Brandon Leake made history as the first spoken word poet to win America’s Got Talent in 2020. Since then, he has published a book, headlined a residency in Las Vegas, and created a curriculum to teach poetry to students.
He recently brought his talents to Iowa City to perform at the first anniversary of the House of Words slam poetry event on Sept. 18.
House of Words is an event hosted by G Foster II, also known as Autopilot, and Caleb Rainey, who identifies as The Negro Artist, on every third Thursday of the month. Rainey, who is the director of IC Speaks, hosted the event.
Like every House of Words event, the evening began with an open mic where poets, singers, comedians, or anybody with an itch to perform could get up and showcase their content for five minutes. Once time is up, they are politely clapped off the stage, and the next act takes their turn.
At a regular event, the audience would vote on the act, and the top four winners would be granted another 10 minutes and be given professional footage of their material. Rainey worked to ensure House of Words functioned differently from a normal open mic.
“I went, how do I make an open mic that serves the audience and the artist?” Rainey said. “We helped the audience curate the show, while also helping the artists who perform get footage and be able to take their work to the next level.”
After the open mic, it was Leake’s turn to perform. Leake, a nationally known spoken poet, was the guest of honor for House of Words, and his presence is a testament to the work being done locally, which was particularly special to Rainey.
“Someone of his caliber sees what’s happening in Iowa City and wants to be a part of House of Words, and says I want to invest in it too. I want to pour into it,” Rainey said. “That was really meaningful for me.”
RELATED: Homecoming headliner aims to bring eclectic energy to Iowa City
Other audience members were also excited at the prospect of Leake’s performance. During a question and answer session with Leake, Henry Morray, a local poet, started his question by saying he remembered watching Leake back in 2020 and asked about the voices that got him to audition.
Leake said his golden buzzer audition started as a challenge to himself. That year was his second audition, as he had previously auditioned in 2017 but didn’t make it passed the first round.
“ I wasn’t going to fail the same way twice. Because I loved poetry, I just didn’t respect it. When I showed up the second time, I respected it enough to come up with a 90-second poem that I rehearsed and did 50 different times before I took it to that stage,” he said.
Leake then performed a one-man play, which took place through the course of one night in a college student’s apartment. The play is titled “Insomnia” and follows a senior in college named Jonathan who is getting his poetry degree in a couple of days and is up at night navigating his complex personal relationships and artistic future.
The play is a mix of funny moments and personal reflection. Leake wrote the play as a way to challenge himself artistically and not put constraints on his art.
“There’s something about doing poetry that does not evoke the emotion of resonance or potential sadness people run from. It challenged me to be all of you, because I am funny, I am happy, I am joyous. I am sad, I am angry, I am frustrated,” Leake said.
Every artist who performed before Leake had their own art that they were pursuing. Leake finished the night off with a message to those artists.
“Don’t be afraid,” Leake said. “The biggest thing that kills dreams is fear, not failure. Because fear will stop you before you get started, and you don’t know how far you can go until you actually get moved.”