La Bruquena

After seeing the performance poetry in class and listening to the performances at La Bruquena, it helped me gain a new appreciation for poetry. I never had much of an interest in poetry, because it seems that I can’t follow the same train of thought throughout the piece and it is hard for me to be fully engaged in the work, but the poetry at La Bruquena grabbed my attention much easier. I like how a lot of the poets work told stories. I especially enjoyed the first poet that the guild selected to perform. Her first piece she spoke in Spanish, and I wasn’t able to follow the meaning as well. But, listening to her change her tonality from her regular speaking voice into her poetry mode, it gave me a new appreciation for live performance. Although I couldn’t understand her well, I could tell the mood she was trying to evoke, which made the performance really powerful. Secondly, Her poem about her journey through her illness was really captivating. She used a lot of great descriptive words that transferred her uncomfortable encounters with this illness straight to the audience. Her story was very easy for me to follow. This is quite possibly one of the first poems that I actually felt fully tuned in to. The mood of her poem seemed reflected by the audience perfectly.

            The second poet of the night also really surprised me. This woman looked very classy and put together with her white turtleneck and tasteful jewelry. When she started performing her piece, she had a very ghetto, loud quality to her voice that really took me by surprise. Her words flowed really well together while making the language make sense to a general audience. A lot of her subject matter had to deal with being a struggling mother. By her presence as a well put together woman, you wouldn’t pin her to be one that struggles with such matters. She performed a piece about the clothing choice for her daughter, and how careful she must be in today’s day and age with how much skin she shows, even as a grade school girl. This tied together her appearance and the performance really well. She had on a turtleneck and dressed fairly conservatively, which contradicted her tonality and attidude to me. But after hearing her piece on how the world views women, it all came together for me.

            Overall I think the guild did a fantastic job picking the poets for the event. Both performers were really captivating and enjoyable to listen to. Also, I’m glad that they opened up the mic to other performers. It was good to see poetry at all different levels. It made it more relatable of a medium to me. The event overall gaveopened my eyes to all different kinds of poetry and gave me a better appreciation for the art form.