Poetry Students Share Their Works at Poetry Reading

As you walk into the Wright College library

lounge you hear the melody of snapping fingers. People gather around and celebrate the prowess of students sharing their poetry. On Wednesday a group of students participated in a poetry reading as a part of English professor Marcy Rae Henry’s online poetry class. Students read poems covering a diverse range of topics including love, civil rights, family relationships and chores.

Henry said about her students, “They worked so hard to prepare and they read much differently in person than they did for class, so they really brought it from the page to the stage so to speak and you could tell that their words meant something to them. It blew my mind hearing them, they were so great.”

Science major Rosa Lurigil shared what it felt like to share their poetry. “It’s extremely vulnerable and honestly a massive motivator. It felt extremely supportive.”

Lurigil mentioned that Wright helped inspire their love of poetry. “Coming to Wright, my English 102 class had a focus in poetry and I realized that I could actually sit and write this.”

Publishing major James Graves said about sharing his poetry, “It was exciting, I enjoyed everyone’s style and committing to it. This was more of a vulnerable moment and coming out of it, it’s invigorating, it feels good, it’s really expressive, I really enjoyed this.”

Graves added, “I like reading poetry regularly, I’m understanding the wordplay, it’s smart, it’s intelligent, I like the idea of constantly going back to dissecting a particular stanza and getting that aha moment, so if anything it's producing a lot of dopamine”.

Wednesday Quansah said about presenting her poetry, “It felt really good, before I took this  class I didn’t consider myself to be a serious poet, and taking this class kind of legitimized my own work for me. And so being able to share tonight felt like a really lovely way to end the semester and every time you get feedback on your work it just feels so good.”

Biology major Evelyn Jacinto attended the event because she is a big fan of poetry. Jacinto said she writes herself and commented on what she loves about poetry. “It’s just another way how us humans connect and I think that’s just the beauty of writing, art, freedom of expression in general.”

Henry said about her students, “This group is so talented, and I have the feeling that in the future they are all going to continue in some way, shape or form being involved in poetry. They have another tool that can help them during tough times to process, to understand themselves, and the world and their place in the world, they have this and no one can take that from them, no matter what happens and what is unstable, I think for me poetry not only changes lives but it does save lives. It is a way to document what’s going on, it’s a way to remember and tell our stories.”

Marcy Rae Henry introduces James Graves at the Poetry Reading in Wright's library lounge.

Photo Credit: Kyle Chmielowski