Poetry often serves the role of giving a voice to the voiceless and of providing an outlet for expression to those in need. At the Interpersonal Violence Prevention’s (IVP) Poetry Slam on Wednesday night, slam poetry gave a voice to domestic violence victims in front of a small but engrossed crowd in the University Union.

The office of IVP is an on-campus resource that serves to educate university community members about preventing interpersonal violence and mitigating its effects.

Organized by Doris Cheung, case manager and advocate for the office, and Liana Kaplan, her assistant a first-year graduate student studying social work, the event featured works written by or about victims of domestic violence. The eight poems read raised awareness for domestic violence through their emotional stories and vivid imagery. They were meant to inspire hope, concern and sympathy in listeners.

In one poem read titled, “I Got Flowers Today,” by Paulette Kelly, the narrator is abused by her husband who attempts to make up for his violence by giving her flowers the next day. These flowers keep the narrator silent until she is silenced forever. “Today was a special day / It was the day of my funeral,” she wrote. The overarching theme of these poems is to speak out against domestic violence and raise awareness before it is too late for these victims.

Audience members from outside of the University community included social worker Carrie Hyde, representing the RISE Shelter in Endicott. The goal of RISE, as Hyde described, is to help identify the needs of domestic violence victims and how to handle them, as well as to provide shelter services. Also present was A New Hope Center of Owego. This shelter allows victims of domestic violence to stay until they close at 5 p.m. each day. The center also acts as a liaison with law enforcement and provides counseling services.

As part of an activity during the event, Kaplan and Cheung asked the audience to write down responses to three prompts: what the word “healing” means to you, what you would tell a survivor if you could and what you would tell the world if you were a survivor. After writing down responses, the audience was split into groups of three to create poems or paragraphs about domestic violence based on their collective responses. The results were written on a canvas that will be displayed in the Tillman Lobby.

Additionally, the organizers of the event sought to provide a forum for people affected by domestic violence to tell their stories.

“Listening to people’s stories and just letting them know that they’re there for them and believe them … is really important,” Kaplan said.

The organizers also stressed the need to look out for one another.

“The other thing that is really important is to look for signs [that might indicate domestic violence is occurring],” Cheung said.

The final poem, aptly titled “Hope,” ended the night on a positive note, urging victims and survivors to stay strong despite all the hardships they may face.