"Good evening, and welcome to Flow Sundays open mic session. Tonight's featured poet is a young woman whose name you may recognise from The Royal Gazette newspaper...I'd like to introduce Ms Kim Dismont Robinson.'' I step through the smoky, crowded room onto the low stage in the far corner of the lounge.

Girl, you've really gotten yourself into a situation this time, I think to myself as my sweaty palms clutch an assortment of love poems and political commentaries that I never guessed I'd be reading in front of a crowd of people.

I nervously clear my throat, give a quick tap to the microphone, take a deep breath and just let it flow...

A creative outlet for Bermuda's frustrated poets and musicians has finally emerged, and is being heralded as the harbinger of a Bermudian artistic renaissance.

"Flow Sundays'' is an open mic (microphone) session that invites spoken word, poetry, rapping, and music.

Every other Sunday from 7 until 9 p.m. at Coconut Rock's Bourbon Street Lounge, the funky trip-hop jazz grooves of DJ Beatnik's "vinyl groovers workout'' set the mood for the evening.

At 9 p.m., there is a featured poet and a featured musician, each of whom perform 20 minutes of their original work.

After the featured artists, there are about 12 open mic spots available on a first come, first serve basis with preference given to people who have not performed before.

The performances end at 12.30 a.m., and the artists have a chance to chat with others about their work while Beatnik spins records until 1 a.m.

The effect of the evening was like taking a trip to one of New York's infamous underground cafes without ever having to leave the Island.

And thus far, the response to the sessions have been phenomenal.

"Flow Sundays'' is the brainchild of Andre Simons, DJ Beatnik, and Suzanne Mayall, and is presented under the banner of the Artists Resource Centre.

Mr. Simons was a theatre major in Toronto, and after graduating established a band, "Stumblin' Tongues'', which performed spoken word.

When he returned to Bermuda in February, he realised that there were few creative outlets for actors, musicians, and poets.

Mr. Simons said that Ian Tucker, a member of the Artist Resource Centre, put him in contact with DJ Beatnik who had similar ideas about creating a space for local artists.

"While I was away, there was a true and honest voice coming out, and I saw no reason to censor myself when I returned home,'' said Mr. Simons.

"The whole idea of Flow Sundays was to create a space where Bermudians didn't feel the need to censor themselves. We wanted to take the politeness out of it,'' he added.

Ms. Mayall agreed, and added: "Being free to creatively express yourself isn't just a matter of establishing your own personal identity, but also establishing our identity as Bermudians -- addressing who we are, where we come from, and what we really want.'' "It's a place where diversity is not just accepted, but celebrated.'' DJ Beatnik explained there is a strong emphasis on original material at the session, and said: "I detest the way we treat local entertainment. We don't celebrate ourselves and our own creative material.'' Flow Sundays also provided an opportunity to expose Bermudians to certain artistic styles that have become very popular internationally, such as spoken word performance.

Although the style of spoken word is difficult to explain, Mr. Simons and Ms Mayall said it has its roots in a cross-cultural oral tradition of storytelling.

"The idea behind spoken word is that the word is to be brought to the people,'' said Mr. Simons. "It moves out from what we traditionally expect poetry to be.'' The trio is hoping that Flow Sundays will help form a support network for artists where poets and musicians can combine their talents to create new artistic forms.

Eventually, they hope to generate enough revenue to bring in some jazz or spoken word artists to the Island to perform and conduct workshops.

the next Flow Sunday will be on July 27 at Coconut Rock on Reid Street. And the vibe, as always, will be smooth.

Kim Dismont Robinson