Happy New Year! Luis and the gang had a great time at the open mic at Bossa in January. Around six or seven different performers got up on the mic several times in front of a half-full house.

Come see us again in February on the second Tuesday…

Tuesday, Feb. 9th, 7-9 PM
at Bossa, 2463 18th St. NW, DC

It was an intimate and nostalgic night at Bossa in December. Friends from the Dupont Circle days swung by to share some love and OPP. The open mic vets were swapping the mic, as a catalog of hits kept rolling out. Jessica tried to make the audience into a reggae band, and many giggles were had. Here are the highlights…

Wandering eyes your fears can’t follow me

Putty in our hands they’ve been molding us since youth

Beautiful blue lake

You see the schisms and the divisions in humanity

We think we’re some seraphim flying around the globe

Life is full of heroism

The battle is within us

Welcome y’all to my laboratory where I develop my oratory

Master of my domain, straight thinkin’ with the lincoln

Reaching for their piece, we’re just saying our peace

Wrapped up

David standing up to Goliath

Freedom.

Bam! What a collage of ideas…should’ve heard the rhythms in their wake. And you can in 2016! Join us at Bossa, 2463 18th St. NW DC, on Tuesday Jan. 12th, 7-9 PM. Come to listen come to share. Happy New Year!

We had a special November at Bossa, with guest hosts Margaux Delotte-Bennett and Michael Anthony Ingram warming the mic in between poets. They had a blast hosting the GPI open mic!

There were ten people on the mic, and many who were on the mic for the first time in their lives. Some original pieces were shared, but folks were also encouraged to share pieces from others that they liked or admired. The crowd was small and very lively! OPP ruled the night. We had a few poetry anthology books on hand, and it was nice to see people choose different poems from the books to read. Luis was there to thrill the crowd with his poetic genius. It was a great night!

We had a great time in October at Bossa. With some new voices and veteran GPIents on the mic, we rocked it for audience members from the GPI good ole days and the DC Poetry Project meetup group. Here are some highlights:

Zane became Walter White from Breaking Bad…no, clearly you don’t know who you’re dealing with!

Jess tapped into her dreams and explained how we’re going to get it.

Luis OPP’d The Peace Warrior: while the outside spins and weakens, the peace warrior grows…inside, patiently waiting.

Jen for just once: would like to hear the breath of emotion without being called a bitch, would like to be successful without being viewed as a threat, would like everyone to be equal.

And there was much more…calm trees, no pain, the mad hatter, odes against facebook, life abounding from the sky to the ground, a simon and garfunkel recitation, and snappy beats. Join us out at Bossa, 2463 18th St. NW DC, every second Tuesday of the month, 7-9 PM. See you there!

Howdy GPI! Our friends at the DC Poetry Project have been coming out to our DC open mics this year and spreading the poetry love. We want to help spread the word about their weekly radio open mic, during which you can call in and share your work:

The Power of Poetics: The DC Poetry Project’s Open Mic Poetry Call-In Show!

The Power of Poetics airs every Wednesday night at 8:00pm EST / 5:00pm PST! Hosted by Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, Executive Director of the DC Poetry Project, the show offers poets, spoken word artists, as well as other writers opportunities to openly celebrate their love for words in all its forms. So join us to share or listen to poems, prose, or other styles of expression with an audience of open minds and ears. We may be physically located in Washington DC, but our love for poetry is worldwide!  If there are questions, please call the DC Poetry Project Office at 202-540-0327, email at dcpp@gmx.com or tweet @dcpoetryproject.

You can see members of the DC Poetry Project perform live every second Tuesday of the month, 7-9 PM EST, at the GPI Open Mic at Bossa at 2463 18th St. NW, Washington, DC.

We had a great group of newcomers and regulars at our September open mic. Even those who not sure they would read that night were inspired by the end of it to share their minds, like we’ve seen at so many of our open mics. Thanks to all who came out! Here are some highlights:

Michael’s poem saw the poet and jumped; and he recounted how love does funny things before dying.

Jess’s peace poem told us we’re going to get it–hopefully without so much bullshit bullshit.

Sly showed us a reality that continually rapes a dream; hope and change seems to rest on a dusty shelf.

Suriya’s Message to the Judge…my eyes tell epic sages telepathically, ’cause words would take too long. Your majesty, I just hope your ESP is on.

Ryan OPP’d Gabe Moses, How to Make Love to a Trans Person…Realize that bodies are only a fraction of who we are; they’re just oddly-shaped vessels for hearts.

Kristie shredded Gretel…she thought she could follow herself back.

Danny said we’re mad because we were told what to want, even though we’re just dudes from Vermont; hatred will still eat your fucking heart away.

Suzi told us things you should never say to a therapist…right now I’m not trying to get committed while I pay my loan off.

Derek’s desire holds no boundaries; each time he passes city lights it reminds him of his beauty’s heart beat.

Red reminisced: you were such a charming mother[…mmm], every time you spoke you made my heart flutter; when you dreamed, you dreamed of me; your walk had theme music, and I had my dancin’ shoes on.

Ooh la la, and there was so much love to go around that night; so much love and feeling! And that’s what it’s all about. Come see us at Bossa in October, second Tuesday, 10/13, 7-9 PM, 2463 18th St. NW, DC.

On August 22nd, Jessica of the Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency facilitated a poetry workshop with Michael of the DC Poetry Project and their crew. The DC Poetry Project started making the GPI open mic their monthly meetup spot this year, and we are psyched to be collaborating with them.

The workshop was attended by ten people and featured individual and group writing exercises, then reciting and talking about our creations. We sat in the shade in Meridian Hill Park for a few hours, talked, wrote, and shared our thoughts on poetry and life. It was great!

