Good morning everyone, it’s been a while since I’ve published anything on Poets Like Us but I am back in the driver’s seat and I’m here to talk about poetry open mikes. One of the most common question I get on social media is from perspective hosts who want to start a poetry open mic in their area whether that area is in some cowtown in nowhere-land USA or across the pond. I spend a part of each day talking to poetry hosts across the country about their series and acting as a sort of advisor figure because somehow in the strange bizarre twists of my life the one area where I suppose I’ve become an authority on is just that - running poetry shows.
Fortunately for me it isn’t a hard area to level up in. God bless them but the majority of poetry hosts you will find around the country are god awful. Not because they are bad people or untalented but that they don’t try or at least they don’t know how to try. Their shows lack culture, lack flow, and genuinely just feel like a group of strangers occupying the same strange place waiting for a chance to read their poetry. The role of host is often seen as a burden. When no one else steps up in an area someone has to do it- and we should thank the stars for anyone who is willing to run the mic but many times they forget there is an artistry in that too.
I was the same way truly. I hated hosting. But I was loud and young so everywhere I went I ended up having to host the show. Whether that was in New Jersey, the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania or even in Missouri. I would bitch and bitch (privately of course) that I was supposed to be the feature but now I was the host. But looking back as most logical folks of 30 do- I realize it was the greatest thing that could have happened to me. Since then I’ve started and hosted two dozen poetry shows from the Jersey Shore to rural Missouri and I’ve learned a lot. Right now as I type this, I am hosting eight successful poetry shows going on their second year of life and am starting two more. If only the heavens gave me the gift of mathematics or some other monetary skill I’d be smoking Cubans fat and cozy in a hot tub. But that isn’t what happened. Instead I became the dude who hosted the most poetry shows ever. So I’m stuck poor but hopeful with you. It’s not so bad really.
What follows is a list of ten things that if you do- your shows will immediately get better. Some may be controversial but they always worked for me. But first I want to start off with a verse from Biggie Smalls as more essays should do that and the title of this essay directly comes from his “Ten Crack Commandments” but instead of teaching you how to actually make money in the drug game I’m going to teach you how to make a really cool poetry show (LOL).
I’ve been in this game for years, it made me an animal it's rules to this shit, I wrote me a manual A step-by-step booklet for you to get Your game on track and not your wig pushed back
'
Always Start A Half Hour Late
I personally believe all poetry shows should start thirty minutes after the time listed on the flyer. Why? Why not is the real question. Poet time is a real thing. We’re not talking about a gathering of policy analysts or a plot of rich business professionals in a smoky room. It’s poetry. Poets are a strange creature and they always end up running late. The only other mystical folk who are later than poets are punk musicians but that is for another essay in itself. Starting thirty minutes late will allow everyone time to stumble in so they don’t inadvertently walk in during a set or worse when you’re doing your owning remarks causing a ruckus and confusing everyone.
Also let me make this point incredibly clear: as a host your primarily goal isn’t to run a show with the most talented people or even the best poetry show- rather your goal is make it a good time. These people could be doing anything and the modern world is full of much more captivating distractions. They could be binging Hulu, at home on the couch in their underwear scrolling on their phones, at a concert, making love, at a fucking escape room or even just jerking off but they aren’t they have chosen to spend their night with you. So let people talk. Let them hangout. This is a social endeavor and social endeavors need room to breath. Don’t be the anal nervous host who is somehow tied to the realm of punctuality. Make this a social event. Let people greet each other and bullshit. This will prime the evening, Plus, a group of hooligans posted up outside of your venue before the show kicks smoking their cigarettes and bullshitting isn’t bad at all. That’s promotion baby.
Who are these bizarre people and why are they outside of that coffee shop?
2. Features Should Always Go Before Open Mikers
It is fairly standard to have two distinctions between attendees of poetry shows and that is features and open mikers. The features are poets who you have curated to perform for a longer duration of time. Maybe you’ll read a bio. Maybe they’re touring poets coming through your city or a hometown hero that the crowd adores. And then there are open mikers. Who are people who are unbooked who sign their name on your open mic list and have a shorter time to perform. Times vary and all. In the Renaissance we give features 10 minutes and open mikers 5. Many poetry shows around the country make the mistake of making the features close out the show putting the open mikers first. This is a bad bad bad move.
