A second-year Hinduism course might not be where one would expect to find a budding group of spoken word poets, but it is where the founding members of the Carleton Spoken Word Poetry Society found each other.
The Spoken Word Poetry Society is a new club for Carleton students with a passion for writing poetry intended to be performed orally. Spoken word performances often overlap with other art forms such as rap, storytelling, lyricism, and theatre.
In early January, after a round of icebreakers in their religious studies class, a group of virtual peers continued their conversation to find out they all shared a love for poetry.
“We were just going around doing introductions at the beginning of January, and it just came up,” said Sam Bean, the club’s vice president. “A lot of people said that they like to write poetry or appreciate reading poetry.”
After moving their discussion to an Instagram group chat, the idea to become an official Carleton club was raised.
“We were kind of in the Zoom hanging out, and we talked about, ‘we should actually turn this into a club’ because it was kind of just an inside joke at that point,” said Cassandra Nanticoke, the club’s secretary.
Club president Tarini Jayaprakash made the initial suggestion and said this wasn’t the first time the idea had crossed her mind.
Jayaprakash is a first-year health sciences student currently studying abroad from her home in Abu Dhabi. She said it was a shock that the club didn’t already exist at Carleton.
“The university [in Abu Dhabi], it’s really huge. All the people in the city go to the spoken word poetry events at that university,” Jayaprakash said. “I honestly expected there to be a spoken word poetry club at Carleton.”
Jayaprakash said the club started with around six members and after a week of recruiting via social media, their numbers have already jumped to around 25.
As they continue to grow, the club’s structure will consist of bi-weekly meetings, regular open mic nights over Zoom, and a slam poetry competition intended to stretch out over the entire semester.
Jayaprakash also has plans to invite emerging guest poets from around the world and provide them with an audience, as well as attention on the club’s social media platforms.
Members of the group said they are excited to start writing and performing. Nanticoke, currently in her fourth year, hopes to continue working with the club into her master’s degree.
“I still can’t believe we actually turned it into a real club,” Nanticoke said. “Now it’s an actual thing, it’s kind of surreal.”
Bean also intends to be a part of the club for as long as he is attending Carleton. He said he is hopeful for in-person meetings in the future.
“I would really be excited to have sessions of people being able to be together and writing stuff together, performing around each other and really being surrounded by an aura of creative energy,” he said.
Jayaprakash said she is still building up the confidence to perform but is continuously inspired by the art form and hopes others will be too.
“This one time I heard someone describe spoken word poetry as a raw acapella without any music,” she said. “It’s just purely a poet’s emotion, and you don’t really get to hear that voice or hear that emotion when it’s always on paper.”
The club is still awaiting confirmation from the Carleton University Students’ Association to officiate their club status and are looking forward to hosting events in the near future.
Featured graphic by Khadijah Harding.
