Getting on stage and performing original work can be daunting for anyone, especially when you’re in front of an audience of your peers. At Acoustic Open Mic Night last Tuesday, many students broke out of their comfort zones and showcased their raw talent.
On Nov. 11, students gathered at Pomona College’s Coop Fountain for an evening full of poetry and prose, a joint collaboration between the Pomona Student Union (PSU) and the newly founded 5C Pens & Poetry Club. Every seat in the Coop was filled, with students crowding into the space that organizers had transformed into a cozy setting for live performances.
The idea to host an open mic night came about during a PSU meeting, when board member Ohemaa Premuh PO ’29 proposed the idea of a poetry-centered event, which led her to reach out to the newly-founded creative writing club. Premuh brought this plan into fruition with Pens & Poetry President Bianca Mirica PO ’29, who additionally serves as PSU’s freshman public relations chair as well as a staff writer at TSL.
Students started settling into their seats at around 6 p.m., chatting with one another as they waited for the performances to begin at 6:30 p.m. Over the course of two hours, over 20 talented students took the stage to express themselves, sharing their original pieces with the enthusiastic audience.
The content and form of each performer’s work varied greatly. However many pieces centered around themes related to personal experiences and social issues.
Sakeenah Abraham PO ’29, chief commissioner of the Pens & Poetry, voiced her appreciation for students’ vulnerability.
“Everyone was sharing really deep and personal things; it was so wholesome,” Abraham said. “I love how it brings everyone together.”
One student read a poem inspired by a flower she had found and pressed into a notebook; another shared a piece he had written at 3 a.m. on a roll of vinyl tape. Visiting UCLA student Maya Schwartzberg described her appreciation for the event as a space for students to share their art with one another.
“It’s inspiring to see other people who are in a similar stage of life performing their art,” Schwartzberg said.
With many pieces written from a place of vulnerability, performers expressed raw and unfiltered emotion. One poem that resonated with many due to its emotional weight was “Freaky Friday,” written and recited by Pens & Poetry Vice President Pherell Washington PO ’29.
Named after the 2003 Disney movie of the same name, Washington explained that he wrote the poem — a piece of social commentary on the experience of being a Black man — back in high school for his poetry club.
“I knew I wanted to write about police brutality and being a young Black man in society, or being any Black man in society,” Washington said. “I really love the movie ‘Freaky Friday,’And I was like, ‘Oh wait, living a different life, how would someone else feel to live in the body of a young Black individual?’ And my whole thought process behind it was, ‘you’re just going through your daily life, but now you’re in a Black body.’”
In addition to discussions of race, other poems provided commentary on personal experiences navigating gender and major life changes. Pens & Poetry events coordinator Naomi Gurrola PO ’29 explained that her poem “Storms” is a written attempt to explore both feminine rage and the struggles of adjusting to Claremont’s uniquely arid climate.
“It was kind of a weird combination of me feeling anger at a certain time, and then also wanting there to be rain, like a storm and something to just change the routine of heat here, and it morphed into [my] poem,” Gurrola said.
While many students reported feeling pre-show jitters, nervous that their works wouldn’t be well received, they later described feeling relieved and empowered by the audience’s positive reception.
“I was kind of nervous because when you’re reading a poem, especially a poem with so much emotion, everyone may not agree with you,” Washington said. “[The crowd was] very nice. I kept getting people come up to me, like, ‘Hey, your poem was really great.’ And I was just like, ‘You know what? This is why we have this event: to have a space where people can share and open up.’”
With the positivity that radiated throughout the Coop during the Open Mic Night, PSU and Pens & Poetry are brainstorming future joint events to capture the same magic.
“For PSU, there will definitely be more events [like this one] because our main goal is to foster active communication, dialogue and stuff,” Premuh said. “And I think Pens & Poetry did that very well.”
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