Through the power of words and imagery, poetry readings at Moorpark College will soon be looked at from a new perspective and appreciation.
On Nov. 18, the last poetry reading for the semester will be taking place with something more than just words being fed into the mind.
“The Read,” is a series of poetry readings that occur four times every semester. The readings hold a time where students and anyone from the community can come out to read their poetry and have it recognized by students, teachers, and anyone from the community.
Through the duration of the readings, a film will wash over the poet and be displayed on a screen behind them while they are performing.
Tim Samoff, instructor of the Multimedia Department at Moorpark College, was quickly approached. With the help from his graphic students and poets coming together, they created ideas to make stories and poetry readings come alive to spark emotion through listening to creative poetry and viewing art through images and videos.
Currently there is a total of 6 different pieces which will be presented on Nov.18.
Most of the poets which will be a part of the ceremony are part of a performance group entitled “The Workshop”. The workshop poets spent most of their summer performing at different poetry venues, festivals, and library readings to expand the importance of poetry.
Sandra Hunter, English Professor at Moorpark College and contributor to the Read events, said that having the workshop poets and graphics students collaborate on a project is an example of how society currently wants to hear and see poetry come to life.
“You are seeing a lot of this cross-pollination of art in a number of different areas, so this is really exciting for us because we have never tried anything like this before,” said Hunter. “Right now the pieces are growing day by day.”
“The Read” event will be taking place on Nov. 18 at 5:30p.m. and will be located of the 3rd floor of the campus library with free admission.
“You as an audience member become very much a part of the event and you are not just observing it anymore, you are a part of the creative process and I think that is such a vital part to any performance,” said Hunter.
