By Michelle Saturley
Staff Writer

When Chris Keefe moved to Manchester a few months ago, he was impressed with the city’s burgeoning arts culture and nightlife. But the fledgling writer was surprised and a little bit dismayed to find there was no venue in the city hosting a spoken word poetry event. Instead of complaining about it, the energetic 22-year-old decided to create his own scene, with the help of friend George Bezanson, owner of The Bridge Café in downtown Manchester.

Mat Tremblay, aka "Unseen the Poet," performs for a standing-room-only crowd on Open Poetry night at The Bridge Café in Manchester. The writer enjoys the venue because it's a good place for him to try out new material in a supportive environment

“I don’t have any experience organizing events and I don’t really know anything about the national spoken word scene,” Keefe said. “But I felt strongly about sharing my work with others and giving them the chance to do the same. I didn’t know many people here in Manchester, but I figured I couldn’t be the only writer out there who would participate in something like this if I had the chance.”

Keefe approached Bezanson with his idea for an open mic poetry event after his initial venue, Gala Café, didn’t work out. Bezanson was immediately interested in the idea.

“George has been tremendously supportive and generous as I’ve gotten this thing off the ground,” Keefe said. “He believed in it from the beginning.”

Under the name of his new business, Spoken Word Productions, Keefe set out to make his goal a reality. His first order of business was to seek out other poets and generate some buzz. He made up some flyers and began handing them out and posting them near the area colleges, including UNH Manchester, Southern New Hampshire University and the New Hampshire Institute of Art. He also enlisted the help of PR expert and fellow writer Hope Jordan, of Black Creek Public Relations.

“I thought the colleges would be a good place to start because college students are generally open to this sort of thing,” Keefe said.

Keefe said about 35 people turned out at the Bridge Café at the premiere on Nov. 11, and 22 of them stepped up to the microphone to share their work.

“It was amazing,” Keefe said. “It was better than I hoped. I mean, I would have been happy if two people came out.”

In the weeks following that first event, Open Poetry Night has become something of a phenomenon, and not just with the college crowd. A recent Friday night at the Bridge Café boasted a standing-room-only crowd of poets of all ages and experience levels, from twenty something “slam” performance artists to high school girls to middle-aged men who’d never shared their work with anyone.

“What makes this event special is that it’s so diverse,” Keefe said. “There isn’t just one kind of person here. And that makes the poetry so much more enjoyable for the audience because no two performances are alike. You never know what’s going to happen on any given night.”

Poets are encouraged to show up around 7 p.m. to sign up for a slot for the night. Keefe serves as master of ceremonies, and performs a few of his own pieces in between poets. There is usually a showcased performer each night.

Cait Vaughan, a poet from Nashua, heard about the venue from her friend and fellow writer Meagan Smith, a UNH-Durham student. Both women have performed at the event and plan to make it a regular part of their week.

“As a writer, it’s very inspiring to have a place like this to come to and try out new things,” Vaughan said. “The atmosphere is very supportive and accepting. I feel safe here, like I can try new things and even screw up, and people are okay with that.”

The event is casual and free form in theme. Participants can bring notebooks up to the mic with them or perform from memory and the work, which ranges from organized rhymes to free verse, can be on any subject.

Featured poet “Jerry the Haiku Guy,” who was the showcased artist last Friday, said the open mic event is a form of healing for him. The poet shared a series of Haiku poems dealing with the recent suicide of his brother.

“I don’t think it’s any coincidence that my street address is 575,” he said, referring to the number of syllables in each line of a Haiku. “I think I was born to write Haiku.”

Slam performance artist Mat Tremblay, who performs under the name “Unseen the Poet,” has been writing his aggressive, hip-hop influenced verse for six or seven years. He competes in poetry slam events, but enjoys the atmosphere at the Bridge Café because of the less intense environment.

“Poetry is everything, dude, everything,” he said. “Whatever I can make it, that’s what it is.”

For Keefe, the success of the Open Mic night is only one step in a larger plan.

“I want to be the guy who brings spoken word to the masses,” he said. “It’s come a long way, and it’s starting to infiltrate popular culture, but it’s not there yet. I want to be the one who gives it that lift.”

Keefe will host the Boston Poetry Festival, held April 9 at the Boston City Library’s Main Branch. The Open Mic Poetry Night at the Bridge Café, located at 1117 Elm Street, is held every Friday at 7 p.m. For more information, call the Bridge Café at 647-9991, or visit www.myspace.com/bridgepoetryopenmic.