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Writing Center holds Poetry Night, costume contest

Students line up for the costume constest held during the Writing Center’s Poetry Night. Haley Finley, dressed as the old woman, won the contest.  

Despite a warm and muggy environment, the Writing Center’s Poetry Night filled the room with people on Oct. 27.

Poetry Night gives students the opportunity to go up on stage and read poems to one another. 

Students could read their own creations, or poems written by someone else. Authors of original poems had the chance to win a contest.

The Writing Center has been hosting the event for 11 years, according to adviser Tim Dillon.

 “A few writing fellows came to me with this,” Dillon said. “I’m glad they had this idea.”

Dillon said that events to enrich culture are hard to find in a community college, as students are so busy with classes and their lives that they don’t have the time to sit and enjoy something as simple as poetry.

The event filled the Little Theatre in the basement of the C building. Even though it was crowded, the audience members were enthusiastic to listen to poetry (or they were there to receive extra credit from their professors). 

Kellyann Navarre, one of the writing fellows organizing the event, said she was impressed with the audience.

“Out of the last two or three years, this is one of the best turnouts we had,” she said.

The event had a few contests as well, including a costume contest and a raffle to win a bowl of candy.

One of the poetry readers, Haley Finley, won the costume dressed as an old woman. She said her poem was given to nurses by an elderly man, and the poem was about how even though the man was old, he was still young inside.

Savannah Thorne won the candy raffle.

Peter Coomar, dean of the Technology Division, read a poem in his native tongue of Bengali. He handed out papers to all those who attended so that they could read alongside him, and everyone who attended joined in on his invocation.

This reading was the poem Navarre found the most interesting. She said that she always appreciates Coomar’s poetry because it is a learning experience.

This is the last Writing Center poetry night with Dillon as the director, and he was very practical about it.

“The ends of things are the ends of things, and this is just one more thing I’ll never do again,” he said.

The Writing Center will be holding another poetry night in February for Black History Month.