See open mikers are usually new to the game and looking to build their name. If you put them first then they perform in front of the crowd when it is primed and a lot of them will leave right after their spots. That’s not how we do it or how it should be done. Poetry shows should be divided into two separate instances- the first is the featured poets who are the actual show. These are poets who you have listed on the flyer and have provided them more time for them to promote their books are mercy in exchange for their names bringing folks in the door. That’s the actual show. The open mic is what runs into end of the night. It is the place where new poets go to be heard and where more experienced poets go to hone their performance. It usually becomes less structured and can take on a life of its own. That’s good. But by placing the features at the top and providing them the audience at its best you build a structure where open mikers aspire for that position and you can satisfy both the audience that come to see the features and those fighting to climb the ranks. Trust me. It’s better this way.
3. For The Love of God, Always Do a Break
Remember what I was talking about in rule #1 about how your main job as poetry host is to make it a good time? That’s where breaks come in. After the features run their course (no more than the first hour I’d say) call a ten minute break. Have the venue flip on music or you can play it yourself if they don’t have a system through your PA. Ten minutes will do wonders to break up the monotony of sitting in one place for too long. This will allow people to buy books from the features poets, will allow your audience to buy from the venue (if you’re working with a venue that sells beverages or food), people can sneak out to smoke cigarettes or weed and it allows people to leave. Yes leave. Your worry should be that the venue is packed for the features but the open mic will inadvertently lose a couple of folks. That’s fine. The worst thing is to have someone in the venue who doesn’t want to be there. Those are the folks who will get caught up on their phone or who will zone out and not applaud.
This ten minute break will let the people who want to go feel free to go. And it breaks up the features and open mic segment allowing any last minute contemplators to scribble their name on the list and having a moment to ready themselves before they take the stage.
4. As Host You Are The Sacrificial Poet
If you have followed me long enough on social media you have seen how I like to trash poetry slams. Not for what they once were but for what they became. Hell, at the release party for the Voices In The Garden documentary I opened my speech with “St Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland but Cord Moreski and I chased the slam kids out of Monmouth County” that’s a whole other conversation we can have. But I will say the one invention that slam has introduced to the mix is the role of the ‘sacrificial poet’ the person who gets on the mic first. To break in the crowd.
As host you are that person. Every show should begin with you doing a poem or two (no more than that. Don’t be that host who reads like six poems. Don’t do it. No.) to warm up the audience. It’s your show after all. Some crowds are easier than others. Bar shows in particular need someone to hit the audience. It is your role to take the brunt of an inattentive or distracted audience and by the end of your performance the crowd should be ready for the show. Yes it might hurt. Yes you are the one who has to use your voice to quell the folks still talking in the back but it’s better for you to fight through that than your features. Take it like a champ. You’ll build up enough scar tissue that eventually you won’t even feel it.
5. Talk To Every Single Person There
The show doesn’t start with the time on the flyer or the subsequent thirty minutes before it actually kicks. The show starts as soon as you step foot on the property and it ends when you leave. The academics can keep the elitist tiered system that they have created that is not what we do at poetry open mikes. As host it is your responsibility to make sure everyone feels comfortable and welcome. To eliminate any faux ideals of clique or segregation. Make sure you talk to every single person who walks through the door. By being open and receptive to people even the newest people who attend your shows will feel more comfortable. I find the role of host being one of a community leader and with such brings a responsibility to be there for those who stumble out.
People are nervous. People have second thoughts. Be the positive voice. Show them that anyone can do this and that they stumbled into a community that will embrace them. That begins and ends with you and how you carry yourself through your shows. As host it is your job to be friends with everyone.
6. As Host You Are The Ultimate Audience Member
On that same note when the show kicks off it should go without saying that you need to be the best audience member- you are the representation of what an audience member should be. That may be difficult too because while hosting you are (timing we’ll get to that), probably taking pictures and videos and dealing with the whims and haunts of the venue staff, the performers and the audience but you’ll find a balance. Be present and make sure the performer knows that no matter what is truly happening in the audience that you are locked on. By being attentive you can read the cadence of the performer and know when the poem is going to end to signal an applause. Some poets especially the newer ones have ambiguous endings unless they blurt out the dreaded “thank you” as if they are thanking the audience for letting them read as opposed to for applause.
But as a good host you know when the poem is going to end. Your applause will make the rest of the audience applaud. By virtue of your role at the show you set the tone for how the audience will respond. Don’t be that person who hides away and scrolls on your phone. Too many of those already.
