who wishes to read or perform poetry then there is a feature of some well-known poet or another.  They are not to be missed!

Features coming up these next week that I swear will KNOCK YOUR DARN SOCKS OFF are *drum roll* Hallie Noah, a local performance poet living right here in Portland who will be at Mama’s Crowbar on Monday the 11^th; Ellyn Touchette, Port Veritas’s Women of the World Slam Winner on Tuesday the 12^th at Bull Feeney’s (that’s 7:30, by the way); and Wil “1L” Gibson and Jen Jacques at SFOD at Millie’s Tavern on Thursday night, now this lovely couple will also be releasing their first collaborative book together that night.  WARNING: because it will be Valentine’s Day on Thursday, SFOD will have an erotic poetry reading.  Now, to have all of these things happening in one week is probably overkill for our poor corner of New England.  ALL of the incredible talent and love!  Please, go to as many as you possibly can!

If you have any questions or would just like to talk to me, please feel free to email me at crystal.farrington@maine.edu.  I’m more than happy to share my love and passion for this art form and its community with you!  I’ll leave you with this parting I heard after my first time going to an open mic, “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.”  Have a beautiful week.

–          Crystal