Jazz musician Jeff Robinson founded the poetry jam in 1998 as a way to perform. Over the years, he became a host, a slam master for competition, and the person setting up chairs and testing sound equipment.
Sunday nights at the Lizard Lounge are a time when poets can slam, spit and carry a chorus alongside jazz musicians. In February, the community celebrated the Poetry Jam’s 25th anniversary and the man who started it all.in 1998 as a way to perform. He became a host, a slam master for competition, the person setting up chairs and testing sound equipment. Those who have been there since the beginning confirm he rarely if ever missed a Sunday.
He gave in eventually. They gathered on a recent Sunday, in that same dark basement where poets have performed for years. Here, music perpetually mingles with spoken word that lingers in the air like a haze. A bar in one corner serves a drink called the “Jeff Robinson.” There’s soft carpet underfoot. The host that night, Harlym 125, set the mood for the evening and the poetry to come.
Singer and poet Iyeoka Okoawo concurred. “I consider myself a lobbyist,” she said. “This is a 25-year dissertation in the making underground. Berklee College of Music needs to give this man a doctorate, a doctorate in jazz and music and poetry and engineering — everything.” A poetry night with this much history is a rare thing. Bassist and composer Blake Newman remembered riding high in those early days when spoken word was on the rise and the nights were packed with energy.
“One of my teachers, when I was studying theater, had said that every actor should be a poet,” Robinson said. “And I liked that saying, but at the time I was and still am a musician and an actor. And I thought, you know, I can only wear so many hats, but that never left me.” “Like we all do it out of love,” Nunes said. “You know, the majority of the poets you heard tonight are all well in their 40s, some of us are hitting 50, [with] grown kids, some of them [are] even grandparents on that mic,” Nunes said. “But when you get on that mic, on that stage anyway, we defy age. We defy any other thing, any barrier. It's church. That's what I call it.”
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