Mixbreed Gentleman feature for Wednesday Night Poetry
This week’s feature for Wednesday Night Poetry will be Little Rock poet Steven Washington, also known as Mixbreed Gentleman, at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave.
The regular open mic session for all poets begins at 6:30 p.m. and Washington will perform at 7 p.m., followed by another open mic. Admission is free and open to all.
Born and raised in Little Rock, Washington began writing poetry in 1996 when he was 6 years old, shortly after his grandmother died, a news release said. “It was hard for me to talk to anyone then,” he said. “So I started writing and found it helped me to understand my emotions.”
Poetry again became a big part of Washington’s life in 2014 when he was homeless on the streets of Little Rock. “I went through a rough patch then, and the only thing that made sense was what I wrote on paper. The more I wrote the more I understood what I needed to do.” Since then Washington has written over 150 poems and nine short stories.
The year 2017 has been good for Washington, the release said, as earlier this year he graduated from Eastern College of Health Vocations, and will graduate from Arkansas Baptist College in December. In July he self-published his first book titled “Shakespeare In Little Rock.”
Copies of it will be available Wednesday night.
Washington credits poets Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes as major influences in his literary life, so he has started a scholarship fund in the name of the high school teacher who introduced him to them, Veronica Paxton. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from the sales of his book will go to funding scholarsahips for seniors at Little Rock Central High School and students at Arkansas Baptist College and Philander Smith College.
Using the stage name Mixbreed Gentleman, Washington has performed in a number of venues across Arkansas, and he is a member of the Little Rock artist troupe New Wave.
Email budonfoot@yahoo. com for more information.