Portsmouth’s poet laureate presents ‘Burning with the Word,’ a contemporary black poetry reading and workshop with slam luminary Regie Gibson

The Seacoast African American Cultural Center hosts “Burning with the Word: Flame with Ash, Fire without Hate,” a celebration of black contemporary poetry, on Sunday, Feb. 25, at the Discover Portsmouth Center.

The day’s schedule includes a free writing workshop and spoken word performances by some of the region’s top poets, including former National Poetry Slam champion Regie O’Hare Gibson. The public is invited to attend in honor of Black History Month.

John-Michael Albert, poet laureate of Portsmouth, organized the program with the help of music and poetry teacher Ayanna Gallant, who used to set up similar events at the University of New Hampshire while studying there.

To further the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program’s mission of building community through poetry, Albert wanted to share a grander version of these events with the general public.

The program is named after a biblical passage in which Jeremiah can no longer deny the call to prophetize, despite its risks. “His word was in my heart as burning fire shut up in my bones,” it reads.

“That’s what being a poet becomes about. Most poets are compelled to do this,” Albert said. “When you see poetry performed as a high art, it’s like you’re watching a fire, in a good sense.”

An excerpt from Gibson’s “How to Dig Nina” reads, “Wait until language un-shackles a tongue flame above your head. When this happens (as it always will), your mouth will germinate a naked song.”

The poets participating are well-versed in poetry slams, timed competitions that are judged by anonymous audience members. Since there are no props, Albert said the key is eye contact and conviction. He said success depends on the ability to convince others to feel the same way you do.

“That’s what makes it so powerful,” he said.

Many slam poets write about finding their way in the world, and race is sometimes part of that. But often, like most poetry, it’s about love, Albert said.

“It all comes under honesty, and under honesty is personal experience,” he said.

Through the afternoon writing workshop, entitled “The Unlettered Muse: Poetry and the Creative Mind,” led by Gibson from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., participants can explore surrealist and structured techniques, like embedded form, ekphrasis and poetic koans.

Gibson has lectured and performed widely and won several awards. He has been featured on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” and various NPR programs, and has been nominated for a Boston Emmy. He’s been published in Poetry Magazine, Harvard’s Divinity Magazine, and The Iowa Review, among others. His volume of poems, “Storms beneath the Skin,” received the Golden Pen Award. He is completing an artist residency at Berklee College of Music.

He is also the featured poet of the evening’s performance and plans to play with his band in the Discover Portsmouth Art Gallery. Other poets in the event from 7 to 9 p.m. include Kemi Alabi, McKendy Fils-Aime, Royaline Edwards, and Ernerst Gibson III.

Alabi is president of Boston University’s spoken word collective and teaches creative writing workshops to teens. She was a featured poet at the 2011 National Poetry Slam Championships in Boston and performs throughout New England and on the streets of Boston. Her most recent chapbook is “Letters to the Ungod.”

Royaline Edwards is a retired educator, author and playwright. She produced and staged the original play, “Listen to the Drums…A Tribute to Harriet Tubman,” and her first published book is “A Ribbon for Sammi.”

Fils-Aimé, a Haitian-American poet, is a four-time competitor at the National Poetry Slam. He runs a weekly workshop and his poems can be found in several literary journals.

Ernest “Scripture” Gibson III is a national slam poet, doctoral candidate at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and was a Thurgood Marshall Fellow at Dartmouth College.

As for Albert, two new collections of his poems are being published this year, “Cardamom Cravings” and “The Bird Catcher.”

The Seacoast African American Cultural Center works to celebrate the lives of black people, with emphasis on those of the Seacoast region. Albert said events like this heighten awareness about diversity and open dialogue about race.

Discover Portsmouth Center is at 10 Middle St. in Portsmouth. For more information, call 603-430-6027.