By By Eva Monhaut
Staff-Writer
Poets and poetry lovers alike, mark the calendars for Sunday, Sept. 27 from 6 – 8 p.m. live via Zoom when the South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center hosts The Poetry Den online. The event is open to the public for anybody who wants to perform or just listen in on others during the open-mic session mostly likely followed by a talk by a featured artist though this is still pending. All attendees must attend online via Zoom https://iu.zoom.us/j/96222697988 except those who are performing.
The Poetry Den is an opportunity for poets of all ages to share their poetry and spoken word pieces in a community of like-minded individuals. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak the Poetry Den had to be moved online with the exception of those performing online. The safety of all attendees is at the forefront of everyone’s mind, so those performing are asked to wear a mask even when performing. Poets also have the option to perform via Zoom if this works better for them. The Zoom is open to the public but attendance of those 18 and over is strongly emphasized considering some poets may perform pieces that use mature language.
Poetry Den founder and host, Pam Blair believes the event is important for young poets and our community in general.
“Our duty as artists is to reflect the times. Poetry celebrates the individual word, the sound of language, and the rhythm of language in a way that narrative does not. Poetry is a great vehicle for learning how complex thoughts, humorous ideas, deep emotions, or entire narratives can be expressed with a few carefully chosen words,” said Blair.
“’You can’t have a revolution without art,’ someone once said. Anything we can do that can positively release pain, discontent or even gratitude is a direction towards hope. Poetry is that vehicle,” elaborated Blair.
If interested in learning more check out the Civil Rights Heritage Center’s Facebook page, visit crhc.iusb.edu or contact them via messenger for more information.
“We want to personally thank The Civil Rights Heritage Center for their years of hospitality towards us. We couldn’t do this without their help and Love. We encourage all our Poetry Den friends and Fam to get connected to the CRHC as they are a golden gem in our community,” said Blair.
“’My Motto: I.P.M.C Inspire Provoke Motivate to Create,’ is what I ultimately hope attendees talk away from this event,” concluded Blair.
