Olympia People’s Mic

by Jonah Barrett for OLY ARTS

As the seasons change from green to orange, Old Growth Poetry Collective continues to bring poetry events to Olympia. The collective’s weekly poetry show, “Olympia People’s Mic,” takes place every Thursday evening at Ben Moore’s Restaurant. Every first and third Thursday event will take the form of Olympia’s only poetry slam, with creatives competing against one another using original content.

Since the formation of the Old Growth Poetry Collective in 2011, these events have only improved. Slams are graded on a point system now, and the ever-changing nature of Olympia People’s Mic forces slammers to work harder and introduce newer material at a faster pace. A number of these slams are themed, using rules to encourage experimentation between poets. For an extra mix, each show features a guest poet, sometimes from genres outside of slam. While the objective of Olympia People’s Mic is to bring slam to Olympia, the other major goal lies in amusing the Olympian crowd.

“Our audience loves work that is political, work that is fearlessly and militantly loving, poetry that is soul-searching and introspective,” said founder Brian McCracken. “Most importantly, we feature poetry that works and entertains. This is not your standard poetry reading. We want you to have fun no matter what your background or education is.”

What: Olympia People’s Mic

Where: Ben Moore’s Restaurant,
112 Fourth Ave. W, Olympia

When: 6:30 p.m. Thursdays (open-mic sign-up at 5:45 p.m.)

How much: sliding scale, from free to $5

Learn more: Old Growth Poetry Collective

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