On Friday, Feb. 18, the Black Cultural Center, in association with the University of Utah’s Intersect X12 and the Utah Black Artists Collective, hosted an open mic event called “Poetic Justice.” The event is one of many lined up for the celebration of Black History Month at the U.

The event was hosted by Meligha Garfield, the director of the U’s Black Cultural Center. All in attendance in the full house were invited to speak, each introduced with warm words from Garfield.

“This beautiful soul has come to the center a couple times and engaged with amazing conversation,” Garfield said in the introduction for one poet. “Beautiful soul that really comes as her authentic self. Beautiful soul that really showcases what it means to be real with a capital R.”

Throughout the night, speakers shared one to three personal poems on an array of topics, many connected to the Black experience, others about love, abusive relationships, religion, queerness and intersecting identities. The poets were applauded through snaps and cheers. 

Youri Joseph, a Salt Lake City resident in attendance at the show, recited two of his own poems. His first poem, “The Land of the Free,” ponders the irony of this phrase to describe America when the history of Black people in the country is factored into the equation. Joseph writes under the name “Youri Young.” 

“The liberty bells that rang in fierce battle sounded awfully like chains on Black ankles that rattled and creaked when like cattle and sheep, the oppressed and opposed were impressed with the load of seeing this nation rise up on its feet only then to be told that their seat had been pulled from the table of equals,” Joseph said. “The white men whose faces and names are revered … were granted a title so fitting: founding fathers of the land of the free. I suppose that makes slavery the mother, who through labor gave birth to the country we know as the U.S. of ‘A.’” 

Another poet who spoke at the event, University of Kansas graduate Jamera NaQuai, recited a poem called “Black Girl Blues” chronicling her experience as a Black girl and woman. The poem is part of the book she published last month titled “So Black I’m Blue.”

“When I was eight, my mother permed my hair for the first time,” NaQuai said. “She told me it would make me pretty. I remember the chemicals burning the kinks out of my scalp and I begged her to rinse it out. ‘Just a few more minutes. Don’t you want to be pretty?’ I squeezed the tears away and gritted my teeth and let the blade spread all the way down to the nape of my neck. I want to be pretty.”

In her poem, she says white America is still stealing.

“Now you have taken our Black girl bodies and placed them on a totem pole with the name Kardashian carved in it and the Black girl is left at the bottom looking up singing the Black girl blues because her skin is too dark and her boxer braids are too frizzy,” NaQuai said. “But I say to that little Black girl, stand up straight. If the only way to be Black and to be woman is to be angry, then be angry.” 

NaQuai said it was a poem she had written just after finishing high school, but it still feels relevant and brings out the same passion and anger she felt when she wrote it. 

“It was really just me chronicling my experience as a Black girl — you know, my childhood and my experiences with racism growing up and just really how they became more blatant,” NaQuai said. “I’ve performed that poem before and every time it just consumes me like I just feel it in every fiber of my being, so it’s always fun.” 

In between speakers, Garfield occasionally led sessions of collective deep-breathing, or recited poetry from other established poets. The night ended with a poetry recitation from Wynter Storm, the special guest of the event.

Storm performed several of her poems, some of which are featured in her new book, “Black Rainbow Layers.” Her setlist spanned many topics, from “Home,” the poem that helped her win the Ogden Pride Slam Poetry Contest in 2018, to poems about love, Simone Biles, ancestry DNA and the movie “Soul.”

A poet and professional drummer, Storm has been published since the age of eight. Storm said she always wrote poetry as an outlet for healing — one difficult healing moment being coming to terms with her queer identity after growing up religious. 

“The Church no longer made me feel welcome and that broke my heart because the Church was my community … and I needed something to turn to,” Storm said. “Poetry has always been something to save me, it’s always been my go-to that can save me like nothing else can.” 

Among Storm’s setlist was “Breaking News,” a poem about the headlines made by Simone Biles when she made the decision to withdraw from the Olympics for her own mental health.

“Another Black woman was expected to carry the country on her back like we always have … always want to put medals on us for the win and hope that we make it golden — another American trophy,” Storm said. “This time Black woman chose her Black body been sacrificing for so long, been the beat above the breast, the rise in the chest, Black been the deep breath and the skin of the coldest gymnast … Another Black body was crowned with expectations.”

Storm said she thought it was a fitting poem for both Black History Month and upcoming Women’s History Month in March. 

“The moment that newscaster said the things that they said about Simone … it had me in tears as a strong Black woman because they were trying to paint such a negative picture,” Storm said. 

Storm is not only a poet, but also the co-founder of UBLAC, who helped host the event. UBLAC is an organization that connects Black artists throughout the state of Utah. She said the idea for UBLAC started as a wishful conversation between her and co-founder Jayrod Garrett, who was also in attendance at the open mic event — a vision that they later realized together.

“A community, a family of Black professional artists, uplifting one another and highlighting one another … it sounded like a far-fetched idea … then that next week … we filled out for our business license,” Storm said. “It was that quick because we not only saw the need in the community, but we both saw a need in our own lives to have a collective and a community like that in the state of Utah.” 

Storm said the open mic night was a chance to bring the community together to share their talents in a safe space, and that the event left her feeling “overjoyed.” 

“I have had the night of my life, my heart is so full … I’m in tears because it was literally only standing room in this place,” Storm said. “To think that so many people just wanted to come out and show love and share their talents and be vulnerable and share who they are … that so many human beings were willing to just embrace one another, support one another, cheer on one another … that was beautiful.” 

[email protected]

@a_khatri_news