Poetry reading boosts writing program

by Bailey Porter
Managing Editor

Lively jazz music wafted through the nearly empty park, but as students began approaching the mic sharing poetry they brought with them or wrote on the spot, more spectators took notice.

The open mic event, held Tuesday in Sneaky Park, provided a forum for student expression and a chance for modern language department professors Kirsten Ogden and Steve Westbrook to spread the word about changes to the University’s creative writing minor.

“Everybody has something to say and what they have to say is valuable and worth listening to,” Ogden said.

The event celebrated National Poetry Month.

A $30 prize was awarded to the crowd favorites Adrianna Gardner, sophomore English and journalism major, and Leoni Gardner, a freshman criminology major, for their poem “My Sister.”

Adrianna also recited other poems including one titled “Excursion,” about how people change in relationships. The poem expressed one person’s journey to find out where her partner was coming from in a relationship with two different expectations, she said.

“Relationships are not always a two-way street,” she said.

Borrowing from a Shakespearean sonnet, junior Sara Lesniak recited one of her favorite pieces, “The Silent Witness,” a poem she wrote while studying in England last semester.

Lesniak, one of a handful of creative writing majors at ULV, is also involved in the Alliance of Writers and Editors.

Darnell Gilbert, a freshman English major, performed “Killer Bee and the Butterfly.”

He said the idea for this poem came from him looking for metaphors describing himself and his girlfriend.

Other themes ranged from serious issues of politics, spousal abuse and personal discovery to light-hearted tales of monkeys stealing underwear.

Ogden said the students’ poetry proves that young people are participating in world events and do pay attention to politics.

It is a great opportunity for the audience to see students’ individual capabilities and it provides good practice in public address, Westbrook said.

This was the second open mic event for the creative writing program. During Interterm, students from creative writing classes read their poems to an audience of 60 at Coffeeberry.

Ogden and Westbrook spent the academic year reworking the minor with encouragement from modern languages director Eric Grekowicz to include 20 units of course work with new and revised classes.

By the 2004-05 catalog, all creative writing classes will be options for online registration, Grekowicz said.

The minor now includes more focused classes like Diverse Discourses, which falls outside traditional genres, allowing for the study of everything from quilting to performance art, Westbrook said.

“This makes it a very exciting minor to take,” Grekowicz said about the changes. “It is top of the line and cutting edge.”

A creative writing major is available through the special major option, and there has been a great deal of interest in it, Grekowicz said.

Adrianna said she is considering switching to a creative writing major working English and journalism into her studies.