The Poet's Cauldron brewing up an exciting artistic mix

This article was written by Meg Trogolo and published in Worcester Magazine on June 13, 2023. We’ve copied it below, but you can also read it here.

On the third Sunday evening of every month, the White Room on Green Street slowly fills with artists, musicians, food stands, art vendors, and poetry lovers from throughout the Worcester area. By 6 p.m., a microphone has been placed at the center of the room, the house band is tuning up, and the open mic sign-up sheet is full of area poets ready to showcase their work at The Poet’s Cauldron.

Longtime Worcester artist Bruja The Villain introduces each poet with enthusiasm, and after passing the mic, they cheer from the front row, whether the performer onstage is a seasoned veteran or a first-timer.

“The goal is to put everybody on, and I think that's why The Poet's Cauldron works so well, because it is multigenerational, multicultural, and all-inclusive,” Bruja said.

'A soulful, jazzy vibe'

On an unusually chilly June morning at a cozy Worcester coffee shop, Bruja told the full Poet’s Cauldron story over an iced coffee, starting with the event’s origins in the aftermath of the COVID-19 lockdowns and its first edition in January 2023.

“It's a very cool, soulful, jazzy vibe,” Bruja said. “People wanted to go out and enjoy themselves again, and so I thought about how I would want to spend an evening out. Food, a bar, art, poetry, live music,” Bruja said. “Opening night, we had about 165, 175 people. We were only expecting 50.”

In the months since, the open mic has only gotten more popular. The Poet’s Cauldron will return to the White Room at 6 p.m. June 18, featuring award-winning Boston poet and musician Tim Hall — also known for his work with the hip-hop combo, STL GLD — as well as live instrumental music from Worcester jazz pianist Dan Burke and his band.

Like many open mic events, there is a portion of the evening where anyone can sign up to perform and a time slot reserved for a featured artist. At the Poet’s Cauldron, featured poets have ranged from Paul Willis in January to Worcester Poet Laureates Oliver de la Paz and Adael Mejia in May, and Bruja plans to showcase local poets and big names alike in the future.

Diversity of voices

However, sometimes, a new face unexpectedly steals the show.

“I love my headliners, but the poets that join the open mic are my favorite part of the night because there are so many different people from so many different backgrounds,” Bruja said. “We have people that go onstage and have nothing but jokes, and then other people onstage are completely opening up and telling everyone onstage what they're going through in that moment.”

For a long time, Bruja was a regular at the Dirty Gerund poetry open mic at Ralph’s Rock Diner, and the Poet’s Cauldron now serves as a monthly complement to the weekly Dirty Gerund. Once a month, poets who want to perform two nights in a row can take the stage for a larger crowd at The Poet’s Cauldron on Sunday, then sign up to read again at the more casual Dirty Gerund Poetry Show on Monday.

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Getting to 'the true story'

Another unique aspect of both open mics is that throughout a typical night at both The Poet’s Cauldron and the Dirty Gerund, poets let their words fly free over improvised music by a house band. No one at The Poet’s Cauldron is required to read with the band backing them up, but many poets choose to do so, feeling that live instrumental music enhances their art.

Bruja said event planning and curation was a much more stressful task than painting or putting words on paper, but that poetry sometimes came with its own stresses in trying to set a scene with words and communicate a story in emotions.

“Poetry is a story, almost like a folk tale or a Disney movie. When you are onstage, and you are reciting a piece of poetry, you are making yourself extremely vulnerable to everyone, so when you are onstage, you are being your most honest self, but often, as poets, we say odd things,” Bruja said. “When I'm painting, the true story is in the painting, but in poetry, because I'm trying to entertain the audience, the story is slightly fabricated because I want to make sure that they're captivated by the words.”

At one point, Bruja paused to greet a few friends who were leaving the coffee shop, wishing them well and inviting them to the June 18 edition of The Poet’s Cauldron. When they returned to their cup of coffee, they said although there are Poet’s Cauldron nights planned through December, they still take the open mic one Sunday at a time.

“The goal was just to go out and have a good time, but the most important thing to me was having a safe place to go, enjoying a good crowd of people, getting to know new people in a beautiful space,” Bruja said. “I really try not to think too far ahead, because things can always change and you never know. I try to concentrate on the now. You're going to mess yourself up if you only concentrate on the future and worry about what happened in the past.”

The Poet's Cauldron meets the third Sunday of the month at The White Room on Green Street. For more information, follow The Poet's Cauldron on Instagram @thepoetscauldron or @brujathevillain.