Celebrating MLK Day With Poetry at the Vortex

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first celebrated in 1986. Some 40 years later, the third Monday in January continues to be a moment for reflection on freedom of speech as well as freedom for all people. In that tradition, the Vortex – which resides in the historically Black cultural district Six Square – hosts their long-running MLK Day open mic poetry showcase with host Ebony Stewart, where Black artists get priority on a stage dedicated to resistance through art. Participating is free, but listening is pay-what-you-can with a $5 recommended donation. This year’s celebration features new players in local cultural org the Poet House and their every.Word Poetry program.

Bringing the Poet House’s every.Word Poetry program into the annual MLK Day event was serendipity, according to Michael Hatcher and Jasmine Games, the House’s executive director and artistic director, respectively. Founded in 2024, every.Word’s Monday night adult open mics in the Butterfly Garden have “grown really, really fast, and it’s a beautiful community,” says Games. By combining that open mic with the MLK showcase, “we’re getting the every.Word Poetry experience while celebrating MLK Day, while still getting Ebony Stewart,” she explains. 

Stewart’s start as MLK Day open mic host came right as she made her departure from Austin, which she considers the site of her “poetic start.” Thanks to the Vortex team she’d been with since 2013 looking to keep the nationally recognized writer included in their programming, she admits she just can’t quit ATX. “Austin is one of those cities that won’t let you go,” she explains. “So even if you leave, they’re like, ‘No, we’ll find something for you to do. We want you here. Don’t leave us.’” Being involved is a positive, Stewart finds, as she’s witnessed myriad standout performances at these MLK celebrations, including 2025 National Poetry Slam Champion Rudy Francisco and 2023 Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam champ Christopher Diaz. But her biggest highlights are “the community and people that you didn’t even know were writers or poets [who] show up and sign up onto the list.”

“People can show up for, I want to say, a cause, but it doesn’t really feel like that,” she adds. “They could show up for what matters to them, and this is something that matters to them.”

Holding an open mic as an MLK Day tribute signals to a specific part of the great orator’s legacy. Utilizing language to create social progress is a part of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, as Hatcher explains: “Martin Luther King, I think he had an understanding, like he was an eloquent speaker, but I think he had an understanding of the impact of words, the way that they can change laws, the way that they can change hearts,” he says. “Poets have to have that same understanding, especially performance poets, because we’re trying to alter, we’re trying to change. We’re trying to … evoke emotion.” 

For Stewart, the connective tissue between spoken word poetry and MLK’s legacy is “us saying we are committed to each other.” 

“We are committed to freedom of speech. We are committed to truth telling and the collective liberation of what that looks like and how that feels in the moment, in real time,” she says. “A lot of virtuality happens where a lot of us live our lives online, and so to be connected in real life in person, to me, it feels good, but it also gives me the satisfaction and the reassurance of knowing that I’m not alone.”

This article appears in January 16 • 2026.