“Tonight, I want you to write about something erotic,”says Dasha Kelly, host of the Still Waters Open Mic Poetry Night. Her gypsy eyes gaze into the crowd and then at the sign-up sheet. She reads off a name and the first poet steps to the microphone. The bardic baptism begins.
Every Thursday at Mecca Nightclub, dimly lit lights cast soft silhouettes in the intimate space as spectators wait to be enthralled by word wizards and metaphor masters. Despite its inconspicuous façade, the club, on 38th Street and Hampton Avenue, is nationally recognized as the city’s only venue for Poetry Slam Incorporated, and Mecca regularly features poets from across the country.
“There are countless people who enjoy writing poetry and short stories and stage plays and lyrics, but don’t give themselves permission to do so,” says Kelly. To provide permission, Kelly started Still Waters Collective in 2000 to help cultivate raw talent, serve as a resource for local writers and oversee Mecca’s poetry night.
A published author, Kelly runs Mecca with her husband, Kendall, and also hosts a monthly Still Waters Spoken Word Show at the Downtown public library’s Centennial Hall. For the past six years, Still Waters has produced a National Slam Poetry team to represent Milwaukee, and the 2007 squad (including Kelly, Dan Vaughan, Shelly Davis and DeShawn Ewing) placed 16th, the highest ranking to date for a local team. Kelly and Vaughan were also featured on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam performing a sassy and comedic spoken-word duet on weathering a partnership in love
and marriage.
The Mecca crowd is mostly African-American, but it ranges wide: On any given night, you may find teachers, college students, business professionals and career poets from all corners of the city. It’s an easygoing atmosphere where audience members call out in praise of the poets on stage.
“Not only have I seen the most shy and unlikely souls become poetry rock stars, but I’ve observed how the road to ‘rock star’ shapes esteem, character and leadership,” says Kelly. “Once a week at the open mic, we all get reborn.”
