WEDNESDAY NIGHT OPEN MIC! A Busboys and Poetry Event For two hours audiences can expect a diverse chorus of voices and a vast array of professional spoken word performers, open mic rookies, musicians and a different host every week.
Hosted by Nehemiah
a published writer, educator and nationally touring performer. Their work sits comfortably in the Black cultural lineage of griots who are dedicated to using truth to document and critique the world around them. Ephraim holds a B.A. in Pan-African Studies from Kent State University where they were awarded the Undergraduate Poetry Prize and Maggie Anderson Scholarship. Ephraim is also the co-founder and former coach of Kent State’s award-winning collegiate poetry team that competed annually at the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational from 2015-2018. Ephraim is the recipient of grants from PEN America, Gabrielle Bouliane Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, and received fellowships from The Karamu House Performing Arts Theatre, Baldwin House Urban Writing Residency, and The Watering Hole Winter Retreat. Ephraim’s poems appear in various journals and publications such as Anxy Magazine, Flypaper, Lake Effect Anthology, UHURU Magazine, and Knights Library Magazine, where the poem "Jesus Christ Tries Talking to His Father Again" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Their performances have been featured on TEDx Talks, Button Poetry, AfroPunk, Season 1 of Free Tuition, and various other channels. They are a 2021 National Poetry Slam Champion, Baltimore’s 2020 Grand Slam Champion, 2019 Rustbelt Poetry Slam Finalist, and a 2018 Individual World Poetry Slam final stage performer. They made their visual artist debut in 2020 at Spaces Gallery in Cleveland, with the interactive installation 'Samaritan's Burden' that focused on inner-city poverty and wealth distribution. Ephraim is currently based out of Baltimore, MD where they serve as a Teaching Artist with DewMore Baltimore. Their first full-length poetry book The Autobiography of Absence will be published in 2021 with Twelve Arts Press.
