Poetry is life (Part I)

Honestly, I'd die without it. The boundless expression lets me tell everyone who I am (well at least to those who are willing to read/listen).

You can't put rules on writing poetry. Confining someone's creativity is a crime. We're all different and have the freedom to write whatever we want how we want. Now there is good and bad poetry, but it's all a matter of perception (and the majority of course).

This year, I've been regularly going to weekly open mics, mostly at Mary Helen's down the street from campus. Most of the time, I sign up to perform. Sometimes I don't like going up there knowing that I won't get the crowd hype like some other word artists. I'm more literary than anything. I've embraced who I am though: a young woman who writes because her mind and heart tell her to. I'm never going to stop writing. Also, the open mic experience always inspires at least a couple of new lines later. Right now I have so much to work with it's ridiculous. I could write all day if I wanted to, and I would all day every day if I didn't have so many responsibilities.

With the freedom of open mics, there are the bad apples that grace the stage with their unique mediocrity. They're usually pretty rare, but last night there were at least four performances of that quality (with one man performing twice). The content ranged from an orginal song about "ugly"-ing up to a middle-aged man mimicking current rap songs.

Besides those "special" performances, everyone else was pretty good. One dude was promoting his poetry cd and ended up making big business after he finished performing a taste of it.

I will never get tired of open mics. I'm going to another one tonight in Norfolk. I've been before and it was lovely. I didn't perform that time, but I will definitely do so tonight. I believe more of my friends are coming this time, so I'm excited.

More to come later.