If you live in the Woodbridge area, chances are you’d have to travel to either Manassas or the outskirts of DC in order to find an open mic night. For a long time, there has been a call for more events within Woodbridge on a consistent basis, and yesterday that call was answered during a spectacular gathering of voices during the inaugural “Speak into Existence: Open Mic” night.

Taking place at the Clearbrook Center for the Arts in Tackett’s Mill, the festivities was hosted by Prince William County’s Poet Laurette Kim B. Miller. It was a cornucopia of first-time and veteran performers, each bringing their own unique perspectives to the packed crowd in attendance. Miller began the evening by warming up the crowd with one of her amazing haikus. The 2021 DMV Haiku Champion grabbed the audience’s attention with every word, bringing a high level of anticipation for the next performer.

They were each given 7 to 8 minutes to perform their set, and each one did not disappoint. A young man named Greg performed a Jimi Hendrix classic “The Wind Cries Mary,” followed by an original piece he had conducted. Next, he was followed by the storytelling musings of Nick Baskerville, who is the creator of “Storytelling on Purpose,” designed to provide stories with impact. Baskerville did just that as he told a beautiful tale of buying his daughter some Black dolls and the importance of representation. However, it wasn’t any ordinary story, as he delivered it with a family-friendly comedic style that had the crowd erupting in laughter.

Without question though, it was the next performer that left the biggest impression of the night as 8-year-old Starr Moore electrified the audience with a poem called “Mother’s Earth,” which was a plea to care for the environment. However, it was more than her prose that garnered the hearts of the crowd, it was her undeniable charm and passion that rivaled contemporaries twice her age as the entrepreneur also promoted her all-natural hand sanitizer called Loopers’ Loafers. Star has been featured on videos with former NBA star Kwame Brown on YouTube and even has her own videos as well on YouTube.

Throughout the evening, Miller would bring more of her inspirational haikus, even challenging Black people to dismiss the popular term “Black Girl Magic,” with a thought-provoking statement, “Magic doesn’t make masterpieces, we do!”

Also joining the event was a few performers that have worked with her in the past, including “The New One,” who gave an ode to hip hop with two selections that would remind many of a bygone era of rap music when it was the “CNN of the streets.” One of the songs referenced his time of leaving St. Louis, Missouri in order to escape the hopelessness and embrace a new future, while also encouraging Black women with a song called “The Village.”. Afterwards, spoken word poet Eric Kellum gave his testimony through haikus and an emotional story that shook to the core.

What made the event so pristine was that it gave many individuals the opportunity to do just that, share their personal experiences in spaces where in the past it may not have been understood. This was especially true when Anastasia Gadson, who read from her book “What My Father Sees In Me.”

Finally, it was time for the headliner, and Butterly Free gave a series of haikus and poems with an infectious energy. One of the most powerful poems was a story she told in the form of a mother who had lost her child and was speaking with her in Heaven. It was the first time she told the tale, as it had a personal attachment to her own tale of overcoming personal tragedies. She left the crowd in joy, though, as her last delivery of the night included a relational analogy of breaking up with depression and getting the healing she needed.

Miller spoke with the PW Perspective about what it meant to host this event and how it all came together. “For me it’s important to have events in Prince William County because it’s known for a lot of things, but not the arts in general, especially for poetry. Tonight, we’ve proven that we can gather on a local level, People now have an open space where we can sing, dance, or deliver poetry. This is about bringing something together and show that Prince William County is capable of showing this type of talent right here. It is a chance to see the beautiful flowers that we miss going to other people’s parks.”

The next “Speak into Existence: Open Mic” will occur on the third Monday in August, and every third Monday each month thereafter. For more details, visit Kim’s website.