Calling all poets to Richmond Open Mic Night: ‘We need to be vocal.’

On the third Thursday of each month, Richmond’s poet laureate, Stephen Sharpe, hosts a poetry Open Mic Night at CoBiz Richmond, a coworking space on Macdonald Avenue next to the BART station.

At the October event, Sharpe and CoBiz Executive Director Wesley Alexander arrived early to transform the atrium into an intimate auditorium. They set up three rows of eight chairs before the mic stand, and projected the logo of Afterword Press, Sharpe’s publishing business, on the wall behind the mic. 

The evening’s poets began trickling in just before 7 p.m. Sharpe’s wife, poet Silvia Sharpe, greeted participants and signed them into the lineup. She was among the five guest poets who would get five minutes on the mic, generally enough time to perform two poems. This month, each got a second turn after intermission in the two-hour program.

Richmond’s poet laureate plays a key role in promoting knowledge and appreciation of poetry, especially among youth, and promoting arts in Richmond. Since Sharpe’s selection in 2023, he has performed at public events sponsored by the city, including its 2025 MLK Day ceremony; conducted readings at the Richmond Public Library; and worked on literacy campaigns with My Brother’s Keeper and the Oakland Unified School District, among other programs.

Hosting Open Mic Night at CoBiz is not an official laureate duty, but it advances Sharpe and Alexander’s shared vision of Richmond as an artistic hub in Contra Costa County.

Alexander said the event contributes to CoBiz’s mission to provide space in Richmond for “holistic wellness,” where creatives in the arts, media, business, or non-profit worlds can build and realize the value of their work.

“It takes time for things to grow,” Alexander said. “I’m a creative myself. … It’s important to have a support system for things to take root. Stephen is here for the long run, and we’re here to support him.”

Poetry can be cathartic

Sharpe was happy with the evening’s modest turnout. In his welcome, he gestured to the row of open seats in front of the mic and wryly joked that the audience was “avoiding the splash zone.” With a smaller lineup, “we can hear an artist more than once,” he said. “We see there’s a bit of a range and diversity within the same artist.”

There was no pre-arranged prompt for the poets. October’s themes ranged from personal experiences of love and grief to gratitude for family and friends, and rousing affirmations of the power of people and the challenges of striving toward democracy. 

“When it comes to writing poetry or songs, it can be very cathartic. Being able to get that out is a release,” Sharpe said as the first round concluded. 

Sharpe was born in Richmond, and has called it home since 2018. He works full time as a human resources partner for UC Berkeley’s biological and environmental sciences and technology research programs. His father is the pastor of Richmond’s Southside Church of Christ, and Sharpe serves its congregation as the Sunday service songleader.

Open Mic Night is Sharpe’s way of paying forward the support he received in an artistic career that was not without challenges. When Sharpe began as a young poet, he had to travel to San Francisco or Oakland to perform. He eventually landed at the Grammy-nominated Oakland poet Prentiss Powell’s “Mouthoff Wednesdays” in the early 2010s. 

Victor Harris, an Oakland-based poet who also performed at the October open mic, has known Sharpe for nearly two decades. They met when Harris was the DJ for Powell’s event. He recalled Sharpe’s early performances at Mouthoff as “timid, shy, unsure.” 

Sharpe was amused and agreed with Harris’ assessment. He said that he benefited from “exposure therapy” by constantly showing up to area open mics, pushing him into his own as a performing poet. 

‘Drunk disclaimer’

Throughout the event at CoBiz, Sharpe hustled between his laptop for music as the event’s DJ, and the mic as its emcee. He would offer encouragement to poets leaving the stage, then pivot seamlessly to a selection from his own substantial body of poetry. 

Perhaps his most powerful performance was “Drunk Disclaimer,” a poem from his 2020 “No Whiskey No Tears” collection. Sharpe slipped into character as inebriated, coherently slurring  and stumbling through seven stanzas, without notes, bringing the audience into the mind of a troubled yet powerfully vulnerable young man.

The other poets were impressed. “It’s very difficult in performance to say words wrong,” Harris said. “He’s really good at this. He’s been working very hard.”

Maria Denney, poet laureate of Brentwood who also performed that evening, offered similar praise. “It was really special for me to hear Stephen’s poems in his own voice,” she said.

Sharpe closed the event with an invitation to all to return in November, with new work and new poets. He also encouraged the audience to tap into what one of the evening’s performing poets called “sacred rage.” 

“As a community,” Sharpe said, “we need to be vocal.”

(Top photo: Open Mic Night attendees pose for a picture, courtesy of Afterword Press)

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