The lights of the stylish little bookstore flickered, then grew dim. The last of the audience shuffled into rows of mismatched chairs. A synthesizer sounded and a man sat on a stool before the crowd, blowing up a paper bag.
POP! The explosion of the bag ruptured the silence.
"We want lights!" he cheered. The lights came on. And so began the promotional poetry reading for Name magazine last Thursday night in Rust Belt Books. The event included three acts.
Name, founded by UB students in 1999, features poetic works from students and local community members.
Name editors Jessica Smith and Jeff Burghauser said before the readings that the performances were to be largely based on experimental poetry, like the magazine, and far from the bongo-drumming, finger-snapping events commonly associated with modern poetry readings.
The first act was composed of two performances by Brett Mastler, Ric Royer, co-creator of poetry-magazine Ferrum Wheel, and Adam Caccamise.
The presentations were full of many different sound effects and props, including synthesized sounds, samples, a megaphone, crinkling newspaper, a "speaking-tube" and accordion paper. The cacophony occasionally masked the poets' words, but the expressiveness of their faces, levels of their voices, and way in which they moved made their points crystal clear.
Into his gold-painted speaking-tube, Royer ominously sang and screamed in repetition, "It's waiting inside of your head," while the audience sat in absolute silence.
A couple of minutes later, however, they were again faced with the back-and-forth of the synthesizer, the popping of the paper bag, and the cheer of "We want lights!"
The audience grinned in amusement at the three men before them, finding that there was indeed a motivation for the poets beyond making their poetic "point": they were simply there to have a good time.
Terry Cuddy performed the second act, which was more of a game with the audience than a poetry reading. He handed out imaginary Bingo boards and chips to everyone in the audience, called out numbers and offering irrelevant advice to its holder.
Between hunting for the chip that had been called out and listening to the advice that he was giving, Cuddy's performance had the audience in hysterics.
After a brief cigarette break, the third and final poet stepped to the front, Eric Gelsinger. He has devoted his whole life to poetry; he does not go to school, he does not work, he simply writes.
Gelsinger read 11 of his poems to the audience, and while his physical performance was the most simple of the three, his words were provocative, genuine and unconventional.
His poetry has dream-like titles such as "Flute," "At the Breakfast Table After Bedtime," "Stroll" and "The Butterfly Palace."
Some of his lines were humorous, such as "I throw eggs at myself all of the time." Others were sincere, "I just want everyone to love me. I don't want to name names." While others still demand contemplation, "Believe as in 'Alice in Wonderland.' It isn't that great of a book, but it's real."
Royer described Gelsinger's works as "surrealistic, quasi-epic poetry."
Smith was a sophomore when she founded Name in 1999.
She and several of her friends were great lovers of poetry and, with the decline of Atmosphere, UB's former poetry magazine, they felt there needed to be another venue for UB poets.
Name's next edition will be released on April 5, and will be professionally bound for the first time.
"We're really excited," Burghauser said. "This is going to be the first proper journal of poetry from the university's highest caliber writers."
Rust Belt Books will also be hosting a "silent reading" on Feb. 26. Come armed with poetry, "It's waiting inside of your head."
