The language barrier was broken for one night as people gathered in the International Resource Center on Thursday to hear poetry read in several different languages during the IRC’s Global Fusion.
The poetry night went from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. with about 50 audience members present to hear the 21 poems on the program. The lineup included 18 different languages, ranging from Provincial Old English to Sanskrit.
“We sat down this year and made a list of languages and tried to include those that weren’t as common,” said Katie Reed, the IRC’s assistant program manager. “We like to make sure we have a variety of languages.”
The poems were all read in their original languages, and an English translation was displayed for the audience members to follow .
“The idea is that the people read the poetry in the language it was written,” IRC Coordinator Anne Williams said. “The language itself has a beauty and rhythm that is a kind of natural music.”
There was not a theme for the night’s poems, but all of the performers seemed to share a common goal.
“I was excited to share a little bit of my culture in this way,” said Sabina Urdes, an 18-year-old, pre-journalism student who emigrated to the United States from
Constantza, Romania.
In its third year, the annual program continued the tradition of opening up the microphone to any volunteers, something that always results in surprises.
“We have had some absolutely cool stuff happen, just spur of the moment,” Williams said.
This year was no different. One poem in the program went unread because of the performer’s absence and a member of the audience who spoke Swahili stepped in and read it completely unrehearsed.
The international poetry reading was started in response to the work of University English professor James Earl. Earl, along with some of his colleagues at the University, compiled an anthology of world literature and later recorded a compact disk that featured poetry in 20 different languages.
“(Earl) and some other colleagues had put out this anthology of world poetry, and it was suggested to us that maybe we’d like to do something with it,” Williams said. “He was really excited about it and he helped us greatly the first year in putting it together.” Earl was the moderator that year and has continued to play this role ever since.
Earl’s work may have inspired the event, but Williams was quick to point out that the students who work for the IRC put a lot of energy into getting the event together every year.
“I have the hardest working staff on campus, hands down,” Williams said.
While there was not a designated theme for the night, much of this year’s selection of poetry heavily reflected the current climate of international politics.
“Tonight was just crackling with intensity. The poems really show what is on the international students’ minds,” Earl said. “I imagine if you would have called a night like this back in 1946, you would have had the same type of feeling.”

Kirk McGuire is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald