Magic City Poetry Festival is happening on Wednesday, November 17

Catch Magic City Poetry Festival at Rojo this upcoming Wednesday.
Photo from Caleb Calhoun.

By Caleb Calhoun | Library Assistant Ⅱ, Powdery Branch Library

Magic City Poetry Festival is back on Wednesday, November 17, and you do not want to miss it!

Hosted by Birmingham native and Alabama Poet Laureate Ashley M. Jones and Birmingham’s own In Toto Creative, this event features poetry and visual art from local artists. 

But there is a twist.

While Magic City Poetry Festival features several professional wordsmiths, most of the art and poetry is created by some of Birmingham's most vulnerable citizens.

Supporting In Toto supports your local community. Photo from Caleb Calhoun. 

Kyle Tyree, the founder of In Toto, explains:

I had a friend who was a therapist in Asheville, NC who recommended the book The Body Keeps the Score. Author Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. used theater in a group setting with people that had PTSD in order to give them a voice and I thought ‘This would be great for the homeless who have gone through so much trauma.’ Eventually I pitched the idea to the director of Firehouse Ministries and she was ecstatic.

And just like that, In Toto Creative was born. 

After two years of masking up, Magic City Poetry Festival will happen in-person at Rojo.
Photo from Caleb Calhoun. 

Yet nothing is ever that simple.

2020 sent along COVID-19 and other roadblocks, but Tyree and In Toto took those in stride, solving these problems with poetry and going digital.

According to Laura Secord (better known around art scene as Mojo Mama):

We really started doing poetry and visual art because we could do that over zoom. It’s amazing how deep and meaningful the comments are. Each week we bring in a poem and share it and then do a generative writing assignment. We have fellows in there that say ‘I haven’t written since 6th Grade’ who come out and enjoy themselves and write these beautiful things.

Since October of last year, In Toto provided a minimum of one creative session per week to residents at the Firehouse Ministries. Topics ranged from theater to writing to visual art. In Toto grew to the point of funding a fellowship through the organization.

“Part of Magic City Poetry’s goal is to bring free poetry to the community and that is one of the reasons I really wanted to be involved in this project,” Mojo Mama tells me. “We want to show this community that not only do we have professional poets but that our ordinary citizens have poetry inside of them, too.”

Enjoy live poetry readings and art from local artists. Photo from Caleb Calhoun. 

This fall’s Magic City Poetry Festival is happening in-person at Rojo and virtually on Zoom and Facebook Live.

After the poetry readings, In Toto will host an auction of visual arts made by its members.

When we did this (virtually) in the spring it was small but so special. Everybody sold some of their art and made a little money. With the holidays coming up we are really hoping that will happen again and some of our guests will be able to have some cash to get gifts for their friends and loved ones.

—Mojo Mama

Ashley M. Jones.

When: Wednesday, November 17 ⏰starts at 4:30 P.M.

Where: Rojo | 2921 Highland Ave, Birmingham, AL 35205

Details: Magic City Poetry Festival is happening this Wednesday, November 17, in-person at Rojo and virtually on Zoom & Facebook Live. Hear poetry from Alabama Poet Laureate Ashley M. Jones and local poets Thed Weller, Caleb Calhoun, Mojo Mama , and Kavin Turner. There will be an art auction benefitting In Toto Creative artists and their mission to heal Birmingham with poetry. Click here for the Zoom link to watch on Wednesday, November 17. 

For more information, visit Magic City Poetry’s website or Facebook Page. You can learn more about Firehouse Ministries by visiting their website here.

Caleb Calhoun is a Library Assistant Ⅱ at the Birmingham Public Library Powderly Branch and can be reached via email at Caleb.Calhoun@COBPL.org.