Students express soul through poetry

The Baptist Student Union hosted their first annual “Spoken from the Soul” poetry night at the T.J. Jemison Baptist Center Friday. The night consisted of soulful poems and soothing music by the student performers who participated.
This is the Baptist Student Union’s first event outside of their mid-day luncheons on Tuesdays and 7 p.m. bible studies on Thursdays.
“We are relatively unknown around campus and this was one of the ways that we thought of to let people know about us.” said Michelle Mitchell, a junior business marketing major from Memphis, Tenn. and vice-president of the Baptist Student Union.
“Not many people even know where the center is located and Southern University is the only Historically Black College that has a center specifically for the use of the students so we felt that this would bring more people here.”
Mitchell also read a poem that “was about a person who was very close and very special to me and this poem was my way of letting them know how I felt.”
Alfred Moore, a junior mass communications major from Baton Rouge, was a participant in the event that night.
“I originally came for a class but I’m glad it turned out the way it did because I felt that everyone really gave their all in their performance.” Moore said about the event.
Moore recited an original poem entitled “These Dreams.”
“We have dreams, we have visions, we have things we want to accomplish and this poem was about never forgetting the things you want to accomplish and holding on to that.”
Edward Staten, a sophomore secondary education major from Chicago Heights, Ill., and president of the Baptist Student Union kept the audience entertained in between performances with his unique sense of humor, saying that performing makes him happy and that he enjoys being in front of people entertaining them and making them laugh. Staten also added to the questions about getting the Baptist Student Union more known around campus,
“I want to arrest the current mindset of students and faculty by introducing and implementing a fresh and innovative way to approach academics through a spiritual and personal relationship with God.”
The poems read moved many of the audience members and surprised a few who came to hear from friends.
Jason Wright, a junior mass communications major, came to support his friend Henry Watson who read poetry during the event. Wright said he was very surprised by his friend’s love poem and never knew that he could express himself in such a way.
When asked how the theme “Spoken from the Soul” formulated vice-president Mitchell added “I feel that poetry is an expression of who you are and how you feel deep down inside which makes them words spoken from the soul.”