Spoken Word Unspoken
In the beginning I misunderstood. But now I’ve got it, the word is good. ~ Lennon/McCartney
Should I retire the Spoken Word category of my blog? After a five year run of hearing from authors, actors, writing teachers, poets, bloggers, storytellers, lyricists, stand-up comics, journalists and radio essayists at the open mic on the third Saturday of every month, after seeing them come out of the woodwork wearing berets and reading while standing on chairs (or even a Darth Vadar costume), the stage is now quiet.
The last time I posted a blog entry on our local spoken word scene was September. In October I posted a review by guest writer Pat Woodruff. 
I can’t remember if November and December Spoken Word night happened or if I went. In January a notice in the Museletter (our 25 year old local grassroots newsletter) announced that the Spoken Word was cancelled for the rest of the winter months. So goes the loss of momentum that the event has recently been afflicted with.
The Spoken Word Open Mic (a new incarnation on past spoken word initiatives) began in the fall of 2005 at the Café del Sol. It was hosted by The Floyd Writer’s Circle and Sally Walker, owner of the Café del Sol. The Café del Sol closed a year ago this month and the writer’s circle has been inactive almost as long. 
We moved the event to the Black Water Loft and had some memorable nights there, but soon, as new interest and energy dwindled, it felt like pushing a rock up a hill for Mara Robbins and me, the last two writers circle members involved.
For me personally, the venue helped me to heal my public speaking phobia. It invigorated my writing and thoroughly entertained me. Over the years, we’ve featured forensics, acoustics, skits and even a ventriloquist. We’ve heard from bards and banshees, town criers and fish tale liars. But mostly there were truth tellers, telling it like it is in the way that only a poet can do.
We put words to our frustration over the war in Iraq, ate birthday cake together and Mara’s home baked cookies when a reading was scheduled 5 days after the Virginia Tech shootings. We hosted standing room only readings of contributors to Moonshine, Floyd’s literary magazine and even hosted a memorial reading after one of the writing circle founding members died.
The thing that I’m most proud of that Spoken Word night accomplished was that it provided a forum for people of all ages and literary skill. It fostered young people, brought out first timers willing to risk putting themselves out there, and gave established writers a new audience.
It was a good run. I’d like to thank the community of readers and listeners, the tried and true supporters of the Spoken Word for enriching my life for the past five years.
Post note: Mara believes there is sprouting that needs some tending that could flower into a resurgence of the literary arts in Floyd. I don’t know. But I’m more than willing to take up the mic again if I’m invited. A history of past Spoken Word nights via words and pictures is HERE.
March 7th, 2011 6:24 pm
I don’t have an opinion about the spoken word category of your blog, but I really enjoyed the Mardi Gras post below! have a beautiful day Colleen!
March 7th, 2011 9:09 pm
The thought that Spoken Word might sputter out breaks my heart, but I have to hope that the next good thing waits on the horizon. Thank you for chronicling so many of these amazing events, Colleen! I feel so nostalgic reading this and looking at all the posts.
March 7th, 2011 10:01 pm
Ah, these things have natural life cycles and waves. That’s a good long run. But you never know when a new iteration will erupt.
March 8th, 2011 12:23 am
location, location, location.. I suspect that therein lies the problem. I love Black Water Loft. But the dwindling of Spoken Word happened after moving there. I cannot think of the next best place to hold it. I don’t know if Dogtown would work.
People really liked a glass of wine, beer, and a larger menu. Easy access and their own table, a large room, etc. The closing of Cafe del Sol left many holes in our community. I think the downswing of Spoken Word might be another one.
March 8th, 2011 12:27 am
It was a perfect storm of several things, the cafe closing being a big one. Not only because of the location (but that too) but because Sally often emceed and was good at helping us host when she could.
March 8th, 2011 9:03 am
It makes me sad to see it go. I do think location is a big part of the problem. I think we are all still writing.
March 8th, 2011 9:09 am
What an intriguing idea – this Spoken Word Open Mic – is. Sounds as if you’ve grown from it..in spite of its recent failings.
March 9th, 2011 5:44 am
Hi Colleen – this is the first time I’ve visited your blog and am sad to arrive as your Spoken Word event departs. I’ve been attending open mic nights around Liverpool, UK for the last 8 years and they do wax and wane – some fall by the wayside but the seeds are sown for others to spring up somewhere else. The main one I go to – Dead Good Poets Society has been going in various guises for 22 years but is having to move venues this year – which is always unsettling. I hope you find other openings – like you say they are such valuable events in terms of sharing views, growing confidence and sparking creativity.
March 21st, 2011 9:57 am
It may be a stretch to think that Tuggles Gap
would be a good next home for the Spoken Word, but we would be delighted to host the poets,
writers and entertainers here at our humble,
historic eatery. The Tuggles Gap ghost may be
just the muse needed for a new round of The Spoken Word.
March 21st, 2011 10:48 am
Hi Cheri, Maybe a traveling troupe of bards and troubadours will take the spoken word all around the county. We’ll see what germinates out of the dormancy. In the meantime, I’m curious about that ghost.