The voice of Bards & Brews

For Birmingham’s poetry pros and newbies alike, Brian “Voice” Porter Hawkins is the man to know.

Hawkins is the emcee of Birmingham Public Library’s Bards & Brews poetry slams and open mic nights. Once a month after hours, the library is packed to the brim with people socializing and enjoying craft beer served by staff from The J. Clyde. 

Local music starts the poetry slam before Hawkins takes the microphone to start the competition. 

Hawkins is serious about his career and the arts. Both passionate and thoughtful, he morphs into a larger-than-life personality onstage both performing and leading the library’s poetry events. He has a hearty laugh and an energetic, positive stage presence that draws people in, reminding participants to let loose and have fun.

Created by librarian Haruyo Miyagawa, Bards & Brews is a free event to have the community — particularly younger people — get involved at the library. 

At the first Bards & Brews in 2010, Miyagawa and Hawkins said they expected no more than 30 people to attend, but were surprised when the turnout was 10 times that. Now, most Bards & Brews events attract up to 300 people each month.

“Bards & Brews brings people into the space,” Hawkins said. “This allows us to let people know about all of the other programs that the library has to offer that may not get as much press as Bards & Brews.”

The content of the poems varies, just as all of the speakers come from different backgrounds.

“People talk about love and money, politics, death, sex, food and anything else that they can imagine,” Hawkins said. “It’s always a great time hearing so many points of view.”

Hawkins stressed that Bards & Brews is strictly for adults (18 and up), and there is another library poetry program for teens called Word Up. Other than that, anyone can participate at Bards & Brews. It makes no difference if you’re a veteran slammer or just starting out. 

“The mix of people is amazing,” he said. “We have college students, 30-somethings and retirees. We have some of the best poets in the Southeast and poets who have only penned their first poem that day.”

The “Southern Fried Slam” rules include: original poems only, a time limit of 3 minutes and no props or instruments. The slam has three rounds, with performers eliminated in each round until there are only two poets remaining to compete for the top spot. Each performer is judged numerically on a scale of one to 10 by five volunteers randomly selected from the audience. There’s a prize involved as well. Each participant donates $5 to the pot, and the winner takes all.

“On the open mic nights, we can have up to 20 people read, recite or perform. But on slam [spoken word poetry competition] nights, we only let the first nine people sign up,” Hawkins said.

“People usually have pieces prepared, but winging it happens,” he said. “Sometimes, during the slams, there will be a tie, and the poets will have to make up a poem for the tie breaker. Our very first slam featured a performer, Chris Davis, who wings every poem.”

In addition to the performances, everyone is a fan of the craft beer. Breweries from all over the country have been featured, but Hawkins prefers local brews.

“Good People Brewing, Avondale, Cahaba,” he said. “I fell in love with the brews from Band of Brothers Brewing in February. I think that the local brewers have a great idea about what the people in Birmingham like, and they deliver just that.”

Bards & Brews poetry slams are possible due to grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, Birmingham Public Library’s Young Professionals and donations from friends of the library.

Hawkins said he and the rest of the Bards & Brews committee are “working on a few surprises for the end of next year and the next season.”

Hawkins works full time as a performance artist on and off since 2004. He’s a poet, actor, musician and professional event emcee. He has hosted the longest-running poetry open mic in Birmingham (seven years and counting) at the Carver Theater called “On Stage at the Carver” and performs his original work across the country.

Hawkins said he knew he had a talent for the arts at a young age, painting murals with Toby Richards and Susie Harris from the Birmingham Museum of Art’s education department. He was in 11th grade when he discovered his knack for poetry. He started performing his spoken word pieces while in college at Mississippi State University.

Hawkins is also heavily involved in the Birmingham community. He works as a community development consultant. With the help of Bettina Byrd-Giles, he created The Color Project Ensley (TCPE) to address health equity (social, mental and physical) using public art and built environmental design.

“My commitment to the arts is an extension of my love for community” he said. “I have been using arts in Birmingham to forge alliances and strengthen neighborhoods and communities for the past 11 years. I’ve been working with an amazing group of people in Ensley, Ensley Alive, to help change the narrative about a part of our city that has been neglected and shunned by the rest of the city and our elected officials.”