College students bust out talent at mic night

American University students clap for poet at open mic night in the Dav café on Oct. 9, 2014. (Photo by Yelim Lee)

American University students gathered at an open mic night on Oct. 9 in the Davenport Coffee Lounge to read original and published writings. The event was hosted by a student-run literary publication, the American Literary Magazine, also known as Amlit.   

The night opened as Amlit co-editor, Julia Martin, called a list of people who reached out to perform that night. However, no one from the list was there, so people volunteered instead.

The first performer was Mattea Lee, Amlit’s own poetry editor. She read an original poem, called “Southern Cross,” which was about her coming of age. Lee read the poem nostalgically. 

More students read their poems, and then a shy-looking woman came up to the mic. She looked through her phone for her poem, and started. Her words left her mouth fast, and her rhythm was like a rap. Her poem was about prostitution with her chorus being, “I pay money for sex.” The audience was shocked at the lines, but applauded her powerful reading.

A couple of students read more poems, and then there was a lull. Less and less students volunteered. So, Martin went up to the mic and encouraged the audience to read saying she saw many watching, but few performing. She got more people to read.

Eventually, the number of performers died down again. Martin volunteered to read her own poems. When she got to the mic, she joked about how she was “barely literate,” and said that she was nervous of her poem not being good enough.

More performed after Martin, one of them being a student named Barbara. She told the audience that she would be reading a “pornographic poem about pasta.” After she finished, she joked that people should come up and perform because she is “real easy to follow.” It actually drew more people up to the stage.

A student named Mia Saidel stepped up and read a poem published in the Amlit Spring 2014 issue, called “Early Onset,” which is about Alzheimer’s disease. Saidel read the poem with emotionality that stirred the audience. When I asked Saidel why she chose the poem, she responded that it “was able to capture my own feelings about a condition that affected my family personally.” She also said she felt that the disease often goes unspoken about, and that it should be brought to light.

After a few more performers, Julia wrapped up the open mic night. She thanked everyone for coming out and encouraged students to continue supporting Amlit.

After the show, I asked poet Michaela Cowgill how she felt when she was performing. She said, “It’s like you black out when you read and it feels like you’re speaking in tongue or something.” From the other side, when I asked viewer Diana Sioutis what she thought of the event, she said that she really liked the rapping poet. She said, “it was so aggressive in a good way, and it was a good delivery from her.”