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On Sunday evening, Mic Check will host its annual “Anything But Love” poetry slam, proving that not everyone is anticipating the colossal teddy bears and overpriced floral arrangements traditionally associated with the Feb. 14 holiday.
Although Valentine’s Day is customarily viewed as a day full of joy and love, Aleenah Spencer, Mic Check member, said Sunday’s poetry slam will convey just the opposite.
During Sunday’s poetry slam, audience members will choose any word to replace the word “love” in the poets’ pieces. In the past, it has been words like “waffle” and “spaceship.”
Madison Parker, Mic Check president, said if she were to replace the word “love” in the English language, she wouldn’t choose a word.
“I would make a noise ,because you don’t always convey love with words — sometimes it’s a touch or a look or something else,” Parker said.
English sophomore and Mic Check member Jordan Cooley said replacing “love” with the word “eat” would adequately portray the true meaning of love.
“Whenever you look at love and whenever you look at someone in a relationship, it’s kind of like you’re consuming that person,” Cooley said. “You’re consuming who they are, what they do, and what they are, and that inherently contributes to who you are.”
Spencer said despite differing opinions of Valentine’s Day, there are ways for everybody to be satisfied.
“I feel like everyone’s kind of happy on that day,” Spencer said. “If they’re not happy, they’re happy because they’re single and eating ice cream.”
Cooley said it’s a little too much for her.
“I think that it definitely has a lot of fanfare and I think it is overly touted with people and things,” Cooley said. “People put too much stress on it.”
Parker said Mic Check doesn’t necessarily reject Valentine’s Day, it really just gives a different perspective on the day.
Spencer said the Anything But Love poetry slam is a good way to spend Valentine’s Day, whether it’s with your friends, significant others or alone.
“It’s a fun time to be alone with a lot of people, because you’re not really alone,” Spencer said. “Especially at Mic Check, because a lot of people share really deep feelings when they’re on stage so it kind of connects a lot of people in the audience on a different level than what they thought.”