American Poetry Museum stages new art & poetry events

Live jazz sessions, a bookbinding workshop, a book release, and a visual art exhibit exploring the gray area between language and clay.

These are among the many events that will be hosted over the coming weeks at the American Poetry Museum on the Brookland Arts Walk.

As part of the museum’s mission, the events allow poets and other artists to share their work with an audience.

Founder Jon West-Bey created the museum in 2004 as his master’s thesis from Bank Street College of Education.

“The whole idea was that he wanted to create a museum that had people question the idea of a museum. The idea was, what is American poetry?” said Sami Miranda, a high school teacher at E.L. Hayes Public Charter School and executive director of the American Poetry Museum.

West-Bey wanted a space where people could bring their art into conversation, and the museum holds many events each month to do that.

Every third Sunday of each month, the museum holds a jazz poetry set.

On Oct. 18, it hosted a Jackson Jazz Poetry Set from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in honor of Reuben Jackson, a poet who died two years ago. Miranda said Jackson came every Saturday. This month was his birthday month, so the museum held readings in his memory.

The museum also started a weekly jam session on Wednesdays, Miranda said.

On Oct. 23, the museum will hold a bookbinding workshop with Maria Fernanda at Creative Grounds, a coffee shop and art space on North Capital Street NW, D.C., from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Also coming up is a new book event for Kevin Powell, featuring his poem “Evangeline and Other Songs,” at the museum from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Miranda said not all events are held at the museum. He said some programs move to different parts of the city because of limited space, and certain programs start at the same time.

Although poetry is the focus of the museum, it’s just part of the conversation along with music and visual arts.

“Forms of Speech,” a new month-long art exhibit by D.C. poet and artist Sasa Aakil, is opening on Oct. 24 with an opening reception from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The exhibit will display her ceramic art in a vessel alphabet.

The artist’s studio, Sasa Aakil Ceramics, is located right next to The American Poetry Museum.

Aakil said in an email that she made each ceramic vessel a letter of the alphabet throughout the exhibit, translating her writing themes of joy, identity, community, and justice.

Johnson said Aakil created her own language in ceramics. He said, “You could send messages to people.”

“I like to say that the vessel alphabet that Forms of Speech is based around is the truest combination of my most beloved art forms,” Aakil said.

On Oct. 25, Aakil will host a writing workshop called If All the Trees Were Pens, where people can write and talk about each other’s pieces of writing.

In 2022, Aakil hosted her first open mic at the museum, which has now expanded into community workshops, a publishing program, and her ceramics studio.

“Sasa’s event has been integral in getting young folks together,” Brandon Johnson, a D.C. poet and member of the museum, said.

Aakil said she wanted to have a space where young people could share their feelings and experiences, where people would listen.

Miranda said Aakil has built a great and inspiring community of young people through her open mics and workshops.

For young people who want to start writing poetry, Aakil said access can be a big issue. Young adult writers should know writing can hold a lot of power and can lead to new experiences.

As for the museum keeping its small space in the Brookland Arts Walk, Miranda said, when it comes to the programming and funds, “we keep the overhead low.”

“The vision is to see how many people we can support,” he said.

Miranda said it’s important to him to pay back the artists for displaying their work. “I want to say to them, if we have $100,000, I want $80,000 of that to go back to artists.”

He said the museum started as a volunteer opportunity, and board members just started to get paid two years ago.

“This is the first year I have gotten paid,” he said.

“I think it’d be better to spend the money on an artist, people who are contributing to this, to get better at what we’re already doing,” Johnson said.

Soophia Hussain, a graphic designer and artist, recently started going to the American Poetry Museum after hearing about it from a friend. She said her friend described the museum as a space where creativity is a form of resistance.

“I was astounded at how kind of welcoming and inclusive the space was,” Hussain said.

Hussain said she had been to some open mics and was impressed by the first jazz set she attended.

“It is extremely impressive and really cool to hear somebody’s words line up with the music to enhance the feeling they are trying to get across,” Hussain said.

Hussain said she appreciates the encouragement from other poets during open mics, helping people onto the stage to share their poems.

Miranda said the museum is working to collaborate with the other art businesses along Arts Walk, such as Kuzeh Pottery, Kucheh Art Studio + Shop, and Bol Coop Bookstore.

“When thinking about programmatically where we are going, I think about the programs that we have started. Continuing and getting larger, where basically you are supporting artists and creating and developing to see where it goes,” Miranda said.