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Poetry From the Streets

Picture from the Spoken Word Event in Downtown Riverside, CA


I had the most amazing night on Thursday at this Spoken Word event held in downtown Riverside, CA. On a cool and breezy California night, about a dozen male and female artists took their turn at the microphone and serenaded us with their poetry from  a second story balcony on the Culver Center of the Arts building. The selection of artists were as varied as their topics, from booty calls, to Arizona laws, to the art of writing. A good size crowd gathered below to watch, listen and be inspired. I felt surrounded by the common element that united each of us in that moment, our love for the written word. I looked around the supportive crowd of young and old, and breathed it all in to channel as a source of creative inspiration for later use. I couldn't have felt more at home.

Verbal Coliseum Spoken Word is part of a countdown series to the Culver Center of the Arts Gala Opening. For the next 5 months, on the first Thursday of the month, poets, rappers, and/or dance artist come out to perform from 7-9pm for this free event.

The May 6 performance featured HBO Def Poets, Joe Hernandez-Kolski (aka Pocho Joe) and Besskepp (Cory Cofer), along with local poets, MCs, soap boxers, and rhyme-sayers. Busdriver Experimental Hip Hop is headlining the June 3 event.

Countdown to Culver
June 3, July 1, August 5, September 2, October 7
7-9 PM FREE
3834 Main Street (Downtown)
Riverside, CA 92507
www.culvercenter.ucr.edu
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Comments

  1. Countdown to CulverMay 8, 2010 at 1:22 PM

    Thanks for writing this Sofia, and we're glad you enjoyed the event. Hope to see you at the June 3rd performance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LibbieMay 12, 2010 at 8:53 AM

    That sounds like a pretty cool night!

    ReplyDelete
  3. A Girl Named EveMay 12, 2010 at 3:47 PM

    It was! I'm relatively new to poetry so I thought it was all pretty cool and different. The artistic types are very different than the techies I work with.

    ReplyDelete

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