Poetry Brewing
This month I had the pleasure of stepping in to help Mindy McVay with Midnight Garden's monthly Third Saturday Poetry Slam and Open Mic, alongside the incredibly talented Palowski Moore who stood in as this month’s host. I know what you’re thinking: Who are you?
Well, hello! My name is Jesse Masters. I have the good fortune of working with Midnight Garden Publishing’s Editor In Chief, Patricia Hartman in developmental edits on my debut romantic suspense novel. If you’d like to follow along with my journey of publishing said novel, you can find me on Instagram at jesse_masters_author and on TikTok as ThatOneGirlWhoWrites. You can also subscribe for updates directly on my website, www.thatonegirlwhowrites.com and enjoy a spooky paranormal short story, seven weeks in the making.
October saw us back at the KC Bier Co in Brookside. This month we got to go behind the scenes to set up in their brewing room. We saw a smaller crowd this time, but that did nothing to diminish the talent that was represented via the open mic portion of the evening.
Unlike months’ past, we were unable to hold the regular slam poetry portion so we just kept the mic open all night long. We were able to enjoy some truly astonishing poems from some brand new faces and first time participants—some so moving that we asked to hear them a second time. Many poets leaned into the spooky season to share haunting imagery and sinister themes.
I took to the mic myself to share a poem I wrote a few months back. Poetry is not what I would consider my strong suit, but I try to challenge myself to write it occasionally anyway and have found that it has helped me grow overall as a writer. I was also able to share a little bit about my debut novel with the group.
Finally, Palowski shared a few poems of his own, as well as some words of advice from someone with many awards and accolades for his writing. His input and expertise were invaluable for those of us trying to put our work out into the world, even in the face of industry rejections.
Overall, the structure of this month’s event was not what you may be used to seeing, but we still managed to make it a blast as we had a fantastic time sharing poetry and ideas as a local community. I am so lucky to be a part of such a strong and supportive writing community here in Kansas City.
Keep your eyes on Midnight Garden’s socials for updates on a potential new location for the November Poetry Slam and Open Mic Night. They are still on the lookout for a permanent home for this event and you won’t want to miss their updates.
Thank you, Mindy, for trusting me to help out in your absence this month. I’m looking forward to next month’s event already! I’ll sign off here the way I sign off on my blog posts on my website.
With love and KC pride,
That One Girl Who Writes
