OHIO Graduate Students Organize Speak Up WoMEN Poetry and Music Jam

From left, poets and event organizers Claudia Cisneros and Violeta Orozco

Students, professors, writers and musicians from different ages, countries and walks of life came together in a feminist and new masculinities poetry and music event #SpeakUpWoMEN at Jackie O’s on Sept. 12.

They spoke up against gender violence and in support for the female victims of harassment and abuse at Ohio University and in Athens.

Violeta Orozco and Claudia Cisneros, graduate students in Modern Languages and Scripps School of Journalism, respectively, put together the open mic poetry and music jam event to link Appalachian poets and OHIO poets.

Athens Poet Laureate Kari Gunter Seymour reads her poems at the event.

The event featured Athens poet laureate Kari Gunter Seymour and included eight musicians and 25 poets. OHIO faculty and students from the English and Modern Languages departments read their poems related to their experiences, gender violence, and sexual and psychological abuse.

To endorse this cause, the mayor of Athens, Steve Patterson, read a couple of feminist poems from Diane Wakowski and Marge Piercy.

Orozco and Cisnero’s intention was to create a public forum where these issues could be discussed through the medium of art without censorship or fear of retaliation.

“The time has come to speak for those who have never spoken. It is their voices we need to hear,” said Orozco at the beginning of the event, while Cisneros stated that her recent experience as a victim of domestic violence has been a driving force for the organization of this event.