In this episode, The Daily covers open mic poetry reading at the Evanston Public Library to celebrate National Poetry Month.
CYDNEY BROWN: Do you ever wonder if it’s gunshots or it’s thunder? If someone’s going six feet under, or you just missed the lightning?
EMMA RICHMAN: That was Communication junior Cydney Brown, reading her poem “Do you ever wonder?” at an open mic poetry night at Bookends & Beginnings last Friday.
From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Emma Richman. This is Everything Evanston, a podcast covering all things Evanston.
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The open mic poetry night was held in honor of National Poetry Month. It was a fundraiser for the Evanston Public Library, organized by the nonprofit Partners of the Evanston Public Library.
Vaishali Patel is the group’s secretary. She helped organize the event, and also served as the emcee.
VAISHALI PATEL: This is the first time that we’ve done an event like this and we’re gonna start out with our featured poet. We’re so grateful to have Cydney Brown.
CYDNEY BROWN: And this is entitled “Black girl.” Black girl walks into a room. Without even speaking people already assume the tone of her voice, the place that she lives, the loves that she’s lost. But Black girl doesn’t give a about it. She lives her life out loud…
EMMA RICHMAN: Brown led off the reading with several poems. She is the 2023 Northeast Regional Youth Poet Laureate. At Northwestern, she’s co-president of the Black Poetry Society.
She wears her inspiration on her sleeve – or more accurately, on the front of her shirt. Maya Angelou’s face is woven into the fabric.
Brown said she’s been writing poetry since 5th grade, inspired by Angelou and other greats. Now, she wants to inspire.
CYDNEY BROWN: I love sharing poetry with people, going to schools, doing workshops and poetry readings and getting everyone to really understand the importance of poetry and how it can help you heal a lot of things you’re going through and like connect with people.
EMMA RICHMAN: Friday’s event gave people of all ages and experience levels a chance to get up and make their voices heard.
Most readers shared original works, and some recited their favorite poems by other authors.
Evanston resident Ela Aktay said she’s been writing for a long time, but only ever for herself.
ELA AKTAY: I think since I was seven, I think that’s the first time I wrote a poem. I’ve been writing ever since I was little. But this is the first time I’m actually sharing it.
EMMA RICHMAN: Aktay said she was nervous to share her poetry publicly. But that didn’t stop her. She got up behind the lonely microphone among the bookshelves and recited her poem titled “Good.”
ELA AKTAY: You do not have to be good. You do not have to be perfect. You don’t even need to be okay. You do not have to smile, to nod your head politely and wait for permission.
EMMA RICHMAN: Aktay wasn’t the only one testing the waters.
Evanston resident Amrit Sooch read a few poems from her new book “Pain & Paper.”
She published her book last year, but she said Friday’s event was the first time she had ever read the poems aloud.
AMRIT SOOCH: Embrace your feminine power, your beauty, your allure. ‘Cuz you’re a queen in every hour. With dignity, you’ll endure.
EMMA RICHMAN: For Sooch, sharing poetry is a very vulnerable thing to do. She said she wrote many of the poems in her book while she was going through a tough time.
AMRIT SOOCH: It felt very isolating and I wanted to just shine a light out there, telling people they’re not alone in this.
EMMA RICHMAN: For Brown, it’s a similar feeling.
CYDNEY BROWN: Throughout my journey as a poet, I’ve kind of been maybe sometimes the only poet in the space, sometimes the only Black girl in the room kind of being vocal about social justice issues. So I really try to make sure that other people don’t feel the same loneliness that I felt and being able to encourage them and empower them to share their words as well.
EMMA RICHMAN: Brown said that open mic poetry nights like this can be hard to find in the area. But any opportunity to read her work aloud and listen to others is valuable.
Sooch agrees.
AMRIT SOOCH: I think as a poet, seeing other poets go up there and share things that are so vulnerable is very inspirational to me and it makes me want to do the same and not want to like hide.
EMMA RICHMAN: From seasoned poets to first-timers, the night was an opportunity to listen, grow, and of course, use your voice.
CYDNEY BROWN: I still have my whole life ahead of me and I’m not giving up now. You can’t silence my voice, and when you come for one of us, we rise up. You give us no choice.
Thank you.
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EMMA RICHMAN: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Emma Richman. Thanks for listening to another episode of Everything Evanston. This episode was reported and produced by Emma Richman.
The audio editor of The Daily Northwestern is Isabella Jacob. The Multimedia Managing editors are Anavi Prakash, Misha Manjuran Oberoi and Danny O’Grady. The Editor in Chief is Lily Ogburn.
Our theme music is “Revolution” by Xennial, used under a Creative Commons 4.0 International License and provided by the Free Music Archive.
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— Evanston’s literary community celebrates National Poetry Month
— Poetry in a heartbeat: Slam Society members share what poetry means to them
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