April is national poetry month, and the Creative Writing Club is celebrating by holding a poetry event called “Poetry Out Loud” at 8 p.m. tomorrow in A.J.’s Cafe.
“Poetry Out Loud” gives students the chance to share and perform their original works of poetry or recite some of their favorite poems. The event is sponsored by the English department and hosted by the Creative Writing Club.
“Our goal is to foster a community of people who are interested in creative writing and want to practice it on a regular basis,” sophomore Chandler Ryd, president of the Creative Writing Club, said.
According to Ryd, “Poetry Out Loud” is partly an opportunity to attract more writers to the club, but its main focus is on the community here at Hillsdale that loves poetry and wants to engage with things that they are learning in their classrooms in a less academic and friendly environment.
“There is a great tradition of reading poetry out loud,” Ryd said. “I think poetry is meant to be read out loud and think poetry is meant to be read in groups, so this is a fun time where we can all get together and do that.”
“Poetry Out Loud is making poetry public,” Assistant Professor of English Kelly Franklin, the club’s faculty adviser, said. “Poetry isn’t just this private literary thing, but it’s a communal thing — the ‘Odyssey’ or the ‘Iliad’ would have been communal poetry, as a kind of oral entertainment that was shared communally, so in a sense, Poetry Out Loud goes back to the classical tradition.”
This is the second year the club has hosted the event, and it plans to continue the tradition.
