A Celebration of Words at the 2024 Paul K. Bergan Poetry Festival

Last week, students used poetry to raise their voices during the Paul K. Bergan Poetry Festival. The written and spoken word were celebrated and enjoyed by all with an Open Mic and Poetry Slam, poetry readings, and workshops on several poetry styles.

Set inside the cozy and welcoming coffeehouse atmosphere of FoxHound Auditorium, the Festival launched Thursday evening with a lively and entertaining Open Mic event emceed by junior Anila S. Performances included student soloists and poets as well as several rocking numbers by the Jam Session band (singer Reese W. ’25, drummer Shea G. ’25, percussionist Kaylen R. ’26, guitarist Steve McCarty, and bassist Emma Cesar). The much-anticipated Poetry Slam followed, where, by audience vote, sophomore Lauren G. was declared the winner after moving the crowd with her vulnerable and eloquent original works, including one piece about her childhood theater that she said was destined to be performed inside her new theater, FoxHound. Sophomores Katarina S. and Ava D. were named second and third, respectively.

Friday began with a morning of readings by Visiting Poet Junious ‘Jay’ Ward, poet laureate of Charlotte, NC, who explored the concepts of race, identity, gentrification, and family, as well as the use of multiple voices in a poem, asking students, “[Have] you ever heard the saying ‘who was in the room when that decision was made?’ How do we invite more voices into boardrooms and more voices into where decision-making happens? So for poems, I want all the voices in here.”

Using a mix of inspiration from his childhood and hometown to historical figures and rap lyrics, Ward shared several poems that made us all think about the importance of agency in writing and life, often using visual cues or acting out aspects of the poems to give them extra meaning and heft. Inspired by Ward’s poetry, our own Moriah F. ’24 shared a song she was reminded of during his presentation, after which the event was opened to students for a robust Q&A. 

Students spent the remainder of Friday exploring and creating poetry as each attended two of the 14 workshops held in both morning and afternoon sessions. The topics ranged from Book Spine poetry (stacking books so that their spines read as a poem) and Innovative Haikus (based on refrigerator poems only larger and photographed by drone) to nature poetry and limericks. In his workshop on spoken word and performance poetry, Ward took students through his creative process.

Many thanks to all who made the Poetry Festival a success: to the entire English Department — Steve McCarty, Emma Cesar, and Becca Paulisch — for organizing this event; to the faculty and staff who led engaging workshops — Regan Antila, Alex Barrett, Megan Barrett, Sonny Capaccio, Maggie Everett, Julie Fisher, Alexis Hall, Alex Northrup, Laura Ogleman, Esther Sánchez, James Sweeney, Kate Tomaskovic, Mr. McCarty, Ms. Cesar, and Ms. Paulisch; to our guest poet Jay Ward; and most especially to each individual who performed, recited, and stepped up to share their voice with the community.