The Garden was in full bloom last Monday!
Every week our open mic brings together poets, musicians, storytellers, singers, neighbors, open mic regulars, and first-time players. Last week was no 
exception and imparted some particularly memorable moments, including a special double feature.
Visiting us on his 38-cities-in-60-days tour, three-time HBO Def Poetry Jam veteran and national slam champion Big Poppa E shared his boundless energy, sensitivity, and poetry 
with a packed room.
He was joined on stage by his touring partner Lennon Simpson, whose turn at the mic was his first time performing poetry outside of Texas or Arkansas. The poetic pair ended their set with a punch… in the form of a “haiku death match,” which had the crowd cheering, laughing, and empathetically sighing (for Big Poppa E’s poignant heartbreak haikus).
Keeping the energy up—and incorporating civil rights, environmental, and other social justice themes—DC Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency founder and executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee Shahid Buttar was our second featured act of the evening.
Shahid had the crowd singing the hook to his song “Bumpin In My SUV” while sharing wisdom about the impacts of our daily choices and how they affect each other and the planet. In the spirit of BloomBars, we learned, laughed, and left more inspired to “be the change” we wish to see in the world.
Also in the spirit of BloomBars, when we suffered a minor setback during the show, we nonetheless kept moving and blooming. In the middle of Shahid’s performance, a flash rainstorm caused a short rainstorm on stage, as the roof leaked. Thinking (and dancing) on his feet, Shahid kept the show going and didn’t miss a beat… while Chief Executive Gardener John Chambers quickly ran out to fetch towels and blankets from his house to soak up the stage.
Some of the many other engaging performers who graced the stage that night included:
- 6-year old Taleya and 4-year old Alisha sharing a song (which included hand-clap choreography);
- Moxi and the Sucker Punch performing an original song (and performing together at an open mic for the first time);
- Hallie singing two songs a cappella (which lead host Gowri to recognize her from SongRise, an all-female social justice-themed a cappella group, who will feature at The Garden sometime soon we hope);
- JM spitting rhymes from a song off his upcoming hip hop album;
- And Suzanna sharing a poem she had only finished writing a few minutes before she took the stage.
And of course no open mic would be the same without a stellar and active audience. As always, the BloomBars crowd brought love, appreciation, respect, and camaraderie to The Garden – outside the rain showered while, inside, our community flowered.
While our regular host Jonathan B. Tucker is away for the month taking high school students on a civil rights tour of the south he participates in every summer, Gowri K. (who hosts Poetry in the Morning every week) is guest hosting The Garden.
On July 26th, she’ll also start convening a monthly poetry writing group, which will meet every fourth Monday of the month from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.
This Week in The Garden:
We’re pleased to welcome featured poet LIZ PRESCOTT:
In addition to being a poet, Liz Prescott plays the bass for the hip rock and soul band, Mzery Loves Company. They call themselves “The Anti-All Girl Band” not because they’re against all girl bands but because they’re against being pre-packaged, labeled, and
marketed like one.
Liz has been an activist and volunteer most of her life, with a special focus on the needs of low income people and others left out. In free writes, she never forgets the space in the margins. Liz has never been very good at staying inside the lines anyway.
Her poetry is physical – rooted in experiences that can be touched, felt, and seen. It can be sexy, painful, tragic, or grotesque. “Another writer I admire told me that he could always tell what a writer was afraid of because they would write around it,” Liz says. “So now, whenever I catch myself writing around something, avoiding something, I deliberately push myself into that space.”
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We hope to see you at a future Garden open mic! Come blossom with us.
- Gowri K.
Host, Poetry in the Morning
Guest Host, The Garden: Open Mic
