Lift Up My Voice! poetry showcase

A friend of mine is participating in a poetry reading/open mic type of night scheduled below for African American and Gay poets. His name is Victor Walker and he will also be leading discussions of our two African American film series movies ("A lesson before dying" and "The Pact") this month. Check out the library events page for more information: http://westland.lib.mi.us/events/index.php

Here is the information about the poetry event:

Hello Community,Please share this info with your community members. For more information, please visit the links below. Thanks! Victor Walker

The Affirmations Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center celebrates Black History Month 2009 with "Lift Up My Voice!" A poetry showcase that highlights the diversity within the Black community through spoken word. A series of special and featured guests will perform poetry and spoken word that highlight the diversity, cultural relevance and significance of the black experience in America.Open Mic to follow.

This FREE event will be held Friday, February 20th from 6-9PM at Affirmations 290 West Nine mile Road Ferndale, MI. For more information, contact Knoll Larkin at 248-398-7105.

more Open Mic photos

We have our host, Dave Boutette, playing during his turn in the round above, while Jael, resident teen poet and budding songstress listens. There is Katie to the left jamming a totally fun version of Pat Benatar's "Hit me with your best shot." Damon and Flair (right) played some lovely island music with jazzy, virtuosic flourishes. If you missed the first Open Mic, you definitely don't want to miss the next ones. We are sure to grow with talent like this showing up.

Open Mic - January

Check it out! Well, those of you who weren't able to make it to our first Open Mic missed a great evening of poetry and music. We had 5 guitarists/singers show up, not including our wonderful host, Dave Boutette, a couple poets (including me), and a few interested audience members, including the Library's Director, Cheryl Napsha (who was impressed by attendance at this, our first, OM). You can see Dave playing one of his originals above, with Damon on accompaniment. There is Chris singing an old, haunting folk/country tune (Man already has his chops!) Exciting stuff- and more to come in February (Thur, 1/22 from 6:30- 8:30 p.m.) Bring your friends and family to the next- with poems!

January meeting

Hi folks and thank you to all who showed up and brought poems to read and listen to. It seems the 7 o'clock hour is a better fit for most of our folks, so we're going to run with it through the spring. Connie, India, and Diane brought their work in featuring some lively rhymes and tender emotions.

We had a great discussion about feminist issues, dealing especially with abusive boyfriends and the victim's inability to break free of the relationship. A difficult issue, to be sure, but one which needed to be aired and discussed. Hope to have more discussions- and poetry!- dealing with this (and other issues you or your friends are encountering) in our future sessions.

Remember to show up for the coming Open Mic, if you can, to show support for the library and your fellow writers and artists. It should be a lot of fun with singer Dave Boutette 

(http://www.myspace.com/daveboutettemusic) emceeing the event. January 22, 2009 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.