In Overtown, On the B Side Poetry Slam Creates Space for Expression

“On the B Side” returns to Red Rooster in Overtown on Sunday, April 12 with its signature poetry slam. (Photo courtesy of Ingrid Bazin/On the B Side)

In Historic Overtown, poetry won’t be scattered across the city. It will take a more direct form: a microphone, a room, and the willingness to speak.

On Sunday, April 12, “On the B Side” returns to Red Rooster with its signature poetry slam, drawing writers from across the region for an evening of live performance. The evening is part of National Poetry Month, but this specific event has been building for more than two decades.

Founded in 2001 by cultural curator Ingrid “Ingrid B” Bazin, “On the B Side” has become one of South Florida’s longest-running spoken-word platforms, a place where poets return not just to perform, but to connect.

“It is my passion,” Bazin said. “I thoroughly enjoy doing the events, so it serves me as well as serving the poets and the community. And I just, I don’t stop. I’ve never stopped.”

Founded in 2001 by cultural curator Ingrid “Ingrid B” Bazin, “On the B Side” has become one of South Florida’s longest-running spoken-word platforms, according to Bazin. (Photo courtesy of Ingrid Bazin/On the B Side)

For Arnetta “Taboo” Bullard, a Miami-born spoken word artist who has been part of the scene for more than 20 years, that consistency is exactly what keeps her coming back.

“It’s like a family setting,” she said. “Everybody is accepted there. It’s a comfortable space. We laugh a lot. It’s just a good time to break away from everything.”

But once she steps on stage, the tone shifts.

“It’s like going to the altar,” she said. “You’re able to just let everything out. I can bear parts of my soul that I wouldn’t talk about in a regular setting.”

That sense of release is central to how “On the B Side” functions. Unlike more formal readings, the slam format creates a space where emotion, performance and audience response unfold in real time.

“It’s freeing,” Taboo said. “You’re able to go up there and just bare your soul. It’s therapeutic. Poetry literally saved my life.”

She began writing at 12, after a close friend was murdered, a moment that shaped not only her voice, but her understanding of what poetry could do.

“Writing was how I got through it,” she said. “It became my way of expressing myself.”

Poet Pianir performs at “On the B Side,” where artists across generations share the stage under a simple principle: respect the mic.”On the B Side” returns to Red Rooster on Sunday, April 12 with its signature poetry slam. (Photo courtesy of Ingrid Bazin/On the B Side)

Today, her work often explores grief, healing and resilience, themes that resonate deeply with audiences, sometimes in ways she doesn’t fully anticipate.

“I have a poem that’s probably the hardest one for me to perform,” she said. “It’s about how I would feel if I lost one of my children.”

Each time she performs it, she still cries.

“But people come up to me after and say, ‘That’s exactly how I feel.’ They thank me for putting it into words.”

Those moments, she said, are what matter.

“Sometimes you go through things and you feel like you’re alone,” she said. “But when you hear your words out loud, you realize you’re not.”

For her, that connection can be more than emotional; it can be urgent.

“If you know that you’re not the only one going through something, maybe you won’t give up,” she said. “Maybe you keep going.”

That exchange between vulnerability and recognition is what Bazin has spent more than two decades cultivating.

“It really is a family affair,” Bazin said. “I’m the auntie on the poetry scene.”

At “On the B Side,” that family spans generations, backgrounds and experiences, but shares a common understanding of the space.

“There’s a rule,” Taboo said. “Respect the mic.”

That means no interruptions, no judgment, just listening.

“On the B Side” returns to Red Rooster on Sunday, April 12 with its signature poetry slam, part of National Poetry Month and a platform built over more than two decades. (Photo courtesy of Ingrid Bazin/On the B Side)

Even when the work is uncomfortable.

“People might not agree with what you’re saying,” she said. “But they’re still going to hear you.”

Held in Historic Overtown, a neighborhood long tied to Miami’s cultural and musical history, the event carries an added sense of continuity.

“It is a landmark,” Bazin said. “When we’re there, we’re kind of standing on sacred ground.”

Again this year, that ground will once again fill with voices, some seasoned, others new, each stepping forward with something to say.

For Taboo, the goal is simple.

“I want people to leave knowing they’re not alone,” she said. “That whatever they’re going through, it doesn’t last forever.”

She paused, then added: “You can go through something and still come out on the other side. You don’t have to look like what you’ve been through.”

WHAT: “The B Side Slam,” a live spoken-word competition featuring South Florida poets, presented by On The B Side. 

WHEN: 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday, April 12

WHERE: Red Rooster Overtown, 920 NW 2nd Ave., Miami

COST: $20

INFORMATION: getonthebside.com

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