“Poetry is eternal graffiti written in the heart of everyone.” – Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Scott Woods doesn’t let anyone walk into Writers’ Block, one of the city’s longest-running weekly poetry readings, unnoticed. The host of the event, himself a nationally recognized performance poet, he searches the faces of the sometimes standing-room only crowd at Kafe Kerouac about why they have come out, whether or not they write, and if so, if they intend to get up and read. He flirts, cajoles expats about their accents, prods white people about how many black friends they have, or engages people about what they do for a living in order to speculate about their woes. As he looks over the list of names of people who have signed up at the door, he calls people up to the stage and comes up with an impromptu introduction that doesn’t appear to be any less elaborate if he’s never met the poet than it is if he’s known him or her for years.

Woods’ willingness to ruminate about potentially uncomfortable things is ironically what brings a sense of home and ease to the room. The tone of the event veers into naughty, blue and boundary-pushing, but doesn’t stray from being inherently playful. Some of the readers are somber or introspective, some come bearing crass, punchy or musical words – a few of them are quite skillful, many others are green. With a minimum of around 30 people stepping up to the microphone every week, and all being welcomed, the dice-rolling quality of the evening is at the heart of its fun.

Writers’ Block began 18 summers ago at Snaps and Taps when “there were only two and a half readings happening in town,” says Woods, who co-founded the event with Vernell Bristow. Things have certainly changed.

“You can go out to poetry just about every night of the week in Columbus now,” says Ed Plunkett, poet who served as the committee chair for the Columbus Arts Festival’s Word is Art stage this year and last. “It’s very exciting – there are a lot of poets out there doing some pretty brave work.”

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