Poetry Open Mic Night bridges lives

People slowly meandered into the Burke Arts Council on Friday night, books and loose papers caressed between their fingers, the sheets reflecting light so icy and blue that the room felt cool.

“You don’t have to read, you can just enjoy,” Kyra Freeman, the emcee of the Poetry Open Mic Night, calmly told an audience member. “Maybe someday.”

Poets of all ages and backgrounds came alone and in pairs, flocking to familiar faces and nervously chatting about their work, their nerves, and the events in Iran.

“I hope I’m not first,” someone in the middle of the room whispered.

Freeman, draped in blue, moved to the stage and a hush fell over the crowd.

“I’m feeling some Shel Silverstein,” she said. “Not my poem, and I’m going to mess with it ever so slightly.” She recited Silverstein’s “Invitation” before two of her own. “If you are a dreamer, come in.”

In they came, with a surprising majority sporting blue shirts and pants and earrings, to the point that I grew concerned I’d missed a dress code in the event description.

The first reader to follow Freeman, Paul Girdany, delivered his own works, discussing the horrors and casualties of war.

The poem repeated one phrase in rhythm: “Women and children always pay the price.”

Later, Girdany explained that he had been one of the few poets not to feel nervous when reading, and that he felt drawn to the event because he loved presenting his poetry.

“I have to write about what’s on my mind,” Girdany said. “It’s a release, also. I’m seeing a lot of horrible things happening in the world and it’s one way of dealing with that.”

Poems about snow and family and Morganton spun out of the collection of readers who followed.

The calmest leaned on the podium as if they had a secret to share, nonchalantly speaking and surveying the audience.

Others fidgeted from the moment they took the stage, the words tumbling out of their mouths in as few breaths as they could manage.

“This town was dying,” read Jewel Ward, a poet since the third grade. “Too many trucks and baby mamas.”

Ward used the poem to reflect on leaving the Morganton area as a teen, only to return 30 years later to the place she called home. Now, she said, she’s excited to have a space in Morganton to hear and share poetry.

“It’s a fantastic experience. I’m hearing so many different stories of the lives people have lived — everything from motherhood to military to politics,” she said.

Her advice for the nervous folks: “Not to be afraid to come out here. It’s a very supportive group. Everyone is nervous standing and speaking.”

Freeman, who pitched the idea to the Burke Arts Council in October, said that creating a community for writers in Morganton was exactly the goal.

“This is weird, but I have to get into this headspace,” Freeman said later in an interview. “This is an offering. I am offering a space that feels safe and supportive.”

For years, a network of poets and writers thrived in Hickory and Asheville, but the local Morganton scene seemed to hit a wall during COVID-19, according to Freeman.

She said she hopes to create a space where anyone of any belief or political background can come together for community.

“Right now, we are so divided, in so many ways — in the world, in the country, and in this community — and I would love to see art rise beyond that,” she said.

Freeman plans to host Poetry Open Mic Night on the first Friday of every month at the Burke Arts Council. It is free and open to anyone above the age of 18. Each person who signs up gets 8 minutes of microphone time.

The next event, however, falls on the third Saturday — April 18 — right in the middle of National Poetry Month.