The Hot Springs poetry family finally reunited for an in-person Wednesday Night Poetry last week, with local poets reflecting on the past year and celebrating getting to see each other again.
"It felt really good, like a reunion," Kai Coggin, host of WNP, said.
"I felt like I was on a cloud all night," she said, adding that even when she got home from the show she still felt like she was floating.
After 65 weeks of virtual WNP, around 25 people gathered at Kollective Coffee+Tea for their first live show since COVID-19 hit. Over three hours around 17 poets, including Coggin and featured poet Elmer Beard, performed.
Coggin said it felt like they were "picking up right were we left off." The crowd was largely WNP regulars, which she was happy about, she said, noting, "I love that it wasn't a bunch of new people, it was like family."
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The first poet to perform was Coggin, who recited a poem of hers about 2020. Coggin said she wanted to open with that poem so the people there could remember where they have been and what they have been through in order to get back to WNP.
"Poetry is such a beautiful vehicle for healing," Coggin said, which is "why I read the poem I read, (to) remember 2020 and the lessons we learned."
Coggin said getting to perform in front of the crowd "felt really great. It's a different energy than just reading on a computer." She said that in person, she can "feel when the audience is listening and engaged."
Prior to Beard, there was an open mic for anybody who wanted to speak. Mona Siddiqi was the first poet to hit the stage, and she shared a poem about how COVID-19 was the second pandemic she had survived in her life after a smallpox outbreak in her childhood.
Coggin said she enjoyed getting to hear this story, calling it a "true testament to survival."
"Just hearing Mona's story that she'd been through a pandemic as a baby, it was incredible," Coggin said.
All of the performers did a good job, she said, and while there were somber elements of the night, it was an upbeat event.
"We're joyful, we're happy, we're supportive," Coggin said of WNP.
"It's the energy that has kept Wednesday Night Poetry going," she said, noting the program is "rooted in love."
Coggin said she spent the night trying to keep the crowd entertained and in a good mood, from leading the audience in singing the chorus of "Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus and Chaka Kan, to having fun while disinfecting the microphone between performances.
"I'm really happy with how last night went," Coggin said.
WNP will continue to be held in person at Kollective moving forward, and on the second Wednesday will also feature a second, virtual WNP so that the large crowd of out of town poets the virtual shows attracted will continue to be a part of the WNP family.
