Sonnets and sweatpants: Perform ‘poetry karaoke’ in your pj’s with Photon Poetry

Think poetry readings are boring? Photon Poetry might change your mind. The donation-based monthly events at the experimental art space The Lab at Stardust strive to push the boundaries of what poetry performances can be.

On Wednesday, Jan. 14, Photon will host a pajama party and “unoriginal” poetry open mic, where participants — dressed in their comfiest pj’s, sweatpants or onesies — can sign up to do dramatic readings of other people’s poems. New media artist John-Mark Collins, founder of The Lab, will augment the readings with video projections.

“I think of it as karaoke but for poetry,” Trae Dahl, Photon organizer, said.

There are no limits or restrictions on what people may read.

“It could be someone you know. It could be a famous poet. It could be Morrissey lyrics, for all I care,” Dahl said. “It’s a really loose definition of poetry. Just as long as you’re not the one who wrote it, I’m OK with that.”

There will be chairs, but visitors are invited to bring pillows, in keeping with the pajama party theme.

“We could make a pillow fort. That would be fun,” Dahl said.

Hot cocoa will be provided.

“We’re going to be ‘comfy cozy.’ It’s very low-obligation, but you still get to see your friends,” Dahl said.

For those who don’t already have friends in Albuquerque’s spoken word community, Dahl said it has long embraced newcomers.

“It’s a very lively scene, and as long as I’ve known it — for many years — the community has always been beautifully welcoming,” Dahl said. “The poetry scene here is very multi-generational. There are college kids who come, as well as middle-aged folks and seniors.”

Photon Poetry hosted its first event at The Lab in November — a Día de los Muertos-themed reading headlined by the recently-named poet laureate of New Mexico, Manuel González. Then, in December, it hosted an ugly sweater haiku party with Albuquerque’s inaugural poet laureate, Hakim Bellamy.

At the ugly sweater reading, