Word of Mouth Cincinnati (WoMC), which began in January 2014, is an open mic with a featured performance co-hosted by fellow writers Jim Palmarini and Mark Flanigan. It was founded in memory of the late Aralee Strange who, after many years living, writing and producing work in the Cincinnati area, moved to Athens, Georgia where she co-founded Athens Word of Mouth.

WoMC is an intentional arc of both past and future utterance, inspired by our most revered voice, with a nod to her Athens, GA compatriots. Word of Mouth asks poets to Show Up, Mouth Off and Pay Attention.

Our featured performer on July 28, 2015 is Murray:



Murray is a Georgia Peach, transplanted in Ohio. Her first name isn’t relevant, because she probably won’t allow you to use it anyway. As a dance major at Cleveland School of the Arts there wasn’t enough time in the day to have a dual major in creative writing. As a consequence, a lot of Murray’s writing happened in her head, usually in the middle of dance class and rehearsal.

Murray is in love with rhythm. She fixated on poets like June Jordan, E. E. Cummings, and Nikki Giovanni. Then she was struck dumb by the powerful poems and deliveries of those who came to be known as Def Poets (HBO Def Poets Georgia Me & Sunni Patterson especially).

A lot of her writing journey has been about finding balance between that rhythmic cadence of spoken word, and a slower, sensual, almost sinister flow; both of which come naturally to her. A lot of her poems seek to find a similar balance between good and evil, light and dark, the sacred and the profane. Ultimately, Murray believes that poetry was always intended for the people, that it should be accessible so that we can share our experiences and our growth.