‘Cruel April’ poetry series at The Warehouse highlights established and emerging artists

T.S. Eliot captures Syracuse’s weather in his poem “The Waste Land,” writing: “April is the cruellest month, breeding the lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.”

The verse inspired the “Cruel April” poetry series, hosted by the Point of Contact Gallery in celebration of National Poetry Month. The event will feature performances by the poets in the newest volume of “Corresponding Voices,” a bilingual poetry journal published by the gallery. Five poets will be featured and, for the first time, the event series will include a video installation to complement one of the artist’s work.

The poetry readings take place every Thursday in April at Point of Contact, located in the Nancy Cantor Warehouse on West Fayette Street. The weekly events, which are free and open to the public, all start at 6 p.m. and consist of the reading followed by a reception.

Tere Paniagua, executive director of Point of Contact, said the event series is meant to provide a showcase for poets and bring together the local and Syracuse University communities. She said an important aspect of the series is to include a combination of established and emerging voices.

“The nature of the program really goes beyond (the words diversity and inclusion) and tries to capture a variety of experiences,” she said.

Paniagua said she looks forward to the program every year. She added that it’s a way for attendees to encounter new poetry and engage further with the Syracuse community.

Noel Quiñones performed at the Point of Contact poetry event last Thursday.
Hieu Nguyen | Asst. Photo Editor

Last Thursday, Noel Quiñones, a poet and performer from the Bronx, performed at Point of Contact. His previous performances have been showcased on the Huffington Post, Latina Magazine, Medium and elsewhere, and he’s the founder of a Bronx-based arts organization called Project X that provides the area with community programming. Quiñones was recently named one of New York state’s 40 Under 40 Rising Latino Stars.

Rohan Chhetri and Jessica Scicchitano are slated to perform this Thursday, with José Sanjinés performing on April 19. Safia Elhillo will close out the event series April 26. The Daily Orange spoke with each upcoming poet about their work and what drives them to write.

Jessica Scicchitano

Scicchitano was sitting in an SU classroom when her professor asked her MFA second-year workshop: “What hurt you into poetry?” She recalled being moved by the question and said that it solidified her path as a poet.

“I always return to the shock of the question,” she said. “As a writer, I hope I am able to work through some crucial moment I can no longer reach.”

Born and raised in Syracuse, Scicchitano had always enjoyed writing but only began focusing on her passion in college. One of her undergraduate professors said that while her essays “sounded awkward,” she possessed “strong poetic insight.”

Since graduating from SU’s MFA creative writing program, Scicchitano has authored the book “Dear Bucolic Landscape” and has appeared in a number of literary magazines.

Through it all, poetry is a way for Scicchitano to connect with herself while having the bonus of connecting with others along the way.

“Creative writing is a form of communication I feel most fluent in,” she said. “A mixture of honestly, narrative and a completely souped-up dream world.”

Rohan Chhetri

Chhetri said he loves poetry because it’s a way of talking to the world.

“For me, it is about working certain problems of the human condition on paper,” he said, “and avoiding easy answers and singular interpretations. I like the ambiguity that poetry embodies.”

Chhetri, who is from India, is a third-year MFA poetry student at SU. He’s published two books: “Slow Startle” and “Jurassic Desire.” Though he has written in a number of styles, he said poetry is the most complex.

Inspired by Indian and Nepali culture, Chhetri said a lot of his writing revolves around love, death and political violence and typically follows a narrative form. He is also influenced by classics such as Homer’s “The Iliad” and Albert’s “The Metamorphosis.”

Chhetri said he plans to read a variety of his poems, and he hopes to engage with young poets. For him, the most important thing an emerging poet can do is attend poetry events and “read as much as possible.”

José Sanjinés

Sanjinés began his academic career in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications but moved into the MFA program. He said most of his poetic influences stem from his time at SU — which lasted nearly a decade — and from Latin American literary figures.

“Any poet knows that life is what leads us to write,” he said.

Sanjinés now teaches communication, media and culture at Coastal Carolina University and has written a number of poetry collections and novels. He said his background in poetry has helped him develop a love for language, which in turn influences his relationships with students.

Metaphysical elements are a common theme in his work. Though he doesn’t have a particular favorite poet, Sanjinés said he draws from Latin American poetry and from T.S. Eliot.

He said audience members attending his “Cruel April” event should “expect the unexpected,” and come in with an open mind, whether they believe they enjoy poetry or not.

“I see art and poetry as their own form of communication,” Sanjinés said, “and the artistic expression of communication should not be forgotten.”

Safia Elhillo

Elhillo’s grandfather and aunt were both poets, so creative writing seemed like a natural career path for her.

“It always felt like an understood way of expressing myself,” she said. “I think it’s a great way to record the times we live in and to envision the world we want.”

Elhillo got her poetic start doing slam poetry, co-founding the group “Slam! at NYU” and coaching the D.C. Youth Poetry Slam Team, but she said she doesn’t entirely define her work as slam. To her, slam poetry is often a throwaway term when referring to poets of color instead of a term used to describe artists participating in a slam competition, which is a spoken word poetry contest scored by a panel of judges.

“I am grateful to slam and all it has taught me and all it’s given me,” she said. “But I still bristle a little bit at the term ‘slam poet’ because it doesn’t feel accurate.”

Elhillo has appeared in numerous publications and written her own book, “The January Children,” which she plans to read excerpts of during the “Cruel April” event. She said her work is fairly autobiographical, but it won’t be a straightforward recount of her past.

“I’m in the school of thought that everything that has happened to you belongs to you,” she said. “But I try to use my past experiences as a starting point and get weird from there.”