Here are some of the group pieces that were created by an “elegant corpse” group writing exercise. That exercise is when you write two lines, fold the first one over so the next person can only see your second line, then pass it to the left and the next person writes two lines, folds over the first, passes the whole thing to the left, and so on. Some were pretty deep! Check it out:

Example 1:

Today the sky laughed at me
I gave it the middle finger
In my eternal angst by
Which my feelings lingered
Lingered like the bright white square of paint
Where her portrait once hung
While that wall may be repainted
My memory of her isn’t so easily undone
Her shadow fills the corners
Of my room when night falls
And the shadows succumb to my dreams
Or maybe not my dreams at all, but yours

Example 2:

A quiet planet sounds like an oasis just now
But I know from experience space is cold
The coldness never-ending
But I know I’ve felt summer’s sweltering gaze
The sun sees all of our daily rounds
While the moon whispers our secrets
Secrets we’ll never tell, stories of life
And laughter and hardly any pain
The friends gather beneath the ash trees
As the sun comes out again
Flickering, an indecisive source of life that orb
Mother of us all like a vast flickering breast
The Venus de Milo beckoned me
In a dream last night

Example 3:

The sky seemed a deep blue
That to me was all the more true
Because the marrow-generating cells in my bones
Repeated the truth, spoke it in mechanical rhythm
The truth, the truth, the truth, the truth
How often must it be repeated to become the truth?
Like an old TV jingle you can still sing
The stories of our innocence cling to us
No matter how hard we try to wipe them off
Or sometimes wash them away with wind red, delightful, delicious
Like an apple
Like a strawberry pie
Like a damsel’s red thigh
Like a baby’s soft cry

We had another wonderful time at our open mic in August. We were so inspired by each other’s words and energy that we stuck around afterward at Bossa to listen and dance to Cheik Hamala’s band. Good times all around! Here are some highlights:

Luis brought us the beginnings of his oil paintings…a melange so he can go on with that calm through his whole day (your mind is on another level, never should you settle).

Eunice reminded us of the phrase that rang long in the minds of her people, as they fought apartheid: united we stand, divided we fall.

Later you will discover the wind and John’s qualifications to be the wind.

Jess warned to be wary of Facebook, our psychotic love.

Tonight, Michael plans to murder his life–grief, sadly his only friend, will be in shock.

Suriya’s sunrise sustenance punctuates words straight to the blood stream, no chaser.

David has strawberry fever, love without love…the key to its success is eating the rest and knowing there’s more to come.

Sly said breaking up with someone is kinda like writing a poem; make love to paper like you will never write again.

Chris wondered…is society measured by what’s down at the 7-11?

Please join us at Bossa (2463 18th St. NW DC) on next second Tuesday of the month, 7-9 PM. See you there on September 8th!

In July, we took the open mic upstairs at Bossa, as we’ve done in the past, and had an awesome time. It was a full house of new friends and old, listening to inspiring words that touched our souls. We also bid our friend Denise bon voyage, as she sets off for her home state, Alaska, to help fight for indigenous people’s lands and rights. Here are some highlights…

Jeff wants to tear down that rag, that old confederate hag, that racist traderist flag.

Kinika wonders, why do people come into each other’s lives with their bullshit?

Damian fell in love but he shouldn’t have fell in love, but he shoulda.

Michael asked Emma, who wrote the Statue of Liberty plaque…didn’t you see when my boat came in?

Daisy showed us eruption: fissures in her soul fight to take control; no fake precautions, no more pretending calm; let the lava flow.

Luis sees we are livin’ in a corrupt nation where tough bacon know they can just slay men.

Denise warned us in her poem Isohuti that an Alaskan village will be devoured by the ocean in ten years. Instead of keeping quiet, I rise alongside native brothers, sisters, and allies.

Shahid said the snow that finds the earth sticks, in expanding white patches; its counterparts on the asphalt, atomized, fade quickly.

April with her flute captured the warrior, war woman–catch the light of the moon bow.

Jess rocked her DC Poem Song.

We’ll see you again at Bossa (2463 18th ST. NW DC) in August on the second Tuesday, 8/11, 7-9 PM. Go write!

We had a another great night at Bossa in June. DC Poetry Project members joined us again and strutted their stuff. We also said bon voyage to one of our founding members, Shahid, who is moving to San Francisco. No doubt he’ll be back in DC for visits, and in the meantime he’ll be rockin’ out with the SF poets. Here are some highlights…

Michael explained the ain’t of what is…it is what it is, isn’t it?

Denise shared some OPP, Soft, by Chrystos: I am a woman turning you in my arms like air; Time fishes for new water.

Shahid told us that from Ferguson to Jerusalem we pay the real criminals in the world with badges and guns.

Jeff thinks everyone must pay the cost of greed over need; colorful rainbows and pretty flowers won’t help you here.

John brought on the McVeggie–the fun begins here–and the Maharaja Mac–whatever it is, you’ll crave one of these.

Gowri said your poem stole her brother’s lunch.

Pete is Peter Piper, the balloon maker, he sells smiles…miles and miles of smiles.

Kate spoke of the joy of freedom: look at him go, round and round; this city, big as a continent; he still lives in innocence.

Suzi’s first response to violence is “why?”. Her first response to anything beyond pleasure is “why?”.

Luis let us come step into his mind and take a tour.

Karima wants your heart to resemble a feather, light and airy; be gentle with you, blue, there’s a whole world waiting on you.

And we’ll be waiting for you at Bossa, next second Tuesday of the month. See you there!