Monday Poets Features Creative Writing Alumni

On a rainy, cold night, attendees gathered in the warmth of Parkway Central Library to listen to poetry by UArts alumni at the Free Library’s Monday Poets series. Monday Poets is in its 24th year and features both local and national poets. Creative Writing Program Director Zach Savich was invited to read at the event and chose three alumni of the program to join him: Amy Jannotti BFA ’19, Glorious Piner BFA ’19 and Hazel the Aura BFA ’19. “[The alumni’s] poetry is inspiring. It makes me want to write and think better,” Savich told the audience. 

Jannotti began with a reading of her poem “The Holy Ghost of Perpetual Adoration,” which was published in Charge magazine. Her reading wove together sung and spoken phrases to create an almost folkloric sound. Jannotti was inspired by the art installation “Poorly Watched Girls” by artist Suzanne Bocanegra, which highlights “the ways that our popular entertainments theatricalize women in trouble.” Each part of the poem tackles a different aspect of the instillation and was written after Jannotti attended the exhibit as a way to synthesize her thoughts. 

Piner took the stage next, an organizer for Paperback Poetry Festival and its literary journal, which is a yearly poetry festival “engaged in bringing together disparate parts of the poetry community.” She chose to read both recent poetry and poetry from her senior thesis. “Poetry is so asynchronous,” she said, “... it feels like I wrote these ages ago.” Piner told the audience that her poetry was inspired by Claudia Rankine and Toni Morrison, and ended the reading with an emotional elegy for Morrison. 

A repetition of noises created a melodic backdrop for Hazel the Aura to read poetry from her debut chapbook, Next Hood Over, which will be published by ToHo Journal in 2020 and celebrates the “voices, rhythms and language of her neighborhood.” Hazel the Aura read poems that invoke moments from her life that have impacted her, such as a poem about the corner store she visited as a child. 

The event concluded with a Q&A, during which the poets covered topics like favorite musicians, obsessions and open mics in Philly. Hazel the Aura commented that she listened to all kinds of music, but that artists like Cardi B, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and Björk influence her poetry and performance. Jannotti chimed in that she wrote an entire zine listening to the Soap + Skin album that was featured in Netflix’s Dark, while Piner cited 21 Savage, Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby as influences. Piner also cited Savich’s influence on her work, quoting him: “‘You don’t have to write the hardest thing down.’” She added, “If you’re too much in your mind, it obstructs your vision.” 

Learn more about Creative Writing at UArts.