Last Saturday afternoon at 2p.m. in the Lake Effect Cafe, students and professors stepped up to the mic with papers, laptops, tablets and phones to read poetry at the Poetry Slam.
The event was hosted by Julian Daley, the head editor for the “Great Lake Review,” which is the student-run literary journal on campus—not to be confused with the “Laker Review,” which is the Oswegonian’s arts and entertainment tabloid. The Poetry Slam was meant to last an hour, but the event came to a slow stop at around 2:50 due to lack of readers.
Approximately 15 people read their poetry. Though it seemed slow, not a minute went by without someone standing at the microphone with a poem to read or with an announcement to make.
The majority of the speakers were students from Laura Donnelly’s Intro to Poetry class, such as Imani Sampson who wrote “Two or Three Years Later” and Hope Arkazana who wrote “Ignoring Feelings.” After three of her students bravely read their poems, Professor Donnelly read two of her own poems, as she promised her students. One speaker not in that same class stood up two separate times to read, the second of her poems was titled “Lipstick, Pearls, and Girls.”
At 2:20p.m., the host handed out a few raffle tickets while poems were being read, then at 2:30p.m., she announced the two winning tickets. Of the two winners, one received a book about writing and the other received a gift card. Afterwards, another student came up to read a long poem, “Lovely Ramble.” At this point there were no more readers, so the event ended earlier than anticipated.
Donnelly, who is also the faculty advisor for the magazine, came up to say some final words and to advertise the “Great Lake Review” release party.
The “Great Lake Review” is a relatively small and not-well-known publication on campus, that hopes to expand its staff and audience in the upcoming semesters through events like the poetry slam. According to Donnelly, the “Great Lake Review” provides a wonderful opportunity to get students’ work published or learn more about the publishing process. People are encouraged to join the editorial staff or submit their work to poetry, fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, art and photography.
The “Great Lake Review” will be having a release party for its spring 2016 issue at the River’s End Bookstore at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3. There will be snacks provided and free books available for those who attend.
