Poetry Night: Austin Smith
Austin Smith's poems were incredible. His diction was descriptive, his language was colorful, and he had some odd morbid twists. My poem was one which name I cannot recall. It was one of the only humorous ones I remembered. THis poem was a personal experience he had while traveling on a greyhound bus across state. He read us his work and described the different passengers on the bus. Next to him was an old lady losing patience and other people around was a lady with turrets, a grumpy man, and another lady who insisted the man behind her was pleasuring himself.
Everyone in the crowd was bursting of laughter as we have all had those hilarious but frustrating and uncomfortable moments. Austin was descriptive yet blunt. His comments about the man masturbating was to the point. He even put in a couple of quotes that the lady with turrets was yelling. His language made it easy to visualize the setting and created an environment where the audience could experience what he did when he was on the bus. For example when he told us the lady with turrets “blurted out” nonsense and how this caused a reaction in the lady next to him t get frustrated and make angry comments, it was just a crazy and humorous situation. I felt like all of his poems ended very suddenly with a BAM finish that would leave the audience tin thought. All of his poems were incredible, especially the one about his imaginary sister. If he had not told us he did not have a sister, I would have sworn she actually existed. He was descriptiv of her gold hair and stubborn and independent family, Austin even described how she had effect on the family and parents. It was a sad ending to hear why she was living with a mediocre man in a worn out situation. I wondered why he ended many of his poems so desperately. It was skillful yet sad. I would enjoy buying a book of his and reading those poems on my own. They really got to me. It was definitely worth going.