7. The Open Mic Is Your Recruiting Ground
As you begin your show you probably already have a list of prospective poets who you want to feature at your event. Once you start running people will pitch you to feature, touring poets will find their way into your circles and there is a lot to be said for tying yourself to that network but also the open mic is one of the best grounds for recruitment for features. You see them come in and you can watch them fight their way through those early awkward sets to eventually become feature worthy. By running a show you ultimately become one of those hated “gatekeepers” as you are curating the talent who will feature. It is important to not just book your friends or offer people features immaturely. That sets them up for failure if they hit other shows. The feature should be seen as a goal. That through the labor of writing better and better poems and getting better and better at performing that new poets to your scene can climb to that position.
In the Renaissance we call them graduating classes. Groups of open mikers will start at the same time and as a host it is truly beautiful to watch nervous mumbling poets build confidence and skill and eventually end up crushing it as features. You are setting the tone. You should look at every open miker as potential and help guide them forward to that coveted position.
8. Straight Up, Poetry Open Mics Should be Free
If I can list one thing that gets me hate on the internet it is that point but I stand by it. Sure big poetry shows or whatever if you want to sell a ticket that’s on you. But from how I look at things poetry is for the beggar and the king and everyone else in between. We are the most accessible performance art form. You don’t need skill. You don’t need equipment. You can just walk into any poetry open mic and say whatever you want to on stage. There is something beautiful and universally democratic about that. As a host it may seem enticing to charge a ticket price especially once your show starts building up but I find that it creates a paywall keeping out some amazing talent.
Instead, get your money from the backend. By working with small businesses (coffee shops, bars, restaurants or wherever) you have to understand by hosting these events you are also entering into a business arrangement where you are bringing in a large amount of people into a probably empty establishment. I say empty because why else would they allow you to host a poetry show there if they were booming? Work out an arrangement. You are bringing them business and in exchange you should be compensated for that.
Musicians charge and so do comedians but poetry is not comedy or music. Those are two art forms that are high the public consciousness and we’re not there yet. We are clawing our way out of obscurity and the money you’ll bring in from ticket sales isn’t going to justify the folks you will keep out.
I’ve done well over a thousand features all over the country and I don’t expect to be paid by the venue. That’s what books are for. If I do good at a show I sell a lot of books. That’s the game.
9. Use A Light To Let People Know They Are Almost Done
Something I have stolen from the comedy scene is the idea of the light. See in poetry circles people tend to just drone on whether its hubris or nervousness or ignorance I will never know but certain poets just don’t want to get off the mic and it has the potential to just kill the vibe of the room or worse make you run out of whatever a-lotted time you have with the venue. There’s no easy way to handle a rouge poet in the contemporary poetry world but the comedians have a trick. When there is one minute left in a comedians set, the host will use the flashlight on their phone to signal to the performer that he has one minute to try and wrap up their set.
This can be a challenge as most new poetry performers will not look up and will have their eyes locked to their phone or book but if you announce that the light will be used before the open mic starts and build a habit out of it than it should be fine. This also means you will need to time everyone. Another thing for you to juggle as you make your way through the evening.
But all rules have exceptions. If someone is killing the room. If a performer is burning it down and the audience is invested throw them a minute or two. Who cares.
10. You Are Ultimately Responsible For The Vibe
As the host of the open mic you are the one who sets the vibe and manages the expectations and experience of the people who attend your show. This is your stomping ground. This is your monument to the great god of poesy high up in the clouds- swing for it. Tell stories, be funny, riff on peoples poems and add yourself into the matrix of this thing you have built. Too many open mics feel all the same just beige and bland and boring but with your own event you get to decide what is what. This is your community. Build inside jokes. Make sayings. Just engage with the audience and show them that this is the place to be.
The host can make the difference 100 percent of the time.
These are ten things I think everyone needs to read when they go to start a poetry open mic. I thank you for reading and if you could share this it would mean the absolute world to me.
If you dig my work share this with your friends and consider contributing to my Ko-fi to keep me and the NJ Poetry Renaissance kicking.
The sheer wisdom in this. "This is your monument to the great god of poesy high up in the clouds," brilliant. Thank you.
Smart, practical, ground up. Good stuff, Damian. One personal demurrer from the format — I find three 10-minute features provides insufficient time for solid poets who have a book. Personally, I prefer one deep reader, really digging into their poems or expansively reading from their book. 3 readers seems more about personal mic moments — I’m much less interested in the scene than in the poems. But that’s probably not a scenester’s desire, maybe it’s the old guy attitude of one who sponsored and hosted for 30 years and now likes the poetry more than who’s at the party.