The Department of Writing Arts at Rowan University organized a spoken-word poetry night on Dec. 5, at the Rowan University Art Gallery. 

The poetry night was for a spoken word poetry class taught this semester by Professor Cherita Harrell. Professor Harrell understood that her students would be restricted in their creativity in the poems.

“I think it’s particularly difficult for writers who also often feel like they have to produce for a class and sometimes that limits that creativity,” said Professor Harrell. 

The poetry night consisted of two portions: individual poems and group poems. For the individual part of the night, the poems were difficult for pets to read because of the message they wanted to spread including Megan Miller, a senior majoring in communication studies. 

“Thinking back quite positively about a time in my life that wasn’t that positive and having to come to terms with that,” said Miller. 

Many poets experienced difficulty when writing pieces for the poetry night. 

Dimitrius DeMarco, a junior dual majoring in English and Writing Arts described the struggle he had writing his poem. 

“It was difficult,” said DeMarco. “There’s a certain risk involved when you’re trying to confront really, traumatizing things or just these things and these moments in your life that are, you know, not the best. So, trying to take that and turn it into something positive is one of the most difficult things anybody could ever do.”

For the group poems, they were challenged to work together and find things that were alike or different from their individual poems. 

A group that achieved that objective was Dani Salani, a freshman majoring in exploratory studies, Andrew Barton, a senior majoring in writing arts, and Alycia Copeland, a junior majoring in psychology. They were able to find themes in their poems to create a group poem in the form of names.  

“It was a poem of identity,” said Copeland. “Taking back our names and what they mean to us and our childhood experiences that got us to where we are now.” 

Professor Harrell was pleased with how her students were able to think outside of the box and displayed their hard work. 

“I was proud of the work that they’ve done throughout the semester,” said Professor Harrell. “Spoken word in particular really asks you to be vulnerable and challenge yourself. They really challenged themselves throughout the semester with how they talked about particular topics, with how they tap into certain things, with how they tap into the concepts. To see that kind of come to fruition was a really proud moment for me.”

Professor Harrell was delighted for the poetry night to be a success not only for the students but for the other people in the audience. 

“I think it’s because this space feels safe and it feels creative and it feels artistic and it allows people to be themselves,” said Professor Harrell. “And if that is what they believe, then I’m just grateful. I’m just grateful for being able to facilitate it and being a part of it.”

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