Open
mic poetry flows with ‘No Discretion’
By Daniel Frias
On-line Forty-Niner
Words
flowed, thoughts were heard and expressions
felt as poets and non-poets gathered together
Monday night for Open Mic at the Gallery
Eleven Seven in downtown Long Beach.
Tammy Morales, a 19 year-old student at
Long Beach City College from Autryville,
N.C., hosted Open Mic “No Discretion,” featuring
local art, located on Linden Ave.
Morales moved here in August to attend school
and hosted her first open mic when she got
here at Fendi’s, a small coffee tavern located
on 539 E. Bixby Road in Long Beach. The
success of the open mic at Fendi’s prompted
her to do another one.
“I host an open mic at Fendi’s on Friday
nights,” Morales said. “It was doing good
and I was looking for another venue to expand.”
Morales said she has been writing poetry
ever since she was a little girl before
she even knew what poetry was.
“I’ve always written,” Morales said. “Ever
since I was eight. I always use to scribble
on napkins even before knew what poetry
was.”
Morales got the idea to host an open mic
from back home when she used to attend open
mics in North Carolina. Morales was part
of a poetry club her sophomore year in high
school and that’s how she found out about
the open mic.
“It was magical,” Morales said with her
southern accent. “I fell in love with the
scene.”
About a dozen people showed up to open mic
to read poetry and express their thoughts
and feelings about love, Internet dating,
the weather and anything else they felt
like expressing.
“I call it no description because there
is no censor and no edit. You let it out
as it comes,” Morales said.
There were seasoned poets and first timers
there. Al Robertshaw, a 74-year old retired
architect was a first timer.
“This is my first time,” Robertshaw said.
“My former wife is a member of this gallery
and she told me about it.”
Robertshaw, who is currently working on
a book with his former wife, Thea Robertshaw,
titled “Converging Destiny: A memoir of
the creative search,” read a chapter from
his book, which is about his former wife
and covers different areas of the creative
process.
This was the second open mic session held
at Gallery Eleven Seven. Morales started
it last week and will continue to do so
every Monday night from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
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