By: Julie Lin
On Thursday, November 6th, Alpha Chi Lambda sorority hosted an event titled “Poetry (In) Power,” where three poets were brought to the College to perform spoken word poetry. The three poets were Miles Hodges, Safie Elhillo, and Joshua Bennett, and the reading took place in the Events Barn. The three poets each took turns reciting one poem at a time, allowing for a wide range of topics and voices. Some of the topics of their spoken word poetry included race, love, feminism, and the education system, among others as well. A crowd favorite was done by Joshua Bennett and consisted of an address to his autistic little brother about the restrictions of societal norms on his creativity and development. The performances themselves were very casual and informal, allowing the poets the opportunity to speak about the specific poem before performing it, which gave the audience a background about how the poet came to write the poem and what each one meant to them. The performances were very intimate and raw, adding a lot of personal emotion to each poem that was better conveyed through the smaller setting rather than a large stage.
After the poetry performances, which lasted about an hour, the three poets stepped forward for a Q&A. This part of the event really allowed the audience to connect with the poets on a more personal level, gaining more insight to their poetic process as well as them as artists. In particular, an audience member asked where and how each poet started his or her writing process. One of the poets discussed how he generally finds one line he thinks is interesting, for example, he learned that a whale’s heart is the size of a car in one of his college courses, and takes that line as a base for the poem. Another poet explained that he felt he was most like a poet when he wasn’t trying to be one, which gave an interesting perspective on how poetry is formed and how different people find their voices in varying ways. As part of the Q&A, a different question posed by the audience centered on the role of education in the arts. Since two of the poets are currently in graduate school, they discussed how they felt getting a degree impacted their identification as an “artist” as well as the role that institution plays in suppressing or fostering creativity. The Q&A was extremely thought provoking and provided an insightful commentary after the powerful poetry reading. Overall, the event was extremely entertaining, leaving audience members inspired and in awe.