Wayne State College brought in renowned spoken word poet Carlos Andrés Gómez to perform some of his poems in the lower cafeteria in the student center on Sept. 13. People can get integrated into the world of poetry in a variety of different ways. For Gómez it was a speaker at his school.

“Martin Espada read his poems at my high school, and I have been in love ever since,” Gómez said.

It took about a year to actually start sharing his poetry, but once he did, he just never stopped. Gómez has been touring and writing poetry for over 20 years.

Gómez is on tour primarily during the school year, about seven months at a time. The time that he is on the road is pretty hectic, he said. When he is not on the road, he is a stay-at-home father.

“I’ve been touring for long enough that when I’m off stage I don’t miss performing, I am just having fun and living life,” Gómez said.

According to Gómez, the reason he loves poetry is because the opportunity to connect with people is amazing and his favorite part of the experience. This shows through the common thread with all of his poems is personal narrative. Often his poems are based off of his real-life experiences, using poetically crafted metaphors and his personal narrative. He feels that is what people think of when they read his work.

His inspiration for his poetry varies, but the biggest inspiration is important concepts that are often overlooked.

“My writing process is that I take notes in a notebook, I cut and pace and eventually I just have a poem,” Gómez said. “The ideas digest for a while, and come out in one shot and then revise from there.”

Gómez struggles with writing when he is busy on the road. He has commission writing which can be a challenge that comes with ups and downs, his writing struggles comes in waves.

Gómez was invited by Pammy Levinson, the student activities coordinator and, Edi Hernandez, the international and multicultural programs coordinator at WSC. They found him through the National Association for College Activities and they reached him from there. They both said it was a very simple and easy process.

“I wanted to bring in Gómez because he talks about social identity, and told more of a narrative style and not just a lecture,” Hernandez said.

According to Levinson, the event was a success and Gómez had an engaging crowd which helps tremendously.

There were quite a few people that talked to him afterward and the students seemed to enjoy who was brought in, which is always a gamble. Gómez’s performance is just the beginning of many more future events that are going to be held in the basement of the student center.

“Now that the stage is down there in the lower cafeteria and there are performers traveling, the goal is to have more events down there and have a variety to engage everyone,” Levinson said. “We want small coffee house style performances, low-key, chill and not intrusive to Cat’s Corner.”

SAB’s goal is to have a monthly event, but, because of contracting and other complications with the ongoing pandemic, it still might be every other month.

If students would like to contact Gómez or learn more he is on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube. He also has a website for further information: carloslive.com