Pine Bluff poet Brian Neel will be the featured performer during Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective Coffee + Tea, 110 Central Ave.
The regular open mic session for all poets, musicians, and storytellers will begin at 6:30 p.m. today. Neel will begin his feature set at 7:30 p.m., followed by another round of open mic. "Admission is free and open to all ages. All are welcome. WNP is a safe space," a news release said.
"I was born in Benton, but I grew up in Bauxite. I currently live in Pine Bluff. I work at Ron Sherman Advertising as a media buyer. I work a lot so if I'm not working, I'm usually spending time with loved ones," Neel said in a news release.
"I'm in a polyamorous relationship with two partners, both of whom I love deeply. I live with Amanda and we've been together for 10 years," he said.
"We have five children between us; four from other marriages and one we have together, ages 8, 15, 15, 17, and 18. We have the sweetest dog, Sally. My other romantic partner is Kat. We've been seeing each other for about a year. She is a big part of why I started writing again."
When asked about his educational background, Neel said, "I had a very long educational route. I enrolled at Ozarka in 2009 and graduated with a 4.0 in 2011. My intention was to transfer to Lyon College and finish my bachelor's degree, but then my marriage fell apart and I ended up at Lyon living on campus and dealing with a lot of depression issues. I also probably chose the wrong major. So I failed there and dropped out in 2014," he said.
"I went back to school in 2017 and graduated with a degree in history in 2020 from University of Arkansas at Little Rock. I'm halfway through their master's program, but currently taking a break from school. I did win a grant award for research with historically Black communities in a local interview project in the Ralph Bunche community of Benton," Neel said.
Neel started writing at a young age. "I wrote a lot in high school. I filled hundred-page notebooks with poems. And then I lost them. I hadn't written in nearly 20 years until last May," he said.
"I met someone who encouraged me to write and as I started sharing it with other people, I found maybe I actually am a good writer. So love inspired me to write, but more often than not, I write because I hope sometimes that if enough of us write about the terrible things going in the world, maybe things will get better," Neel said.
"I write mostly about darkness -- depression, anxiety, political violence, war, death, fear, and generally all of those violent things we do to ourselves and each other. And I try to encourage people to be better. To love themselves. To love each other," he said.
"I don't read a lot of poetry, if I'm being honest. But I listen to more music than most people can possibly imagine. Usually 60 to 100 hours per week of music or more. And music is really just poetry you sing. That's why I write a lot of songs, too.
"I am a stream-of-consciousness writer. Usually, when I write, a single line or phrase pops into my head, and for the next 15 to 30 minutes, I write. It just flows from my brain to the keyboard, and then I'm done. A few grammar and typo corrections later, a little tweaking to form, and I have a poem. That wouldn't be a big deal for short poems, but most of my poems are essay length. 300 to 500 words," he said.
"I haven't been published anywhere. I have a TikTok feed where I post videos. My handle is Thebeardedhistorian. I also have a Facebook page where I post a lot of poems, at The Bearded Historian and Poet, but as yet nothing officially published anywhere," he said.
This is Neel's first time to feature for Wednesday Night Poetry after discovering it in February. "I found WNP on the 35th anniversary," Neel said. "I had been looking for a place to read my poetry and it popped up on my Facebook feed. I was so excited. Though showing up on a historic night was a little daunting."
"Brain is a poet that is really just learning to accept that he has potential and power as a poet," WNP Host and Hot Springs Poet Laureate Kai Coggin said in the release.
"I remember when I first discovered WNP in 2013, Chuck Dodson, who was the host at the time when it was still at Maxine's, saw something special in me, a creative fire that was looking for a place to burn, to grow. Brian has that same fire, that same intention to write and direction. He writes about difficult human experience, but does so in a way that ends in hope and possible solutions. That is important to me. I wanted to extend a hand back and lift him up to another level, to have the WNP audience hear a feature set of his poems, and to have him step up into his creative role as a poet," Coggin said.
"He has been doing the 30/30 challenge with a group of WNP poets in a group chat I am holding for them. The challenge is to write 30 poems in 30 days in April, for National Poetry Month. Poets all over the country are doing the challenge, and Brian is keeping up, posting a new poem every day. I am excited to see what poems he is going to share for his feature."
This week marks 1,838 consecutive Wednesdays of open mic poetry in downtown Hot Springs since Feb. 1, 1989, over 35 years ago. "Wednesday Night Poetry is the longest-running consecutive weekly open mic series in the country. For more information, email [email protected]," the release said.