By: Michelle Thompson

Students of various foreign language courses participated in a poetry reading on Thursday, Nov. 2, in the Slep Student Center.

The poems were recited in German, French, Russian, and Spanish by students wishing to receive extra credit points in their level 1, level 2, or level 3 courses. The poems could be readings of famous foreign language poetry, translations of famous American poetry, or original works by the students, but there were two rules: they couldn’t be in English, and they had to have a generally “spooky” theme.

Many of the poems told stories of zombies or skeletons rising from the dead, while others explored darker themes such as contemplating what happens to one’s soul after death.

Some students got creative with their presentations and used visual props. Russian 3 student Joseph Lent did a theatrical recitation of propaganda poetry from a Russian soldier speaking about the Holocaust, a German 3 student brought in his guitar and sang his poem, and a group of German 1 students had a classmate dress up and act out the poem as it was being recited.

Russian

German

French

The audience may not have always been able to understand what the poets were saying, but it still made for an out-of-the-ordinary and sufficiently “spooky” event … and the free pizza didn’t hurt either.