LIT 213C Participatory Literature

I’m sitting at my desk watching a YouTube livestream. It appears as if the main event has already begun, someone’s speaking at the podium, but their voice is nearly inaudible, and covering the center of the screen is a massive logo reading The 9th Americas Poetry Festival of New York 2022. Two men sit down in front of the camera, and begin whispering to each other. It completely drowns out the already quiet speaker on the podium. The microphone is peaking and the sound is barely audible. The audience claps and it sounds like popping an ice tray, finally the man on the podium sits down by the camera, gives it a look of confusion, and the logo goes away.

This was my introduction to the 9th Americas Poetry Festival of New York 2022. The title though is a bit misleading though because the poetry isn’t really just concerned with any made in just the United States of America, or North America, or all of the Americas, the poetry in this festival is sourced globally, and you can tell. If any literary event is a melting pot, this is it. This was just the first day, it was two hours long and there were more than twenty poets all from different countries and walks of life. The sheer variety of accents, appearances, languages, cultures, and styles was incredible. It’s in a way perfect that it is held in New York, because it embodies what makes this city so great, the diversity.

One of the aspects that made this event so interesting was hearing how rhyme schemes and poetic styles are so different across different languages. I was making liberal use of YouTube’s auto-translate feature throughout the presentation and it’s so cool that concepts that could never be rhymed about in English can shine in other languages where the words obviously sound different and rhyme in different ways. It made me realize that poetry as an art form is completely unique to each language, and the poem cannot be translated without something being lost. Even more impressively with this in mind, some of the poets involved would present their material first in a different language, and then again in english! The amount of effort and creative energy this would have taken to pull off is beyond me.

Despite all of their different backgrounds it felt like a very tight knit community in that room. The main announcer for the event, Carlos Aguasco, would preface the names of many of the poets with phrases like “my friend” or “someone who I’ve known for a long time”. The whole event took place in The Consulate General and Promotion Center of the Argentine Republic which is mouthful to be sure. I didn’t see much of the inside from the stream, the camera wasn’t a great angle for it, but it certainly looked gorgeous. Many of the poems were about childhood experiences or struggles faced in life. My favorite poem was the one from Hector Cononge of Argentina, Bolivia, and the USA. The poem begins with someone asking where Hector was from, and he switches between languages as he talks about his home and the conversation he is currently having with the other person in the poem. The poem itself is about how speaking in his native language gets him judgment and scorn, and it is a powerful piece making use of the multilingual format.

This event could only exist in the age we currently live in, these poets contacted each other across long distances using technology and came together to present their stories. The streaming of the event itself was a bit clunky though, and I think a deeper investment into advertising and digital production quality would do wonders for the popularity of the show. The format of the event was very simple, Carlos simply called up whichever poet was next and the poet read, but it was a great way to efficiently showcase all the different poetry. The whole event was broadcast on YouTube. I don’t even know if that would’ve happened without the pandemic to kickstart this kind of digital option for many events. The act of all these people coming together and showcasing their art for the world to see even without publishing certainly reflects some of the themes seen in this class. The world of participatory literature allows for people who previously did not have a platform for their work to express their ideas to a wide audience.

A Review: Nuyorican Poets Cafe Hosting Online Open Mic

Nuyorican Poets Cafe hosts open mics online every week by Advocate of Wordz for free to expand and sustain a poetry community. The poetry I found in the open mic was experimental and poetry that has been practiced over a long period of time. It was very refreshing to hear both kinds of poems because of how important both styles of experimental and practiced poetry is. Every poet had approximately 3 to 5 minutes to perform their poem or poems. Having an online open mic at 8pm at night increased the social and literary interactions between people.

This also challenges the reader like myself to hear more poetry that I haven’t heard or read before. It is very much like traveling to a new place we have never been before when we have new content to read. Poets and readers can get very bored of content when something has become too repetitive and not having a specialization or studied writing style can make it harder for poets and readers to understand the language presented.

The most practiced poems were when I heard people describe their own unsettling experiences in free verse poetry. The most experimental poetry I heard was when they talked about themes of another person they despise or miss in free verse. The more common poetry heard was definitely hearing people’s troubling experiences in free verse. Poets were very open when describing their poem, whether it was about a bad break up or sexual assault. They also took on questions if they had extra time. People also commented in the chat or snapped fingers and clapped if they really liked a poem. There are of course sometimes competitive people in artistic atmospheres, but the majority of people were welcoming at the open mic. It’s really meant to be a place where people can share their poetry and participate in the literary community so it can be consistently active. It’s not meant to be a chaotic environment, but sometimes open mics can get a little ‘crazy’ for the lack of better words. The only major difference from an online experience and an in-person experience is that you get to witness a more performative performance in an in-person open mic but there is a lot more accessibility for poets and readers to have a free open mic online.

This is great for new poets to market their poems or books. It helps them get their book or website out there more when they can interact with a live audience curious about what someone has to say. It is also a great way for the poets to practice performing readings or public speeches. This is again, free for poets to participate in. It is also good in the fact that they are getting different audience members that they are not used to seeing.

It’s a great place for someone to start going to open mics if they have never been to an open mic to get a better feel of what it is, especially due to the fact that it is online and free. You also don’t have to show your camera, obviously, but you shouldn’t feel pressured into putting your camera on, you are the audience. They have free open mics on Monday and Wednesday at 8pm, and on Thursday they have free open mics at 9pm.

Abbey Ryan

Participatory Literature 

Professor Kreitz

25 October 2022

 

Literary Event Review

 

October 18, 2022 I was able to attend the release gathering of a new book called Poster Girl by Veronica Roth at the Strand bookstore in Union Square. Upon going to the event, I had never been to anything like this before. I had no idea what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. To attend it was around $40 which included a signed copy of the book, a seat in the Question and Answer session with the author, and the opportunity to get a personalized signing when the event ended. She was able to give us a little insight on what the book is going to be about and her thought process when she was writing it.

Veronica was being interviewed by Elena Nicolaou who asked very good, relevant questions that most people were wondering like what was going on in her head when she would sit down and write this, if she knew the ending before she came to it in the book, and what her writing space at home looks like. The space for the event was in a private room upstairs in the Strand and had a very warm and cozy feel to it which made it even more inviting. It smelled of a sweet, warm smell that made the entrance into the private room even more special. Since the book is new, I had no idea what to expect from it. I wasn’t sure if I would be interested in the topic or if I would even enjoy the event. Hearing in person the author talk about it and what she hopes comes from the book was so nice because you don’t have that from every book you read. Another thing I thought was cool was how living and going to school here in the city we have the ability to do events like this. Being able to not only get a signed copy of a brand new book but also to meet the author and hear her talk about the book was such an amazing experience. Meeting and talking to her didn’t last long but the few words we did get to say to each other of encouragement made this a very special experience. While I had never done any of this before, I would definitely do it again. I had read the Divergent series which was written by Veronica Roth so I have no doubt I will also like the book Poster Girl. 

The sense of community in the room was contagious and being a first timer I felt very welcomed and even got to sit in the front row. I can relate this experience to our class because she talked about how she was struggling with writing the book over quarantine and turned to online journals and pages to come up with inspiration. Her writing style and attitude about writing in general is very inspiring. Our class is also very verbal. When someone says an idea outlaid other students are able to build off of that idea and expand it into something informational and creative. When someone from the crowd would ask Veronica a question she would give a detailed answer and respond in great depth, just like in our class. Writing a book during a global pandemic must have been really hard when you don’t know what is going on around you but she was able to still find the will to write her book and the inspiration from the rest of the world and other people. Since we were all going through the same thing, it was easy for her to relate to people and their stories. 

Overall I had a wonderful time at this experience and would recommend going to anyone interested in new books or literature in general. It was a fairly quick event which was nice so you didnt ever feel bored and you were engaged the whole time with funny, uplifting comments made by the author and interviewer.

 

Literary review – Ferreira (2)

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