Like many people in my generation, my first experience with poetry outside of mandatory assignments in school, came from three places: the movies Love Jones, Slam, and to a lesser extent Poetic Justice. Ok, I might be stretching on the last one, but I was captivated by Ms. Jackson in that movie. Outside of that, I have had little interaction with the poetry slams. So it was with even more surprise I found out about Columbus’s links to the hot poetry scene.

Writer’s Block Poetry

Columbus is not just home to one hot poetry group, but two! The Writer’s Block Poetry group has been meeting for the past eight years. Billing themselves as “Columbus’s most diverse, irreverant and nationally lauded” poetry collective, the WBP has groomed and sponsored poets in regional and national poetry slam competitions. The WBP holds court each week at Kafé Kerouac on Wednesdays at 8 PM. In mid-May, WBP is sponsoring the 2008 Rust Belt Regional Poetry Slam to be held here in Columbus.

Black Pearl Poetry

The other poetry group goes by the name, Black Pearl Poetry. Black Pearl is led by Ed Mabrey and holds open mic sessions weekly on Tuesdays at Club Ice. The BP team was able to bring Poetry Slam, Inc.’s Individual World Poetry Slam competition to Columbus for 2008.


NOTE: The IWPS will not be held in Columbus this year! Check out Poetry Slam, Inc. for an update…

Show Your Stuff

Check out the Buckeye Soul calendar of events for a complete list of open mic dates for both the Writer’s Block and Black Pearl Poetry groups.