From April 17 to May 10, Central Oregon Community College celebrates National Poetry Month with free events open to the public. Award-winning Oregon Poet Laureate Anis Mojgani joins COCC to spread the love for poetry and host events at the COCC Bend campus.
Kicking off the month-long celebration, COCC faculty and students will lead three "Be Your Voice" workshops. On Monday, April 17 at COCC Redmond campus' Technology Education Center, "Share a Poem, Write a Poem" will be held from 3:15-4:15pm. An online version of the workshop takes place on Thursday, April 27 from 1-2pm, and the public can register online. On Tuesday, April 25 at COCC Bend campus' Multicultural Center, "Healing Through Poetry" will be held from 3:30-5pm.
On Friday, May 5 from 5-7pm, COCC invites poets of all ages and experience levels to participate in the Poetry Slam in the Hitchcock Auditorium, hosted by The LGBTQ+ and Friends club on campus. The theme is "Be the Voice You Wish to Hear," and people can register in advance for one of the 20 spots on COCC's website.
"The slam will be divided into four rounds; each poet will compete with the other poets in their round and the top voted poet wins," according to the registration page.
Mojgani hosts a writing workshop on Wednesday, May 10 in Wille Hall from 4-5:05pm. Following the workshop, people are invited to mingle and enjoy appetizers at a short social before the 5:30pm performance by Mojgani. The events will be livestreamed to the college's Redmond, Prineville and Madras campuses.
"Mojgani is a two-time National Poetry Slam champion and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam... A trained comic book artist, he has published five books of poetry, had his work featured on HBO and National Public Radio, and designed commissions for the Getty Museum and Peabody Essex Museum," according to the COCC press release.
