A local poet took the floor mid-March at Moorpark College’s Poetry Slam, presenting poems about winter in Los Angeles and his mother’s strokes.
Rick Lupert is one of a handful of poets who were featured at the March 22 Poetry Slam, a monthly reading that features poets such as Ryan Gillenwater and Sarah Rothberg, as well as anyone with poetry they’d like to share.
“When you’re involved with poetry, you rarely turn down an invitation,” said Lupert. “It’s an honor to read at a college where most people are not poets but are still interested in what you have to say.”
The Poetry Slam takes place during the spring and fall semesters at Moorpark College. Meetings are scheduled on Wednesdays at 5 p.m., and the venue depends on where the group can be accommodated. Each meeting usually lasts about an hour and a half, and features an invited poet from the Ventura or Los Angeles areas. There is also an open-mic session where students, faculty, staff, and local community memberscan take the podium and read their poems.
“The poetry readings are unique in that they provide a non-academic environment for people to meet [and] listen to some incredible poetry,” said Sandra Hunter, professor of English and Creative Writing and one of the cocreators of the Poetry Slam. “They also get the chance to talk to real poets who are actually making a living at being artists.” The Poetry Slam has been around since September of 2004, where the first featured poet was Moorpark College’s own Jerry Mansfield, also a co-creator of the Poetry Slam. In the spring of ’05, the Associated Students and other benefactors contributed money to the program.
“As a direct result of that, we were able to invite Damnyo, Crystal Irby, Kurt, Teka-Lark-Lo, Katerina Canyon, Rick Lupert, and, of course, Poetri, who was a special guest in September of last year,” said Hunter.
“It’s a chance to share your work and hear interesting works by others,” said Wende Cooper, 20, who is a political science major at Moorpark College. “Oh, and there’s free cookies!”
To learn more about the Poetry Slam, contact Sandra Hunter at (805) 378-1400, ext. 1866 or at [email protected], and keep an eye out for flyers periodically posted on campus.
