Strathmore Library hosts first poetry slam
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Strathmore Municipal Library hosted its first poetry slam, Oct. 14, partnering with local youth, Michael Ajirireloja, for enthusiasts in the community to come out and have a space to perform.
“It (was) an open event, we have had people register to perform their poems at the event, beginning at 3 p.m. and then we also opened it up at the end with sort of an open mic idea to see if any of the other attendees at the event would like to perform a poem,” said Laura Henderson, assistant director of library services.
“It was sort of a coffee house style, we set up some tables and just had it as a nice cozy little atmosphere for people to have a comfortable, safe environment to try out reading their poems.”
Henderson added there was no specific theme for the event, which ran from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m., so as to experiment with seeing how many people within the community would want to come out and perform.
Though the poetry slam is targeted more for youth and teenagers, anyone within the community is welcome to attend. The event is free to register for and participate in, as well as to simply show up and enjoy the live readings.
“Poetry speaks to people, gets them through their emotions and their personalities. Things that are the complexities of life or whatever (they) are going through in their life,” said Ajirireloja. “The slam poetry event is where people could come together and listen to poetry and or perform poetry in order to relieve themselves of stress.”
As of Oct. 12, about eight people were registered, which Henderson explained was about what was expected for the launch of a new program and is something to build off of going forward.
“We would love to just open it up. Sometimes you just have to get people into the setting and see how they are feeling about performing in public and just being there promotes that comfort, and might encourage them to get up and do their own,” she said. “This is an opportunity to see if we can build (a poetry scene) in the community. We are really excited to be hosting something different that we have not done in the library before and just seeing how we can grow something like this.”
Henderson explained the library is thinking to host this type of event every couple of months, potentially in an evening out by the fireplace, but will ultimately depend on feedback the library receives from this event. Additionally, at future events, more specific themes could be introduced.