Amateur and pro poets tackled important topics at Friday’s “Broken Mic” event, hosted by Ottawa poetry collective Urban Legends.
A crowd of about 40 gathered at a converted church to watch amateur and pro poets perform original work. A wreath of gold light doubled as a stage, and poets performed underneath dusty stained-glass windows. The evening began with an open mic portion, followed by featured performances from local poets Paula Ethans and Rhube Knox. During the open mic, performers read humorous and heart-wrenching poetry dealing with topics ranging from depression to soda pop.
Georgia Allen, one of the open mic performers, said her poetry comes from a profoundly personal place.
“Writing, for me, is an outlet that has always come straight from the heart,” she said. “I’d kind of like to believe it’s that way for everybody.”
Allen, who said she has endured a lifelong struggle with addiction and mental illness, said she uses poetry to cope with life’s difficulties.
“For some reason, I’m able to get what’s in my out not through my mouth but through pen and paper,” she said. “So, it has a special place in my heart.”
When the open mic session ended, featured performer Paula Ethans took the stage. She started her set with a piece titled “15 Things I’d Like to Say to my Yia-Yia,” a meditation on the grief she endured following the death of her Greek grandmother. She followed that with the lighthearted “Kind of Love,” a poem earmarked by its cute, romantic lyrics and hypnotizing rhythm.
Ethans was followed by Rhube Knox, an Ottawa-based poet, sex worker, and self-proclaimed Urban Legends veteran. Knox’s set featured heavy poems dealing with her personal struggles with mental health and abuse, broken up with funny interludes dealing with whirlwind infatuation and petty theft.
Knox said events like Broken Mic show off the raw power that poetry can have.
“Spoken word is such an interesting medium because it has the potential to evoke such an intense, somatic response,” she said. “So it can be very healing to write and perform, but also so enthralling to watch.”
Adding a performative aspect to poetry adds more palpability and weight to the medium than simply writing and reading it, said Knox.
“Ultimately, art is kind of for sharing,” she said. “The sharing and community aspect is really important.”
Knox’s set featured a piece that harshly criticized the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), a controversial American law that places stricter regulations on sex trafficking. Knox argued the act makes it difficult for sex workers like her to make a living.
She said spoken word can be an effective medium to discuss hefty issues like sex worker rights.
“The role of an artist is to point out what’s wrong in the world,” said Knox. “It’s important for us to voice issues and voice our feelings.”
Namitha Rathinappillai, who hosted the event, said evenings like Broken Mic amplify underrepresented perspectives.
“It’s important to hear these voices that don’t normally get a platform,” said Rathinappillai. “What I like about spoken word is that you have that platform regardless of seniority. You don’t have to move up that ladder.”
She added that spoken word can educate people about important topics.
“Poetry is important because it’s a really good way of making important world issues digestible for the general public,” said Rathinappillai. “Most people aren’t going to sit down and read a journal article about feminism, but they’ll listen to a three-minute performance.”
Image by KC Hoard
