Can you DIG it?
A group of students and community members came together to read poems on Tuesday night as part of the DIGS Poetry and Open Reading series at DIGS Gastropub on Washington Street.
The event coordinator was Marquette resident Troy Graham, who wanted to share his love for spoken word with Marquette. He explained how the event came to be.
“I’ve been doing the open poetry readings here at DIGS for probably about seven months now,” Graham said. “I just noticed that there wasn’t a whole lot of open poetry readings, or poetry readings at all, being done in Marquette, so I approached DIGS about doing one here, and they were all about it. We’ve been doing them ever since.”
At the readings, faces new and old come together over a brew to share and hear the words of others.
“Something I’m excited for is the continuous new faces that come,” he said. “There’s people, it can be their first poetry night… and there’s people that come to every poetry night… It’s really cool to see the interest of people who want to keep doing it,” Graham said.
Graham shared how reading poetry at a place like DIGS can bring people together.
“The demographic [of the audience] broadens because people could just be sitting here having dinner and we’re here reading poetry,” Graham said. “Poetry is life, and words that create the poetry are the words of people who are living. I write it, and I deal with people who write it, and it’s some of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever had.”
NMU senior English major Ezra Brooks-Planck is a regular at the poetry readings, and he shared how he discovered the event series.
“I know [Graham]. I was just walking by one night. He was just about to come inside [DIGS] to this, so I brought my poems and started getting into it, and I’ve been coming once a month ever since,” Brooks-Planck said.
A sense of community has been created around this monthly event. Brooks-Planck’s shared what attending this event has done for him.
“Personally, I enjoy it because it’s an awesome community. I’ve gotten to know a lot of really cool people through this, and it’s given me more and more opportunities. I think it’s good to have that kind of community fostered. These types of events really help that out,” Brooks-Planck said.
The next poetry night will be held at DIGS Gastropub from 9 to 11 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29.
