VOICES Publishing from the AAJA National Convention
A tall man wearing majestic royal robes over sagging sweatpants and teddy bear bedroom slippers bounds onto the stage and sets down a large black boombox, which soon starts blasting a background beat.
“Yeah…Splash…Splash…Hi-Ya!”
The man does karate kicks to the beat while he raps, making his way down a wooden stage until he is just a foot or two away from the front row.
The audience, initially unsure how to respond, soon starts clapping and bouncing to the beat.
The beats come from Busboys and Poets’ weekly poetry slam open-mic night, held to promote the restaurant’s mission of providing a creative space for art, culture and politics. The slams attract headliners from around the world, who take the stage to discuss everything from love to race to revolution.
On this night, the crowd at the restaurant at Fifth and K streets is diverse; families with kids, groups of friends and couples on dates. They crowd around tables facing a wooden stage where a deep purple couch sits against a black backdrop.
The host, dubbed Pages, takes the stage and points to a large mural on the wall featuring Langston Hughes – the original “busboy and poet” – and tells the audience to, above all, “be respectful.” The goal of the night is to uphold Hughes’s proud legacy.
Many of the performers are seasoned members of the open-mic circuit. The night’s headliner, North Carolina native IzReal the Poet, said he comes back to Busboys and Poets because of its history as a gathering place for activists and its responsive audience.
The crowd appears most moved by a clearly well-rehearsed, kinetic poem with a steady rhythm that intersperses the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech with the poet’s commentary on the continued plight of black men.
An African American waitress nods her head in approval while passing through the audience with trays of food and drinks high above her head.
A few acts are more toned down. The audience cajoles a petite, strawberry blonde to the stage with chants of her name. She reads her poem from an iPhone, a short piece about a pair of rented dress shoes that have experienced weddings, funerals, love and loss. The poem is short, but the audience gives the woman a solid round of applause, in part because of the poem, but mostly because she conquered her stage fright.
Audience members George and Avelyn Young live in the area and said they go to all the four Busboys and Poets locations for both the food and the atmosphere at least once or twice a month. They left their children at home on this occasion for a date night.
“Open-mic night really gives people a chance to express their artistry and gives a good variety of art form,” says Avelyn Young.
Hughes would be proud.
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A popular restaurant and bookstore in DC, Busboys and Poets is known for its community of activists and poets on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. It regularly hosts open mic nights, book readings and community meet-ups. (Sadia Khatri/AAJA VOICES)
A performer recites a poem at the Open Mic night at BusBoys and Poets restaurant in Washington DC on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. (Sadia Khatri/AAJA VOICES)
Host and poet Pages Matam opens the floor with an original poem at Open Mic night on Wednesday at BusBoys and Poets restaurant on 5th and K Street in Washington DC on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. (Sadia Khatri/AAJA VOICES)
The audience waits for the weekly Open Mic night to begin at Busboys and Poets restaurant on Wednesday at 5th and K Street in Washington DC on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. (Sadia Khatri/AAJA VOICES)
A crowd outside Busboys and Poets enjoys their patio space along K Street in Washington DC on Wednesday, August 13, 2014. (Sadia Khatri/AAJA VOICES)
