On Thursday, MSU students, faculty and alumni gathered at Fuzzy’s Taco Shop for the semesterly event Poetry Slam by the MSU writing center.

Dawn Bond, a teacher assistant in the English Department, opened up the night with an open mic for anyone willing to share their poems.

“Whoever wants to read their poems can,” Bond said. “We set up a calm and relaxed environment.”

Although a few students came to the poetry slam just because some teachers offered extra credit, many more came for the enjoyment of reading and listening to the great poems. The Fuzzy’s party room was standing room only.

One sophomore student, Jonathan Lyne, read his poem titled “My Ideal Girl” so he could get extra credit for his class. His poem was all about a famous rapper. “I just don’t want to marry Nikki Minaj.”

Lyne said the poem took him about 45 minutes to write, so he had been writing poetry for about 45 minutes.

MSU graduate Charis Thomas also shared her poem, “Imprisoned,” which was about a bad break up she experienced.

“Poetry is my thing. I like it and when I heard about it I just had to come,” Thomas said. “I have been writing a really long time but I really started taking it seriously when I was about 15.”

If you’re interested in writing poetry, the Writing Lab has 12 tutors with Kristen Garrison serving as the advisor. The Writing Center helps students with problems they have, English graduate student Rosalie Saenz said.

English graduate student Sarah Leeth said the writing center helps students find patterns of problems to help them become better writers instead of just fixing papers.

The Writing Center plans to put on more functions including NaNoWRIMO November 1st for National Writing Month.

The Writing Center is also open to help all MSU students in Bea Wood 224 Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.- 4 p.m.