A Night to Remember: Pfeiffer's Poetry Slam
The dark room buzzed with excited chatter from fellow students and faculty. Those who were not talking stuffed their faces with the free mini doughnuts and apple cider provided at the event. As I took my seat in the third row, my eyes patiently shifted to the center of the stage. There, directly in the middle, was the bright beam of light calling out for a poem to be performed. On November 16th, 2016, seventeen people took the spotlight at Pfeiffer’s Poetry Slam to perform their own masterpieces.
The following twelve people performed as part of their poetry course with Dr. Schwalm:
Rachel Anderson performing Untitled
Tricia Ayers performing Killing You
Sebastian Belk performing Her Autumn Mind
Cliff Beyer performing My Old Jacket
Lillie Brady performing Blackberry Winter
Angela Elliott performing A Friend Once Lost Now Returns
Chyann Ketchum performing Questions
Justice Lotz performing Untitled
Taisha Neal performing Embrace
Bailey Sherrill performing The Secretive Seamstress
Lashonda Womack performing Having Faith
Once they finished, the spotlight then turned to the members of the audience. Five people took to the stage and shared a piece of themselves with everyone in that room. These people are as follows:
Ryanna Hammond performing Pages and The Gunman
Aquill performing a free speech poem and an Untitled piece
Joshua Badbo performing Steppin’
Brooke Hebert performing Love is…
Kimberly Goodell performing an excerpt from a collection of essays
These poems ranged in topic and style, including: love, sex, rape, God, migraines, psychological disorders, and family.
Once the program finished, people were thanked for attending by the emcee, and poetry student, Taisha Neal. Each student handed in their yellow culture credit card and vanished into the blood-moon night, some even took mini doughnuts on their way out.
The nerves of the student performers quickly vanished once their time on stage came to an end, but the excitement of the audience carried through into the week. Several people recorded their performance and posted it to Facebook, while others let what happened on stage stay there.
(Click here to view Brooke Hebert's performance of Love is...)
Be on the lookout for other exciting events happening on campus. Also, don’t forget that the deadline to submit your work is December 1st, 2016. We accept prose pieces, creative non-fiction essays, fiction essays, photography and art, and poetry. You can click here to submit your work now.
Let this be an opportunity to share a piece of yourself with the Pfeiffer community! If you have any questions, please contact one of the co-editors of The Phoenix:
Eli Bostian at MEBostian345@my.pfeiffer.edu
Megan Hedrick at MLHedrick450@my.pfeiffer.edu
We look forward to viewing your submissions.
