Poems, PJs, and So Much More

By: Meghan Rakus & Tyler Mulholland-Gain

The Halloween season has come to a close, and with it, Holy Family’s All Hallow’s Eve Poetry Slam has come to pass. The event served as a collaboration between the School of Arts and Sciences and the Library and took place in the Library’s first floor on October 30.

Several students and faculty members took part in the hour-long reading session, sharing poems and short stories. Some were original works written by the contributors, others were existing works written by renowned poets such as Edgar Allen Poe. Those who attended provided a festive atmosphere to celebrate Halloween, as some dressed in their Halloween costumes and others in their comfy PJ’s for Pajama Day.

The event involved not only literature, but food and prizes as well. Pizza was served to everyone who came, and the readers were rewarded with a Dunkin Donuts gift card or an Edgar Allen Poe coffee mug.  As a whole, the event served as a perfect close to the Halloween season at Holy Family University.

The finale was delivered by Holy Family’s Director of Experiential Learning, Angela Cutchineal, with her emotional take on Poe’s The Raven. Dressed in dark Halloween colors, embodying the spirit and tone of the poem, Cutchineal stood up and spoke the poem with power and confidence, having memorized the poem in its nine-minute entirety. The performance carried much emotional weight, as it was all in dedication to her mother who passed away.

“My mother, named Lenora, was the most important person to me,” Cutchineal said. “It was like she was more than family, more than best friends. After she passed away in 2014 at age 55, I turned to Poe’s Raven for support. There was nothing else I could do that calmed me. My mom loved that poem. She had the Vincent Price version on VHS that she would watch when I was little. The Raven allowed me to be close to her.”