Courtesy Photo Slam poet Molly Sroges is a regular at readings in Eureka Springs and Fayetteville, and will be this month’s featured poet for the Ozark Poets and Writers Collective at Nightbird Books on Tuesday, June 28.
She might be young, but she’s already an old pro.
Slam poet Molly Sroges is a regular at readings in Eureka Springs and Fayetteville, so when she takes the mic at the monthly meeting of the Ozark Poets and Writers Collective at Nightbird Books on Tuesday, June 28, expect a polished reader who has no fear of crowds.
“I feel more comfortable on stage than off stage, and I’ve always felt like that,” Sroges said. “Offstage I feel like I’m acting, when I’m onstage, I feel like I’m me. I feel an extreme comfort.”
The June 28 event begins at 7 p.m. and is free to the public. An open mic will take place before and after Sroges is featured.
Inspired by relationships, both romantic and platonic, and by her career as a teacher of English as a Second Language, Sroges will read old fan-favorites as well as more obscure pieces that are not often recited in public. Sroges said she will read at least one poem that has never been heard in public, and might even dust off an old work about Lithuania, her ancestral homeland that she has visited on several occasions.
She has a tentative set list put together, and will tweak it up until her reading Tuesday. Slam poems tend to last around three minutes, so expect 8 to 10 original works over a 30-minute window.
“Poetry is a performing art, so anything I write is performable,” she said.
Sroges moved to Berryville after living for sixteen years in New Mexico, where she was first introduced to slam poetry. She holds a BA in creative writing from UNM and an MA in TESOL from LCC International University.
In 2012, she won the Western Regional Honors Council award for poetry. In 2015, she competed in the Southern Fried Poetry Festival as part of the Fayetteville Word Warriors and represented the same team at the Women of the World Poetry Slam. She can be found performing regularly at the Eurekan Human Experience Open Mix and Last Saturday Fayetteville, and occasionally at other venues, such as Wednesday Night Poetry in Hot Springs.
So, what is slam poetry?
“People ask me that a lot,” she said, and explained that the form is an admixture of spoken word, performance poetry, and slam.
As a general rule, slam poetry is written for competition. But claiming titles is not Sroges’ only interest.
“At a local slam, my goal is not necessarily to win, but to share my poetry,” she said. “It’s not important that it scores well.”
Ozark Poets and Writers Collective Reading
What: A featured reading by Molly Sroges, followed by an open mic
Where: Nightbird Books, 205 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville
Slam Poet Ready For Nightbird Reading
Courtesy Photo Slam poet Molly Sroges is a regular at readings in Eureka Springs and Fayetteville, and will be this month’s featured poet for the Ozark Poets and Writers Collective at Nightbird Books on Tuesday, June 28.
She might be young, but she’s already an old pro.
Slam poet Molly Sroges is a regular at readings in Eureka Springs and Fayetteville, so when she takes the mic at the monthly meeting of the Ozark Poets and Writers Collective at Nightbird Books on Tuesday, June 28, expect a polished reader who has no fear of crowds.
“I feel more comfortable on stage than off stage, and I’ve always felt like that,” Sroges said. “Offstage I feel like I’m acting, when I’m onstage, I feel like I’m me. I feel an extreme comfort.”
The June 28 event begins at 7 p.m. and is free to the public. An open mic will take place before and after Sroges is featured.
Inspired by relationships, both romantic and platonic, and by her career as a teacher of English as a Second Language, Sroges will read old fan-favorites as well as more obscure pieces that are not often recited in public. Sroges said she will read at least one poem that has never been heard in public, and might even dust off an old work about Lithuania, her ancestral homeland that she has visited on several occasions.
She has a tentative set list put together, and will tweak it up until her reading Tuesday. Slam poems tend to last around three minutes, so expect 8 to 10 original works over a 30-minute window.
“Poetry is a performing art, so anything I write is performable,” she said.
Sroges moved to Berryville after living for sixteen years in New Mexico, where she was first introduced to slam poetry. She holds a BA in creative writing from UNM and an MA in TESOL from LCC International University.
In 2012, she won the Western Regional Honors Council award for poetry. In 2015, she competed in the Southern Fried Poetry Festival as part of the Fayetteville Word Warriors and represented the same team at the Women of the World Poetry Slam. She can be found performing regularly at the Eurekan Human Experience Open Mix and Last Saturday Fayetteville, and occasionally at other venues, such as Wednesday Night Poetry in Hot Springs.
So, what is slam poetry?
“People ask me that a lot,” she said, and explained that the form is an admixture of spoken word, performance poetry, and slam.
As a general rule, slam poetry is written for competition. But claiming titles is not Sroges’ only interest.
“At a local slam, my goal is not necessarily to win, but to share my poetry,” she said. “It’s not important that it scores well.”
Ozark Poets and Writers Collective Reading
What: A featured reading by Molly Sroges, followed by an open mic
Where: Nightbird Books, 205 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville
When: 7 p.m., Tuesday, June 28
How Much: Free to the public