Affrilachian poets share words
April 16, 2015
By Maris Halpern
On Wednesday, the Affilachian Poets granted students the gift of their thoughts with a poetry reading.
The event was located in William T. Young Library. Five poets read, the first of whom was Bernard Clay.
Clay performed five poetry readings, which focused on nature and how the natural world connected with his work and life.
“Bernard was my favorite of the night because he was funny and his poetry was interesting,” said Chris Best, a community leadership development senior.
As the show went on, the audience became more vocal and excited for each of the next poems.
Jude Mcpherson performed four poems for his section, and his main focus was talking about race and the state of Kentucky.
The third poet was Bianca Spriggs, who wrote about science fiction and time travel.
Ricardo Nazario-Colon described growing up in Kentucky and related it to his day-to-day life.
The final poet of the night was University of Kentucky professor, Frank X Walker. He explained how the University has given him so many opportunities and has helped his poetry.
He preformed seven poems, mainly about Kentucky with a focus on basketball in some.
Racism was another factor in his poems and how it is displayed in today’s society.
Adam Ross, an English senior, attended to support his friend, Spriggs, as well as his English 407 professor, Walker.
“The discussion on Kentucky and Kentucky stories is very interesting, and the way they use the oral history when the poets speak (is) plain and simple,” Ross said.
