Poetry and Creative Writing Club Hosts Open Mic Night

The Poetry and Creative Writing Club (PAC) held a competitive Open Mic Night on April 12 from 6-8 pm at the library. Beforehand the writers were invited to submit their work in order to decide the winners. There were 3 selected winners and 3 runner-ups for the 3 different categories, long prose, short prose, and poems.

The winner for long prose was senior Lela Tolajian, the winner for short prose was sophomore Kylie Wang, and the winner for poetry was senior Abby Wallach.

Club leader senior Angeni Lieben said the event went really well: “I think what I loved to see was people kind of open up a little bit and really realize how fun it is and exciting it is to be up at the mic and spreading your brain.”

Attendee senior Regan Stambaugh said seeing everyone share their work was a really cool experience. “It wasn’t an intimidating space or anything and everyone felt comfortable to go up and share their poetry. Poetry is really vulnerable, so the fact that people were comfortable going up and speaking into a mic and sharing what they wrote, was really cool, and listening to what everyone had to say was really cool and enlightening to their person,” said Stambaugh.

Lieben noticed how at 1st many people were really shy, but by the end of the night everybody was like “can I do another poem [or writing].”

Lieben chose to write a poem that was based on 1 of the club’s writing prompts. They wrote an inspirational poem that philosophized “how life can be a little hard and so kind of learning to kind of laugh at life a little bit and realize how much we have to offer.” This poem was written in a form where you integrate 3 words or 3 prompts throughout the poem, their prompts were watch, comedy, and haunt.

The PAC club held a smaller version of this event last year during hybrid learning but the participation was much lower because not as many people were aware of the club. Before PAC, a similar club at Campolindo was the Slam Club, which was discontinued years ago but inspired the PAC club. Lieben said “I kind of decided to rev [the club] back up a little bit in my own way. This was really the 1st year we’ve had this contest [and] open mic together and so I’m really hoping it’s gonna stick for a while.”

PAC club regularly has members sharing pieces so Stambaugh said the event “wasn’t a whole lot different except that there were adults there and my parents there…It was nice because there was a lot of support in the room and everyone was eager to hear what you have to say [which] created a good environment.”

Lieben said that at 1st, performing your writing is a nerve-racking experience. “You feel your heart pounding and you’re shaking a little bit and you’ll flub a few words, but I think it’s really exciting. There’s a bit of an adrenaline rush and you’re reading your work and people are really appreciating, above that.”