Conclusión

This final chapter traces the evolution of the event named the Open Room from open mic in the 1970s and early 1980s to the present-day noncompetitive reading series following the Friday Night Poetry Slam at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Archival video footage and first-person accounts by Cafe co-founder Miguel Algarín and Nuyorican founding poet Lois Elaine Griffith are used to frame the significance of this happening within the Cafe’s historical trajectory. The conclusion argues that the Open Room acts as a literary and performative undercommons connecting the organic, queer poetic gatherings of the 1970s with contemporary audiences.