Poetry to Your Ears: Live Poets Society Takes to the Airwaves

Editor's note: Bloomfield College Beat is a weekly feature written by BC students focusing on life on campus. This week's column is written by Rosa Salamea, a senior communications-broadcast journalism major.

Three windows provide a mist of natural light, as the members of the Live Poets Society (LPS) sit in meditation, attentively listening to poetic lines coming from the lips of a reader. One of the member’s 14-month-old daughter giggles in delight, fingers snap, and the vuvuzela is offered to another member.

LPS is a home away from home for many Bloomfield College students. It is a niche for creativity to blossom and a place to experience unconditional acceptance while strengthening individual writing talents. Anthony Davis, a senior creative writing major described the club’s diversity as being composed of “many different religious views, sexual orientations and political standpoints.”

LPS is a student-run organization created in September 2010 by two Bloomfield College students, senior English major Paul LaTorre and sophomore creative writing major Lingstu Hung.

“After a reading at the Deacon’s Den, we were discussing our philosophies when it comes to what we want to achieve through our writing and decided that this campus just doesn’t have enough poetry," said LaTorre. "Fueled by the passion and interest of other friends of ours, we held our first few random poetry-sharing sessions."

If you watched the 2010 South African FIFA World Cup games, then you should be familiar with the vuvuzela - the loud, two-foot-long horn-like instrument. During LPS’s meetings, the "vuvu" is used to regain focus from brief distractions.

“Think of it as a totem around a bonfire in a native indigenous culture. Whoever’s holding it is to be listened to and respected,” said LaTorre.

There are two additional tools which prove to be crucial vessels of expression for aspiring poets - social media and the Internet. Popular sites such as Facebook and Tumblr are being used to showcase poems, leave records of constructive criticism and receive general feedback.

This organization is making good use of the numerous resources Bloomfield College’s campus provides its students.

While at WBCR, Bloomfield College’s online-based radio station, LPS members have the opportunity to broadcast their poems and share them with their community. Some poems begin in song while others are akin to the spoken word.

“My favorite part of reading at the station is the walk from Seibert Hall to the station," said Jose Lamour, a junior creative arts and technology major. "It feels like LPS is an army of poets marching for a cause. It’s always fun."

For Nick Paleologos, a junior broadcast journalism major that serves as host of LPS’s hour-long radio show, his experience is preparing him for his future aspirations as a sports broadcaster. 

“Professionally, it lets me see how I interact with other people as opposed to my other radio show where I work solo,” said Paleologos.

Regarding new members, LaTorre said, “We don’t discriminate or deny anyone who’d ever like to join or just come hang for a session or two.”

New members can look forward to an upcoming trip to Nuyorican Poets Café and an al fresco open-mic session on the steps of Talbott Hall.

On February 25, LPS will be performing at the Bloomfield College Educational Opportunity Fund-sponsored Second Annual Musically Defined Speak Easy event, starting at 6 p.m. in the Deacon’s Den. Admission is free.

Meetings for LPS' live broadcast at WBCR are held Tuesdays at 2 p.m. at Seibert Hall in Room 11 and at 3 p.m. at the radio station in Talbott Hall. For online streaming of the LPS' radio show, visit Bloomfield College’s homepage on Tuesdays at 3 p.m., click on "Academics" and scroll down to the WBCR link.