BY ERICA MILOSH
Poetry Club is one of the most recognized clubs on campus that continues to evolve with each semester. The club gained popularity when Class of 2014 student, Dan Snyder, ran the group around Fall 2010. Former member of the Nichols English department, Professor Samantha Libby, also helped to build up the club and inspired students with her own poetry and feedback.
Now senior English majors, Marquice Jackson and Ian Sotoloff, who have expanded and diversified the organization, lead the club. Poetry Club frequently puts on poetry slams and open mic nights where anyone can read their work. So far this semester, Japanese slam poet G. Yamazawa has visited the campus and a small poetry slam was held on Jan 30. G. Yamazawa has been featured on the Button Poetry YouTube channel with nearly 400,000 views.
“Poetry Club has become more of a safe haven for students to vent, write, or just sit down and absorb the poetry,” Marquice explains.
The club has big ideas for some future events and collaborations. With the help of poetry club advisor, Katie Moulton, the club is forming a partnership with Bartlett High School. This will allow Bartlett students to attend poetry related events on campus, and Nichols members will be allowed to judge student poetry competitions at Bartlett High School.
Junior economics major, Robert Beauvoir, describes what club meetings are like. “It’s a really cool environment that motivates me to practice my writing.”
Upcoming on-campus events include a celebration of National Poetry Month. Poetry Club and the English department will be presenting their poetry in the library on April 18. There are also plans for the club to put on a show with Dream Junkies on April 13. Dream Junkies are a hip-hop group from southern California who have opened for popular artists such as Snoop Dogg and Wu-Tang Clan.
Marquice is satisfied with how diverse the club has become. There are members of every ethnicity who are free to write about any topic in any form. Most common styles of poetry used are free verse and spoken word. Popular themes include fear, family, success, sex, and many controversial topics.
This year there are 25 members of the Poetry Club with about 10-15 students performing regularly at open mic nights and slams. New members are always welcome and club meetings are every Thursday at 3:30 in Fels, room 323.