By Kaitlyn Inderwies, English 2021
This upcoming month is National Poetry Month and Georgian Court’s library and English Department Faculty have prepared a special month-long event to mark this year’s poetry celebrations.
The entire month of April consists of a virtual event titled “Poetry Where You Are.”
During this event, everyone at Georgian Court is encouraged to share a video of themselves reading their favorite poems which will be catalogued in the library’s Dose of Poetry, In GCU’s InfoGuide you can find more information about these events and what they entail.
In addition to the events planned for this month, Professor Kristen Wedlock Christine Stevenson will present and host another event titled, “Write to be Here: Rituals, Incantations, and Intentions”. This will be held on April 29th and all students will get the opportunity to share their favorite poems with each other—or even their own!
April’s Dose of Poetry will kick off with poet Patricia Smith in a ZOOM event being held on April 1st at 4pm. This event is the perfect way to kick off your easter break before doing your best to forget school even exists for the weekend. Please feel free to attend with family and friends for a couple hours and immerse yourselves in the words of Patricia Smith. With any questions, please visit Kristen Wedlock.
Last year, before COVID-19 placed most of us squarely in our homes, Smith was set to visit Georgian Court as a part of Critical Concerns Week.
“I wanted her to come because we were talking about water and her book Blood Dazzler is about Hurricane Katrina and she wrote about how it affected the entire community of New Orleans…very quickly it became a book about water and weather and justice and truth…” (mention who said this)
A year later, Smith is finally able to make her Georgian Court debut. Following a reading from the poet herself, attendees will be able to watch an interview led by students Michelle Martinez and Shamaine Jones-Haynes.
If you like history, social justice and politics, if you’re in an education program, or if you enjoy women’s studies, Patricia Smith is the poet for you. There is something for everyone!
A long-time teacher and activist, Patricia Smith covers a wide range of topics and Professor Wedlock, who worked hard to get this event to us students in particular, had a lot of convincing and moving words to say about Smith’s work.
“If you care about black history—if you care about history in general— you’ll really enjoy her work. She makes the thoughts, ideas, and theories come to life. She’s doing right now what’s called docupoetry—or investigative poetry—where you take a news story and turn it into a piece. She does some really gruesome and wild and fantastic things in Incendiary Art… she really gets you to consider someone other than yourself, whether she brings you back in time or puts you into another body in this time…She gives women a say in what happens in their lives. Especially in Tea House of the Almighty. In a very realist way, she’s looking at relationship violence and what love means.”
There are 300 seats to fill, so register to attend the first event on April 1st at 4pm, and support both the Georgian Court community as well as poetry and authors everywhere.