Storyteller Queen Eliza LAE knows there’s something special about Detroit’s poetry scene and Detroit in general. She believes people visiting the city want to see more than the development happening in neighborhoods. They want to be entertained and feel the city’s energy.
Some of the best entertainment she knows is listening to Detroit storytellers, and one of the best ways to find them is through the Detroit Poetry Society. LAE got involved shortly after the organization was founded in 2014.
Those in the group use creative wordplay, strong writing and spoken-word skills in a unique poetic style to express their feelings about the city and life. If they just so happen to impress you along the way, then “snaps” for them.
Co-founder and poet Sheezy Bo Beezy started the society with the help of co-founder Gabby Knox to help unite the poetry scene in Detroit and give people the opportunity to unapologetically be themselves.
“There are more poetry spots in Detroit than I’ve seen in any city I’ve been to,” Beezy says. “Our poetry scene is big. We have support that goes (back) generations. We have people that have been doing poetry since the ‘80s and ‘90s come and teach those people who are just now coming in, or came in, within the past three or four years.”
Still, while poetry is a respected craft in Detroit, he says it doesn’t get enough recognition.
“I feel there should be more respect for people who take their time out to express their vulnerability and share their stories,” Beezy says. “We plan to make that a thing. We plan to celebrate our voices, the voices of our city, especially the young voices coming up.”
That camaraderie hasn’t always been the case. Beezy recalls that between 2008 and 2014 there was a lot of friction.
“There was tension and drama, and not unity,” he says. “There were a lot of things happening before. Our prominent poetry spots were closing down and people were always getting into it at poetry spots. There was a lot of talk in the poetry spot of what it used to be and how it could be better.”
To Beezy, the Detroit Poetry Society is a solution that helps ease the tension. The organization is a space for poets to build and grow off of each other. The 10 active members of the group meet at least three times a month to rehearse for shows or during workshops.
Through hosting poetry workshops for all ages at places such as Northwestern High School, people are able to connect by sharing or performing their own work and receiving feedback from others.
“The Detroit Poetry Society is a community of people who love art and love culture, and a place you can come and express yourself and be accepted, no matter what,” Beezy says.
The Detroit Poetry Society is in the middle of fundraising for a house to serve as its first official workplace. It is raising money by performing at local spots in the city. After doing a show at HopCat, a local bar in Detroit, the group raised almost $600. They are trying to raise $6,500 through GoFundMe.
“It’s just a lot of love that we receive from the city,” Beezy says. “A lot of people just give graciously because they believe in us so much and believe we’re making a difference, and we are.”
The Detroit Poetry Society also wants to preserve the city’s culture and is working on building an archive of Detroit literature. Beezy hopes to see the archive in the group’s future house, where people can find poetry and books from Detroit natives.
Some of that poetry may very well come from LAE.
“I show people I’m able to paint a picture in your mind just as good as if you were reading the words off a page and painting it for yourself,” says LAE, who began writing poetry in the fifth grade and today pushes herself to write at least two or three times a week.
“We’re bred with the art in us,” she says. “We’re bred with the creativity that we have and, just like everybody, we’re products of our environment. We’re taught to express ourselves. We don’t have a choice but to express ourselves.”
As Beezy says, life without poetry is “just a four-letter word.”
Editor’s note: The two subjects of the story, Sheezy Bo Beezy and Queen Eliza LAE, prefer to go by their stage names. Since they already have a fan base under their “mic names,” they prefer to keep it that way to keep their brand strong.
Photos by Paul Engstrom
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