06/15/2020
Simon here. As I’m sure many of you already know, Espresso Royale has gone out of business due to Covid.
After discussing our options with Tariq, our former SlamMaster, I’ve decided to end the show. I don't think that there are really any other suitable venues--does Literati really need another poetry reading?--and I simply don’t have the energy to handle this right now. Our attendance has been waning, and it’s time for me to focus my activism on something more directly related to social justice. I’ve been neglecting my own poetry and participation in the poetry community for a while now, and it will be nice to have a breather.
I became the co-host and co-organizer of Ann Arbor Poetry & Slam in October 2016. In November, Trump was elected. Luis Anderson and I made the decision to end competitive poetry slams, which were no longer serving their intended purpose, and rebrand as Ann Arbor Poetry, with a focus on amplifying the voices that needed to be heard the most. When Luis left to take better care of himself, I became the sole host and organizer. I had a vision for the show I wanted to put on--feature readings, political rants, open mics, a lively and welcoming atmosphere--and I was successful in doing that. I was unsuccessful in finding and training a successor, as Garret and Lindsay had done with me, and that is my failure as a leader.
Over the past three and a half years, it has been my privilege, pleasure, honor, and an extreme pain in the ass to keep this thing going. We’ve hosted dozens of features, many of them for first-time feature readers, most of them local, most of them women, PoC, and other voices that are too often silenced. Our open mic has let hundreds of people speak their piece, hone their craft, and be a part of this literary community. We raised hundreds of dollars for charities like the ACLU, SPLC, and Planned Parenthood, before I decided to focus on paying our poets (which was the right call). I’ve listened to hundreds of terrible poems (sorry, y’all) and to poems so good, so vital and necessary that they made all the rest of them worthwhile. I’m very proud of the work that we’ve done, and I’m heartbroken to see it end but excited to see what the future has in store.
Right now there is $210 in the Cookie Monster Hat Fund. I’ve donated that to the Detroit Justice Center, and posted the receipt to this page. I’ll be giving the PA equipment back to Lindsay Stone, our original SlamMaster, who bought it out of pocket for us back in 2013.
Currently, I am planning to have one last Slammiversary in the fall, outdoors on the diag, as a way to say goodbye. I’m not making any promises, but I’ll do my best to make sure this happens.
We named the show Ann Arbor Poetry because that’s what’s left when you take away the word “Slam”, but we are not the beginning or end of poetry in Ann Arbor. Go to Skazaat, to The Neutral Zone, to Bookbound Bookstore, to Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tearoom and One Pause Poetry Salon, to the WCC Poetry Club, to Literati Bookstore and the Zell Readings and White Lotus and all the rest of the amazing readings and workshops that this city has to offer.
I want to thank all of our former leadership--Lindsay Stone, Garret Potter, Tariq Luthun, and Luis Anderson, for creating this space. Espresso Royale, and our old digs at Silvio’s Pizza, thank you so much for hosting us and putting up with our volume and profanity. Ashwini Bhasi, Fiona Chamness, Marlin M Jenkins, John Buckley, Inam Kang, Nadine Marshall, Sawyer Reynolds, Jamie Lee-Morgan Valenzuela, Gabriel Israel Green, Joseph Harris, Clarity Levine, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang and too many more to name here, I appreciate everything you’ve done. The whole Mighty Morphin Poet Rangers crew, I couldn’t have done it this last year and a half without you all. And everybody who ever came out to read or listen--thank you, thank you, thank you.
If you ever need anything poetry related, or a safe place to talk, I’m still here. You know how to find me. It’s been a wild ride, and I’m so proud to have ridden it with you all.
All my love,
-Simon Mermelstein, Host/Organizer, Ann Arbor Poetry
