Throughout American history, writers have settled down in or taken their time passing through St. Augustine, finding inspiration in the town’s rich history and natural environment. Naturally, these individuals gravitated toward each other, forming loosely knit communities with those creative minds who lived here, inviting other creative minds in town and those stopping through for any period of time to join as they are able. Communities such as these have fostered a lively environment for local writers to meet, share their works, and converse, enriching the town’s literary tradition and sparking creativity that encourages others to continue their craft.
In April 2009, the St. Johns Cultural Council wanted to put on an event in observance of National Poetry Month. Seeing there was no longer a truly open group of poets, they began sifting through their database of local poets, writers, and authors to reach out and invite them to all come together for this open mic. The event was intended to be more than just an open mic, but rather, a way to put a face to the local literary scene, turning the afternoon into something more akin to an intimate open house.
After seeing the event’s success, Chris Boder, who had recently moved to town from New York City, where he was involved in an open mic group, was inspired to keep this event going. After gaining support from Glenda Bailey-Mershon to use the name, Ancient City Poets, she had created for the event in April, Chris set up a podium, mic, and speakers at a local cafe in August of that year. The floor was open for all poets and poetry lovers to share five minutes of their written word, whether you are a seasoned writer or this is your first piece, reading a first it was a first draft off a napkin, one of multiple unfinished drafts, or a perfectly polished piece.
From there, the event essentially took on a life of its own, repeating on the last Sunday of every month at different cafes, art galleries, and arthouse movie theatres. From this, writers began gathering out of the pure, simple desire to share and hear. The Ancient City Poets became an borderless mosaic of poets that is continuously being added to.
However, during the global pandemic, they were forced to stop their meetups and found a new home online. Through Facebook Live and Zoom, they began to grab the attention of audiences from around the world.
In 2021, they circled back to the organization’s roots and, in collaboration with St. Johns Cultural Council and other organizations, successfully advocated for the local government to officially recognize the month of April as National Poetry Month. Since then, every year, Ancient City poets, St. Johns Cultural Council, and Flagler College partner together to fill the month of April with more open mics, special readings, workshops, and discussions held throughout town.
As events continued returning to in-person gatherings in January 2023, thanks to the support of the City of St. Augustine and St. Johns County Cultural Council, Waterworks became the new home of their long-running Sunday Series open mic, held on the last Sunday of every month – with occasional dates held elsewhere in town. The next scheduled date is June 28th at their regular location – Waterworks. The event begins at 2:30pm with sign-ups. At 3pm, the first 15 people to sign up will be called up to the mic in the order their names were written. Each reader is given five minutes, ensuring everyone has time to share their work and allowing plenty of time for community networking and dialogue to pour into the latter end of the afternoon. Within these brick-exposed walls, poets let their words flow through the room’s rich acoustics, adding to the thousands of artful performances those walls have witnessed over the years.
Ancient City Poets is the local chapter of the Florida State Poets Association (FSPA), working to open the space for writers to share their work and collaborate. For more information on the Ancient City Poets, updates, and announcements for other events, check out their site and social media @ancientcitypoets.
