Month: December 2024

Rajiv Mohabir Poetry Reading
Wednesday, November 13th, 2024
Rose O’Neil Literary House

Having already attended a poetry reading at the literary house earlier in the semester, I had a better understanding of what to expect going into this reading. When poet Rajiv Mohabir was introduced in the lit house porch on November 13th, I figured that he and Cameron Awkward-Rich were very similar based on many of their shared interests with the natural environment, gender, and sexuality. I never anticipated the style of his poetry to be completely different. I also appreciated the context that Mohabir provided before reading each poem in his set and felt honored to hear some of his old poetry, recently published poetry, and some of his new work that has not been published before. I agreed with many of his thoughts such as the idea that there are multiple ways to learn. He really loved audience interaction and like Awkward-Rich was very theatrical in his readings, planning out his pauses and varying his tone. Most of the poetry he read was from his more recent published collection called Whale Aria which combined scientific knowledge about whales with what he termed “other hood”. This collection of poems touched on a variety of topics including religion, family, sex, love, and of course whales. The first poem he read was called Dominion which forwards a verse from the bible in it, Genesis 1:26, using it to discuss how man has dominion over all things. His next poem was called Boy with Balene for Teeth which had a theme of creating one’s own story which I found to be extremely empowering. The Whale Song Poem contained a pre-reading that was a history of the land and then launched into a poem that discussed the responsibility of humans to keep our stories alive in our communities. One of his last poems from Whale Aria was a poem called Why Whales are back in NYC. It told the story of how the whales at one time in history were seen in the New York harbor but because of human pollution they left. Finally, after the restoration and cleaning of the water decades later, the whales were spotted in the harbor again. This story brings so much hope for the world and one of my favorite quotes from this poem states “what was once lost now leaps before you” which relates this story back to each person who reads or hears this poem. Throughout Whale Aria, Mohabir I noticed that Mohabir used intricately woven metaphors that entranced his listeners. This is a tactic that I plan on applying to my own writing for all my future writing assignments.

Cameron Awkward-Rich Poetry Reading

Tuesday, September 10^th, 2024

Rose O’Neil Literary House

I attended Cameron Awkward-Rich’s Poetry reading at the literary house on 09/10/2024. I have not attended many readings from authors, but I figured it would be similar to the Sophie Kerr Prize presentation which I attended two years ago. Awkward-Rich I learned is a professor of Women, Gender, and Sexual Studies and the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. He has two collections of poetry that have been published: Sympathetic Little Monster (2016) and Dispatch (2019). When he stood up to read, he warned the audience that his work would be emotion evoking and potentially disturbing. I was not sure what to think but before I could form an idea he jumped right into his first poem. This poem, which I didn’t catch the name of, mainly focused on the nature of humans, specifically in reference to sex. The theme that I came to understand is that sex is natural and should not be a topic that is just danced around. The second poem was a complete reversal in its theme from the last poem. This poem had lots of referrals to mirrors and darkness. It invoked very sad emotions from both the writer and the audience. The third poem was called Palimode, and it was less of a poem, more of a series of letters that had been turned into an informal essay. The speaker in the letters talks to someone, asking a lot of questions and appearing to look up to a person named Pauli Murray. It had themes of sex, gender, and nature but was most obvious about this poem was the repetition, especially the word “No”. The penultimate poem was called My Life Closed in Choice which is directly taken from Emily Dickinson. The last poem read was a cento which is a type of poetry that is made up of the lines of other poems. Even though this work was not original, Cameron Awkward-Rich was still able to be consistent with his theme of choices and possessing the right to choose. Ultimately, I thought that his poetry was very theatrical, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but the topics that he covered are not something that I typically can relate to very well. I am not the audience he usually has so it makes sense why I wouldn’t be as familiar with his themes, however, there were threads that I did know very well, loneliness, unknowing, challenge with a personal image, and the importance of physical touch. I was envious of the world view that he possesses because it is not anything that I even feel comparable with, but I was impressed that his work produced emotions in him as well as the audience. I think that if I can apply the idea that my writing should invoke my own emotions, then ultimately, I will have a stronger piece of writing.