Tonight I saw a poetry reading at the Ann Arbor District Library and I absolutely loved it. First went a number of high school students who were SO impressive. I couldn’t believe how great their use of language was, how mature their content, and how powerful their individual voices were coming through in their writing. Most of their poems were extremely rhythmic and almost sounded a bit like rap music. I assume they were using aspects of beat poetry. It was exciting to hear and watch, and I was inspired by how capable and talented these young poets are. One boy, probably a few years younger than I am, really stuck out to me. He read a poem in which he was anticipating his mid life crisis. He spoke so maturely and with such confidence, I was envious of his courage.

Then two professional poets spoke: a local poet and a more renowned poet who came in for the occasion. The local poet was the head of the students’ group and it was clear he had a lot of influence over their styles. His poems too sounded like there was a rap beat behind them. Some of his poems I enjoyed more than others. I had trouble understanding his purpose behind a couple of them because they seemed more like a series of observations. That was common throughout all of the poems I heard tonight; they were in written language that was extremely simple and conversational. While we studied the evolution of poetry heading in this direction in class, I was surprised how extreme these poems were in their casual manner. The final poet was excellent. His work had a strong focus on race. I enjoyed the way his tone was serious but funny at times, allowing his powerful social messages to be easily taken in by his audience. I loved his poems and would definitely want to hear more in the future.