The William Peace University student involvement board hosted a gathering of fellow poetry lovers Feb. 21 called Spoken Word Night. It was a gathering meant to bring people together that had the common interest of spoken word poetry.
The main highlight to draw students in was the appearance of a nationally famous spoken word poet by the name of SHA’CONDRIA “iCON” SIBLEY. She is an award winning artist featured on platforms such as Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, and BET.com.
Having a famous person in the community of poetry gave this event more credibility. A group of about 20 students met in the Pacer Hub Commons above Belk Cafeteria. There was a make your own taco buffet offered to people who came.
This night was also a platform for students, or anybody who wanted, to share their poetry to do so with no judgement. There was a sign up sheet when everyone entered so the people who wanted to speak would know to prepare.
A small amount, about five students, signed up to speak or read their poetry. The rest of the time was filled up by the guest speaker. There were various types of poetry that varied in style.
There was someone who did theirs as a rap, someone did theirs in a slam poetry style, then someone did theirs in the classic rhyming poetry style. The speakers all spoke with passion.
The guest speaker told everyone that if a poet said something that they felt was really good or relatable to snap or clap. Most of the time people were sharing poetry people were doing both of those. A few audience members even shed some tears.
“I am so glad that I was able to make people feel and connect to me with my poetry,” said Peace student Elizabeth Ralph.
After everything was over people floated around talking to friends as everyone trickled out. Some students went to the guest speaker to talk to the guest speaker.
If poetry is something you are into keep an eye out for another Spoken Word Night to see if it is something you may be passionate about.