Red Emma’s

Let's come together in a poetry/spoken word open mic of justice, conscious thought, spirituality, fam, real life—whatever advances the village! In the tradition of Emma Goldman’s “Mother Earth” magazine, come drop some rad “fiyah” on us, or contribute just with your presence and energy! By the way: it’s a non-erotic poetry, non-“Love Jones” type of evening, so we ask that you not go there. (And, almost needless to say, leave the misogyny, homophobia and other unnecessary ish outside!)

The poetic energy will be springing this month from MalPractice!  Malachi “MalPractice” Byrd is an African-American artist, author, and educator from Northeast Washington, D.C. The District’s Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate (2016) and the Founder of the Crowning Too Early Scholarship Fund, Malachi has committed his craft and career to guiding students through language and performance.  A graduate of Princeton University (2020) and now a full-time artist, MalPractice believes in educating inside and outside of the classroom and using the pen to help people pursue their passions. In 2025 alone, Malachi was crowned the Grand Slam Champion of the RichInk! Slam Team and lead the team to second place at the Southern Fried Poetry Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. In addition to completing his third stint as the Head Coach of the DC Youth Poetry Slam Team at the Brave New Voices International Poetry Festival, he also was selected as the DC Poet Project winner in May. This accolade led to the publishing of his second full collection of poetry, Before We Gone (2025) through the Day Eight Project. He is the self-proclaimed first Senator of Washington D.C., (Vote Byrd 2032) and will use his experiences to tackle problems of inequality and inequity in inner cities.

Holdin’ it down for the evening is Analysis—poet/spoken word artist, author, rad minister and bookseller, educator, justice & human rights person… Y’all know what’s up! https://www.liberationandpoetry.com CashApp to support the artists: $AnalysisThePoet

The mic list will be ready for you at Emma’s so you can get on the mic and share something with us! Additionally, we will pass the bucket—physically and electronically—to give something to our featured poet and to help build for the future. Please support independent artists!

The evening is brought to you by Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse, a worker-owned and collectively operated restaurant, bookstore, and community events space in the Waverly neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland that is dedicated to putting principles of solidarity and sustainability into practice in a democratic workplace! http://redemmas.org  https://www.facebook.com/redemmas   @redemmas

Remember: PEACE, JUSTICE, POETRY!  Will we see you there?