Max Bickley – General Assignment Reporter
Once a month, the Folio literary magazine hosts a reading of poems and short stories in the Student Center fireplace lounge. At the end of the featured readers, students are welcome to present their own creative works during open mic.
The opening pieces were a series of poems, which were then followed by a short story read by senior Jason Mangles titled, “Crepuscular Voracity.” The story itself had an eerie and smoky tone to it, with levels of varying wordplay and intricate character.
“I actually have been working on this idea for a long time,” Mangles said. “When I was asked to present it, and I had 10 minutes for the reading, I really did some chopping and refining.”
Following these opening presentations was a quick break, and during which members of the audience who had come to the reading were able to sign up on an open mic sign-up sheet to present works they had brought. While this was happening, a raffle was also held for books and notebooks as an addition to the reading.
Of the open mic presentations, there were unique styles and performances which kept an energy to the room. In addition to the reading, there was an acoustic performance of two songs by sophomore Tyler Korponai towards the midpoint of the reading.
A second reading, in which nothing was actually read, was a nearly improvised piece by sophomore Bryce Gentino who opened his reading by stating he had nothing to read.
“I don’t have anything written down. I just have something in my head and I think I am going to go with it,” Gentino said.
The verse he laid down, following this opening statement, was a mix of thoughts and rhymes, and had a spoken-word sound to it.
All of the poems read during the reading either touched an emotional place in the audience, or came from an especially emotional place from the author.
One such poem was written by senior Sam Schwind, who talked about her relationship with her own faith entitled “Payphone Prayer.”
“The poem itself is drawn from my own experience. I was raised Catholic, but sometimes you just have those moments in bed where you wonder if your prayer is really going somewhere and you can’t help but think,” Schwind said. “I think a lot of poets and authors write from their experience, and this is a good place to come. Even if you don’t write I think you should come just to hear people present. You may even be inspired to go up by seeing how forward other people are.”
With the closing of the open mic, the night ended with a poem presented by the editor of Folio, Laura Salvatore. The next Folio reading will be the Nov. 6.
Photo Credit: Tyler Korponai – Photo Editor
Photo Header: Laura Salvatore, editor of Folio introducing the event
