DATE: Wednesday 21st October
TIME: 7 - 9pm
LOCATION: East Quay Kitchen
This is a FREE event!
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Its time for this month's Spoken Word! Our next open mic is Wednesday 21st October at 7pm, in the East Quay Kitchen. This month's guest speaker will be Zakariye. The invitational theme is Growing Up.

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Throughout our lives, from childhood and still into adulthood, we all go through experiences of change. We change physically, socially and emotionally; we learn new skills, see the world differently, and perhaps adopt different opinions from those we had before. This we often call 'growing up', and may be what you feel called to write about this month. Though perhaps one can also look out to wider processes of growing up, societally, environmentally, spiritually. Is the journey of growing up straight or wiggly; should we be growing up at all? Jot down your musings and bring them to the mic.

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Poetry Prompt:

Dreams by Nikki Giovanni

in my younger years
before i learned
black people aren’t
suppose to dream
i wanted to be
a raelet
and say “dr o wn d in my youn tears”
or “tal kin bout tal kin bout”
or marjorie hendricks and grind  
all up against the mic
and scream
“baaaaaby nightandday  
baaaaaby nightandday”
then as i grew and matured
i became more sensible  
and decided i would  
settle down
and just become
a sweet inspiration

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Introducing Zakariye:

Zakariye is a poet, playwright and filmmaker from Birmingham. His debut poetry pamphlet Pulling Faces (Little Betty) was longlisted for the Jhalak Poetry Prize 2025. In 2022, his short poetry film ‘Cages’ was broadcast on BBC 4 and BBC iPlayer. He later went on to win the audience vote at the Roundhouse Poetry Slam Final and turned 'Cages' into a stage play where it had a 3-show run at the Roundhouse. His latest play, Pretend Like It’s Calm, played at the Birmingham Hippodrome in 2026.

You can find Zakariye on Instagram at: @zakariye
‍or https://www.zakariye.co.uk/

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How the evening works:

· Open Mic Sign Up opens from 6:45pm for a 7pm start.

· MC Introduction and Guest Set

· Open Mic - 2 poems each (but bring a 3rd in case we have time for more)

· Please give trigger warnings for any topics that listeners may find upsetting.

· I shall close the evening and tell you what’s happening next month!

Got an idea for a guest poet you’d love to see perform? I'd love to hear it!

Get in touch via my email or social media channels.

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