CASE STUDY (IN DEVELOPEMENT): Detroit poetry archive - A living Record of detroit’s Poetic Legacy
Founder and Curator: Brittini Ward
Fellowship Support: Preserving Black Legacy Fellowship, 2025
Location: Wayne State Area / College District, Detroit, MI
Projected Launch: 2026
Overview
The Detroit Poetry Archive (DPA) is a living, multimedia archive designed and curated by Brittini Ward to document, preserve, and celebrate the Detroit Poetry Scene — from its earliest roots to its present-day evolution. Built from love, responsibility, and reverence, the archive uplifts the stories of poets, organizers, and cultural workers whose words shaped Detroit’s creative and political imagination.
Through video interviews, archival photographs, performance recordings, oral histories, and personal narratives, DPA seeks to both preserve memory and provide a blueprint for future generations of artists. It positions Detroit’s poetry scene not just as an artistic movement, but as a social and spiritual ecosystem — one that has offered healing, protest, community, and continuity for decades.
Vision and Purpose
As a poet and lifelong storyteller, Brittini Ward created the DPA to honor the community that first held her words. After returning home from college, she found refuge and purpose in Detroit’s open mics and storytelling spaces — witnessing the city’s poets as both historians and healers. The project emerged from a desire to record what has too often gone undocumented: the elders, collectives, and creative spaces that have defined the Detroit Poetry Scene.
The DPA is a cultural preservation strategy, love letter, and narrative intervention. It acknowledges the artists who laid the groundwork, names the wounds and tensions that have shaped the scene, and offers future poets guidance rooted in reflection and respect. Its purpose is simple yet sacred — to tell our story before someone else does.
Core Story
The Detroit Poetry Archive preserves the collective memory of Detroit’s spoken word movement — its roots, rhythms, ruptures, and resilience. It tells the story of how poetry became a lifeline in the city, emerging from living rooms, college clubs, cafés, and bookstores like Café Mahogany, Northern Lights, and Sweet Epiphany, and evolving into a thriving cultural engine.
It is a story of Black artistic innovation and communal survival — where poetry functioned as protest, prayer, therapy, and organizing. DPA honors those who turned their words into homes for others: the educators, performers, publishers, and culture-bearers who shaped Detroit’s legacy of language, rhythm, and truth-telling.
Research and Methodology
Currently in its development phase, DPA draws upon years of field experience and fellowship-supported research. The project combines oral history methodology, community archiving practices, and participatory documentation.
Key research areas include:
The origin stories of Detroit poets and the early cultural movements that birthed the scene.
The evolution of style, sound, and access, from underground cafés to digital stages.
The role of key venues and collectives in nurturing creative ecosystems.
The intersections of art, healing, trauma, and transformation within the poetry community.
The cultural shifts and intergenerational dialogues shaping Detroit’s current poetic identity.
Primary sources include community-donated photos, event flyers, recordings, chapbooks, and press coverage from historic venues and collectives. Institutional archives from Wayne State University, the Detroit Public Library, and community centers will also be explored.
Themes and Topics
The Detroit Poetry Archive will explore ten interwoven themes that reveal the soul and complexity of the scene:
Origin Stories and Entry Points — how poets first arrived and found their voices.
Legacy of Spaces and Venues — documenting sacred cultural hubs across decades.
Evolution of Language and Form — how poetry’s tone and tools have changed with time.
Notable Figures and Collective Impact — honoring individuals and groups who shifted culture.
Artistic Expression and Collaboration — tracing Detroit’s unique fusion of music, visual art, and poetry.
Community Health and Healing — naming burnout, harm, and restoration within creative spaces.
Cultural Shifts and Reflection — examining what’s been gained, lost, and redefined.
Intergenerational Wisdom — bridging elders and emerging poets through dialogue.
Soundtracks and Eras — mapping Detroit’s distinct poetic cadence across time.
Blueprints for the Future — offering guidance for how to build and sustain a thriving scene.
Barriers and Considerations
Brittini acknowledges the emotional and logistical weight of archiving living memory. Challenges include:
Locating and naming all contributors across generations.
Navigating sensitive histories, trauma, or fractured relationships within the scene.
Building trust with community members who have experienced erasure or exploitation.
Managing limited access to filming equipment and recording spaces.
Balancing capacity while maintaining care and ethical storytelling.
Despite these hurdles, the project is grounded in patience, transparency, and accountability — ensuring the work unfolds with integrity, collaboration, and deep listening.
Presentation and Outcomes
The DPA will be presented through a multi-platform storytelling model, blending physical and digital engagement to ensure accessibility and longevity.
Planned outcomes include:
A community-centered storytelling event and panel discussion debuting a short film that interweaves interviews, archival footage, and poetic narration.
An interactive Historypin map identifying key Detroit poetry locations — past and present — such as iconic open mics, collectives, and cultural hubs.
A publicly accessible YouTube archive hosting full-length interviews, event footage, and oral histories.
A companion podcast series, expanding access through audio storytelling and reflection.
Each platform will serve as both archive and altar — preserving the past while inviting ongoing participation and dialogue.
Legacy and Sustainability
The Detroit Poetry Archive is designed to live far beyond the fellowship. It will continue to grow through community contribution, mentorship, and digital expansion. By integrating Historypin, YouTube, and open-access digital storage, the archive remains flexible and participatory — a resource for educators, researchers, and artists to revisit, expand, and protect.
The long-term goal is to secure a sustainable digital home that can evolve into a community-managed archive, ensuring the preservation of Detroit’s poetic legacy for generations.
As Brittini reflects,
“This archive is not meant to be closed. It is meant to remain open, responsive, and accessible — a living document of Detroit’s poetic legacy that others can build upon and protect for years to come.”
Projected Impact
When fully realized, the Detroit Poetry Archive will:
Preserve the voices and venues that shaped Detroit’s Black creative identity.
Serve as a tool for education, healing, and intergenerational dialogue.
Reclaim narrative power within Detroit’s cultural history.
Model ethical, community-centered archiving practices.
Continue Eye N Eye’s mission of merging storytelling, organizing, and artistry into acts of legacy preservation.
The DPA is both remembrance and roadmap — a living, evolving testimony to how Detroit poets have always turned words into worlds.
