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USU opens doors for poets, musicians

Ears ready and fingers snapping, poets will return to the University Student Union this week for the 13th anniversary of the USU Program Council’s Poet’s Lounge.

The Poet’s Lounge will be hosted on Thursday night with featured poet Manuel Gallego. The event will take place from 8 to 10 p.m. in USU room 103. General admission is free to anyone on or off-campus, and guests are able to sign up and participate in the performances.

“It’s pretty much sign up as you come,” Program Council Assistant Sabrina Ware said. “Anybody is welcome, and registration is at the event.”

Ware said she is new to Poet’s Lounge this semester after taking over her position from recent graduate Chris Soto, who conducted last semester’s Poet’s Lounge events.

“I’m new to it, but I’m going to work on improving the event to make it bigger than it is and try to get more students involved,” she said. “There are probably so many students on campus that are interested in something like this that have no clue it exists.”

Ware said that she met the featured poet Gallego at a speakeasy open mic event at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles.

“I really enjoyed what he had to offer and invited him to speak on campus, and he said yes,” Ware said. “[Gallego] does a lot of expressive work. He is charismatic and has a good presence on stage, which is nice.”

Ware said that she plans on reaching out to different clubs and organizations on campus. She also intends to have other poetry-related events that coincide with the Poet’s Lounge.

“We’ll have our slam poetry team on the terrace and try to get the audience involved,” she said. “It will be like a concert but with poetry.”

Ware said that guests can express themselves in multiple ways during the event.

“We’re not just limited to poetry,” she said. “You can get up and sing a song, play the guitar, tell jokes, anything. I really want students to come feel safe and feel that they can express themselves to other people. It’s an exciting thing for me.”

Keya Allen-Littleton, program coordinator for the USU Program Council and Associated Students Inc. commissions, said that all students should have the chance to experience poetry and performance at least once in their lifetimes.

“It is an experience of spoken word and expression like no other,” Allen-Littleton said. “Poet’s Lounge is a vehicle for the written word. It allows students to express themselves and enjoy a night full of wonderful poetry.”
 

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