Travis Alajoki, contributor

Photo of the poets who shared their haikus taken on Feb 20 by Corvus Wilde

“There was a lack of a community around people who are passionate about literature and needing a community or a space for people who love literature and poetry.” 

That quote comes from Corvus Wilde, a board and founding member of Augsburg’s new Poetry and Meaningful Writing Club. Founded by four first-year students, PMWC joined forces with Pan-Afrikan Student Union for their first ever event on Monday, Feb. 20. The event was a Black History Month celebration held in the student lounge and featured a haiku competition and open mic. 

At the start of the night, the two clubs went up to the front of the room and introduced themselves and their organizations. The PMWC board members then explained the history of haikus and where they found inspiration for the event, drawing mainly from Langston Hughes and his poem “I, Too.”

After that, there was an open mic where students were encouraged to speak freely in front of their peers. Many students went up to the front of the room to share their personal experiences by either singing, rapping, joking or just overall speaking their minds.

Following the open mic was the haiku competition. Once the clock struck 7 p.m., participants were given notebooks and fountain pens to write their haikus with the added task of sticking to an overall theme of perseverance in their writing. Students who wrote a haiku and presented it in front of the event won a magnetic journal and a $25 Amazon gift card. 

Beyond this event, the board members of PMWC want students to continue to get involved with the club. “Students can get involved in any way they want,” says Wilde, “we want to have more meetings and we want to have more community members join and anyone who wants to share poetry and share anything literature base that means something to them.”

Lee’RayVone Gibson, another member of the PMWC board, encourages students to interact with the board whenever they see them around campus. “A lot of us are involved on campus so you might just see us, we are all [first-years] so we will be here for a while,” says Gibson. “Just come and talk to us.”

Gibson also wants the club to show the Augsburg community the complexity of students’ lives. “I think if Augburg could take a little bit more time to look into the life of some of the students that go here, it’s a lot more complex than what it is made out to be,” he said. “I think there are a lot of things going on outside of the educational environment that are attributable to the education [in] the environment. We have a very active student body but the thing is, is that the student body is made up of students whose lives are a lot more intricate than what comes on the surface. Know your students.”

If you are looking to get involved with the Poetry and Meaningful Writing Club, you can follow them on Instagram at @augsburg_pmwc. They will be updating information on future meetings and events there, so give them a follow!