By Joella Clove
Homer Independent Press


A new poetry open mic series kicks off 6-8 p.m., every other Monday, at Grace Ridge Brewery . The next poetry open mic is April 20. The group meets inside the heated covered patio with a propane fire. As the weather gets warmer, the group will move outside and build a fire at the pit. “If there are two things that poets own, it’s the fire and the moon!” said the host Kathleen Gustafson.


Anyone can attend, not just poets. If you don’t write, just come out to enjoy the performance and grab a drink or a bite from Grace Ridge Brewery. For anyone who loves poetry, this is your place! There is a sign-up sheet, mic, and everyone gets five minutes. If everyone who wants to get up and perform has done so and there is still time, the group will start another round.



The idea for a poetry open mic series began when Gustafson took the words of a local poet to heart. “Erin Coughlin Hollowell said something that really stuck with me,” she said. “I asked her ‘What about those poets who feel like they just want to write at home? How can you get better when you’re not sharing your work?’ And she answered very clearly, ‘You don’t. It’s through communicating with your fellow poets or with the audience that you make progress.”


Cut to this past November, December and January, and Gustafson is down on the Lower East Side in New York City with the Nuyorican poets. She said, “I had not read in ages. I had all this work, and Erin’s words were in my head: ‘You don’t progress until you share.’ And so I got up on the mic 15, 16 times in various venues and found community with other poets.” Back in Homer, Gustafson thought, “Why am I not doing this at home?” And so she decided to make space for local poets, hosting the poetry open mic series and presenting the opportunity to enter a slam competition!


The open mic series is a great chance to present your work and see how it feels to perform it live. Gustafson encourages poets and wordsmiths at all levels to present their work. Don’t be deterred if you are worried your work won’t qualify as poetry or isn’t good enough. “It doesn’t have to rhyme. It doesn’t have to be surrounded by metaphor. It can be a lot of different things. Of course, it can rhyme- if you like the hip hop style, if Shakespeare is your jam. One thing I love about the poetry community: all you have to do to be one of us is share your work!” said Gustafson. “There are a lot of different things that qualify as poetry as far as I’m concerned. So a storyteller gets up there with a story under 5 minutes; I mean, call yourself a poet, and you’re a poet.”


This open mic series is the place to share that poem you have been mulling over! It’s time to connect with other poets and share your talent. “Thought follows action. Action doesn’t follow thought,” said Gustafson. “And what I mean by that is: if you wait until the moment when you feel perfect, ready, and so completely confident, then in all likelihood you’ll never read your poetry. But taking action almost always inspires people to continue and to go deeper.”


“Also, I want the poets to understand that work doesn’t have to be complete for you to put it on the mic. Often I’ll memorize a poem and realize something has fallen away in the performance; I’ve left it out,” said Gustafson. “So at the end, I pose the question to myself, ‘Did that fall away because it’s unnecessary or maybe because it needs to be a different place in the poem?’ I’m editing on the fly while I’m up there.”


Performing your poetry at the open mic series offers you the chance to connect with an audience. If you don’t bring your work out of the closet, you miss the opportunity to find out what is compelling about your poetry and to receive an audience’ response to your work. “You’ll find that what you have to say doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It can be amplified in community,” said Gustafson.


Are you one of those people who cringe at the thought of public speaking? It’s common for poets, and people in general, to feel uncomfortable sharing their work but Gustafson hopes poets will feel safe and welcome to express themselves at the open mic series. Hot tip for poets: use the open mic series as the chance to get a feel for sharing your work, making it no big deal to perform at the slam competition in August! Come out to the open mic, and you have nothing to loose but some old fears, and maybe so much to gain, finding new impulse to write and new appreciation for work you have written.


Original work is encouraged at the open mic series. If you can share, if you can tell a story, if you can communicate in any way through language, then it’s poetry. “Anyone who has been told after a reading or a class assignment, ‘That’s not really a poem,’ come sit by me,” said Gustafson. She would assure you that it doesn’t make you any less of a poet. “If there’s a poet you want to highlight, particularly a local poet, that’s fine. Just make sure that you attribute it to the author,” she said. For example, Gustafson has shared Eva Saulitis’ work, who was a whale biologist and poet here in Homer and has passed on.


The poetry open mic series at Grace Ridge Brewery is more focused on giving poets an opportunity to perform and gain confidence on the mic than it is a place to offer critique. “If someone does have a question about a poem, ask afterward rather than feeding it back while the poet stands up in front of everyone because the feedback itself becomes a kind of performance,” said Gustafson. “I’m hoping those conversations will happen over a drink from Grace Ridge Brewery, that people will talk to each other on breaks and when it’s over. It is so important to me as the host of the open mic that people have time to talk one-on-one with each other.”


While the open mic series at Grace Ridge Brewery is centered around poets, other performers are welcome. If you have a song, a piece of comedy, or another performance, bring it to share. “I’ve been talking about building community and networking and all of those things,” said Gustafson. “Poetry is so personal to me that sometimes it’s hard to step outside of that and want my work to become a part of the culture. I want the local poets to be actively participating in, creating and sharing local culture.”


“I’ve heard poets say recently, ‘What’s the point? Given the situation in the world, why am I even writing a poem? How important is it?’ It is THE most important thing,” said Gustafson. “And more so in the face of anything you feel is holding you back, or holding others back, from the right to stand up and speak out, share joy and share pain, and to present your specific gorgeous wordplay. Poetry is the thing that defeats pessimism and calls people together to action.” So don’t hesitate to share your work, shape the culture, and generate authenticity. Join in at the open mic and let your poetry flow–from your closet, through the mic and into the community.

Kathleen Gustafson reads her poetry at the poetry open mic series 6-8 p.m., every other Monday, at Grace Ridge Brewery. (Photo by Joella Clove/Homer Independent Press)