What better way to celebrate National Poetry Month than by attending a poetry open mic? Hearing the words off the printed page, with the speaker’s chosen inflections, brings the art form to life. Happily, both Los Altos and Mountain View offer opportunities for poets and appreciative listeners to share their passion.
Poetry Los Altos presents an open mic 7-8 p.m. April 6 and subsequent first Mondays (September’s meeting takes place the second Monday) at Los Altos Library, Pod D, 13 S. San Antonio Road.
Hilary King of Poetry Los Altos said she started the open mic about two years ago and that the Los Altos Library has been very supportive. She explained in an email that she started the group in order “to bring more poetry to the town where I live. I am active in the greater Bay Area poetry community, and want poetry to have a home in Los Altos.”
Six to 10 people show up at the library for each month’s session, ranging in age from 7 to 80-something. The younger poets are more infrequent, King said, but are always welcome.
Welcome is a key word: “We don’t judge or critique, we just listen,” King said.
The group takes turns reading poems aloud – mostly poems participants have written, but sometimes “poems they’ve discovered in the world, whether in school, journals, the internet,” she said. “I am a poet, and part of my job as a poet is to read poetry. So, I bring in lots of poems I think other people will enjoy hearing.”
And some people come just to listen and “that is very welcome,” King said.
The subject matter is wide open, with the exception of hatefulness.
“We try to stay away from poems with words that are harmful, so no violent, racist language,” she said. “Most people do read poems they have written, and they can be about any topic, from love to politics to pickleball.”
For more information, visit tinyurl.com/LAPoetryOpenMic or email [email protected].
In Mountain View
Red Rock Cafe, 201 Castro St., hosts an open mic Monday from 6-9:30 p.m. April 6 and subsequent Mondays, welcoming poets, spoken word artists, musicians and more. For more information on the Red Rock Cafe open mic, visit redrockcoffee.com/openmic.
