(self-portrait by Cole Sarar)

Cole Sarar, also known by her stage name “Inky,” started Minnesota Microphone this past year and it’s already become a central hub for the Twin Cities’ burgeoning spoken-word and performance poetry scene. With a calendar of events, photos, video and more, the site has filled an important niche, reaching out not only to poets and performers, but to potential audience members as well.

A writer and poet in her own right, Sarar moved to St. Paul in 1997 to attend Macalester College and started competing in poetry slams just last year. Despite her rookie status, she won the right to represent Minneapolis at the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Detroit this month.

Guante: As both an artist and a chronicler of art, what drew you to spoken-word as opposed to any other medium?

Cole Sarar: I missed hanging out with writers- my writing conspirator moved to Oakland, and I was missing her pretty fiercely. I went out to Kieran’s, not expecting much out of the poetry slam, and was just blown away by the talent that was in that back room. I specifically remember seeing Sierra DeMulder and thinking where the HELL did this girl come from? As opposed to other mediums, honestly? It was all in the timing-the thing I needed, when I needed it. Kismet.

The photography scene is full of people who are really really professional and know what they’re on about and have invested the time and money to get all the equipment they need and are in direct competition with each other, where I need time to learn and grow and be collaborative. The theater scene has this always “on” sort of aesthetic that is exhausting and not enough give and take for someone like me. Spoken-word has this lovely balance that doesn’t really come across in the name of the genre—you have to be constantly listening, as well as speaking, and a gritty sort of openness that accepts people in at the ground floor. Performers adopt other performers, people can start really awful, stilted or trite, and go somewhere really beautiful if they take the time to listen and discuss as much as they speak and perform.

G: The spoken-word scene in the Twin Cities seems to really be enjoying a surge in popularity recently. Why do you suppose that is? What events have been fun or made an impact on you in the past year or so?

CS: I don’t know that I could say exactly—we’ve been one of the more literary cities, we love words. We’ve got a fantastic theater scene, so we love performance. Our hip-hop community has been really strong for a while now, and we’ve had a history of support for slams and storytellers. It’s the perfect storm when you couple that with strong organizers—a lot of people who put conscious effort into making things work, who cross train in other mediums, and can bring in audiences from those other places.

I’m really pretty brand new to all of this, so I’m excited about just about everything. I think probably the things that I’m most excited about are the events having to do with the younger generations. I hit one of Kristoff Krane’s “Hip Hop Residency” shows at the Depot in Hopkins, and was just so amazed by the talent of the young people at the open mic before the show. I also saw Macalester College’s first monthly slam in February, and was totally charmed by how incredibly nerdy and pleased the kids were there. I can’t wait to find out more about what Sha Cage and E.G. Bailey do with the Minnesota Spoken-Word Association, and talk to some of the other spoken word folks in town about the education they’re doing in local high schools and middle schools.

G: What would you say are the scene’s strengths and weaknesses?

CS: We’re doing pretty well, I think—we’ve got growing pains, but I think we’re pretty aware of them and willing to do the leg work to make things happen. I’d love to see more connections with the Twin Cities’ GLBTQ communities, more women in slam, more cultural diversity everywhere, more crossover into activism and volunteerism, but I think that’s all coming. We need to do a better job of promoting events—that might be our biggest weakness. We don’t think as long range as a lot of media outlets like to, we don’t promote more than a month in advance, we rarely plan more than a month in advance. There’s also just not a lot of money in spoken word—maybe that’s a strength, too—it means there’s a hell of a lot of heart, a whole lot of doing things for the right reasons.

Right now our biggest strength is in the people willing to take up the reigns of responsibility, a lot of people willing to talk about what could happen, what is happening, willing to discuss, compromise, and share responsibilities as well as the spotlight. That collaboration between a lot of really talented, intelligent people, who have great networking skills in a lot of different scenes—that’s what’s making everything work. Our competitive sides are being used to drive each other to do better, to be more thoughtful, to do more creative work, rather than to work against each other. I think we all understand that more diversity, more competition, more collaboration, all of these things are going to make the scene better, going to make the scene explode- improve each of us as well as the whole.

(photo by Cali Mastny)

G: What is the idea behind Minnesota Microphone? Why is it important? Where would you like to see it go?

CS: The idea was mostly to fill a gap that existed, in terms of information about the spoken word scene in Minnesota. The calendar is the most basic and most important part—something for folks to find if they Google Minnesota Open Mic or Minnesota Spoken Word. For them to be able to find a well maintained calendar specifically geared towards finding places to perform or hear spoken word pieces. That’s number one.

Number two is to give folks an idea of what spoken word is and can be. What is a poetry slam? What do the Rockstar Storytellers do at their open mic? See some photos of the venues, see some videos of performances—entice a public that might otherwise be hesitant to try out spoken word.

Number three is to discuss the state of spoken word in the twin cities—give some feedback to individuals, events, venues, and “scenes.” What are we doing well? What can we improve upon? What are the state of affairs, what are ways things might develop?

It’s important to have some sort of publicity—some photos, some video, a calendar of events. We’re in a digital age and when I was new I had a hard time understanding what was happening in terms of open mics, poetry slams, readings, and the like. I want it to be easy for people to find us and for us to find new performers and audience. It’s a basic sort of thing, a connection tool. It’s fantastic for folks to read what bloggers think about different performances and performers, to get some insight, but ultimately, people get to make their own decisions if they show up—so that’s the idea. Get people to show up.

As far as goals for MN Mic, they’re flexible—I want more guest bloggers, to cover more of what’s going on. I want to see what’s up in Duluth, Mankato, and Rochester. It’d be fantastic to get a well maintained library of photos, video, and audio for MN spoken word performers going- not everything everyone’s ever done, but a sampling of different performances, cross-referenced by dates, venues, performers, etc. I’m not sure if that’s something that MN Mic will do, or if that’ll be someone else—I’ve already filled my backup hard drive with video, audio, and photographs, but it’s such a wealth, it’d love to see it available for the public to be able to enjoy and explore.

G: What’s next for you personally? Are you excited about being Minneapolis’ representative at the Women of the World Poetry Slam? What about after that?

CS: I am excited and nervous about WOWps—as someone who hasn’t performed much outside of the Twin Cities, I’m terrified to be up against the best the rest of the world has to offer, but also so excited about amazing writers and performers I’m going to get the chance to meet and see. Hopefully, I’ll do well enough to do Minneapolis proud, and be calm enough to get some photos and video for the blog. After WOWps is the end of the slam season, which promises to be crazy—lots of new folks, current folks, and folks who used to be around and have come back duking it out for a chance to get on the national teams.

This summer I want to put together my first chapbook—I’ve got the concept all figured out, some of the preliminary poems done, but a lot of writing to do, and I want to do it right, so it may be autumn before I’m ready to release it. Otherwise, I’m looking for paid employment, and planning on going back to school to get my Masters of Education. Know anyone who’s hiring crazy girls who throw themselves into projects they believe in?

Minnesota Microphone | Cole Sarar: Minnesota Reads Interview

(This is the third part in a series highlighting local spoken word artists—previously featured were Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria and Bao Phi.)