Jose Orozco
The Paw Print
“The Ouroborus, a symbol of a snake eating it’s own tail. The Phoenix, a legendary bird that is reborn from the ashes of its own death. Perpetual motion, motion with no beginning and no end.” These were some of the common themes to be spoken at Milagros Open Mic Poetry Reading Wednesday, Feb. 8. Each of these themes are very similar and unique which relates very much to life and the experience of Open Mic Nights.
Milagros Coffee House is a non profit social enterprise that has become well known in Alamosa. This social enterprise is owned and operated by the La Puente Foundation, which is a non profit organization dedicated to supporting local, San Luis Valley Charities. As such, they have been in a unique position to offer several community service projects, as well as entertainment.
Open mic night at Milagros has been a growing phenomenon that originally started very, very small. As word spread and Milagros started to share the hidden treasures, the masses responded with support and encouragement. Due to a few occupancy fire code violations, signifying the success, Open Mic Night at Milagros has had to break up the show into themes. Every month has a Music Performance Open Mic on the first Saturday and a Creative Writing Open Mic on the second Wednesday.
The crowd in attendance varied as much as the words, feelings, and emotions did. Folks coming from as far as Alaska and Tennessee were able to joined in. Not only was the geographical background diverse, so were the ages and cultures. One gentlemen started the night off with a beautiful reciting of sacred text of what appeared to be translations from the Koran. Another individual read excerpts from his book which portrayed a political black satire of current U.S. times. Another older woman spoke of stories from her childhood growing up in Sanford, Colorado located in the San Luis Valley. A Native American man from New Mexico, gave a performance of raps and rhymes while refusing to smile, wearing black and white face paint dressed all black with a rosary around his neck. His lyrics were more like prayers, prayers of grief from a recently deceased friend.
ASC college students also made their way to the stage. Victoria Miranda stimulated the image of a beautiful respect for a friend and the hurt of, what appeared to be domestic violence. Kenny Walsh gave laughs when he spoke in mathematical terms of a romance between lovers. Madelion Brinkley brought tears to the audience while channeling some powerful energy of her relationship with her grandmother before she passed.
At a few points during the night, feelings of a hurt heart could be felt by the energy and power liberated by the spoken word. Other times, laughter was shown to be the best medicine. Some came to express their works, while others attended to provide the audience for those messages to be heard. These events are truly a phenomenon to be made note of. If you are one to say, “There is nothing to do in this town,” you obviously haven’t left the campus. Wednesday, March 14, is the Open Mic Poetry Reading at Milagros and Saturday, March 3 is the Music Performance Open Mic
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