We were lucky to catch up with MICAH POWELL recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi MICAH, thanks for joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

I am not currently in touch with my biological father, but from what I remember of my experiences with him, he was always supportive of me and the goals I had when I was younger. My biological mother is the absolute best Mom anyone could ever ask for. She always made space for me, even when she didn’t have the space or understanding to know me in the moment. She always made sure I was in a space where I could learn about myself, my craft and my place in the world. She would take me to plays, concerts, and art galleries growing up. She called it making me “cultured” but I think she just wanted me to experience all the ways that people express themselves so I would have a better understanding of how to express myself. She was always making sure my poetry was TIGHT. I remember being like 12 getting ready for a show and she would grill me on my poems over and over until they had the right inflection and tone. I think it’s safe to say she made me into the poet I am today. I call her my “harshest critic” because she never let’s me get a big head and she is always ready to critique my performance.

MICAH, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been performing as a spoken word artist for 24 years! I started out getting paid to visit churches, weddings, and family gatherings to perform my pieces. My family and friends were the first folks who really recognized I had a way with words and they made sure to put me to work! Performing in my early years really set me up for success when I found the the SLAM (competitive poetry) scene when I was 14. It was more performance based and I could hone my public skills while also being able to be a bit of a ham, and after years of strict oratorical training, I thought it was super fun. Over the next decade I won and lost slams and made a name for myself as a spoken word pro. I learned a lot about the power of words and the business side of poetry. I got to meet a lot of my idols and decide the type of poet that I wanted to be. In my early journey I mostly did what I was told. I really didn’t have an idea of how I wanted to use my gift to benefit my environment. I wanted to use my art to effect community change and bring people together.

So now I call myself a “community poet” I use poetry to make people think deeper about themselves and their feelings. I also use it to help folks find solidarity and bring them together. Kind of like if a civil rights activist and a poet had a baby. (lol) I’m most proud that I’ve been able to spend decades doing what I love and effecting people by just teaching them to empathize with each other.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think we need to have more attention to HOW artists are represented. Unless you are a popular music artist, you pretty much are not known unless you are into that particular thing. I think if media outlets would market poetry and spoken word the same way they market sports and music it would be easier for poets to see themselves as legitimate artists. I think this trend is slowly changing with the spoken word category being added to the Grammy awards list, but there’s still a lot of artists that want to make a name for themselves and never do because it’s so hard as a poet to get yourself on a national/international stage. We don’t even what popularity or social success looks like outside of being poet laureate, I would like to see more poets making a name for themselves in the media. I hope we get more features, more spotlights, and more (PAID) exposure. We deserve to have people know our names just as much as music artists.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal in being a poet is to give folks the words their looking for when they can’t express themselves. I grew up in a military home. My family was never big on expressing how we feel or honoring our feelings. I have a gift that allows me to speak in a way mostly anyone could understand, I’m also pretty good teacher. I want to be able to use my gift to always help people find each other where ever they are in their life journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://micahthepoet.com
• Instagram: micahthepoet
• Facebook: micahthepoet
• Twitter: micahthepoet
• Youtube: micahthepoet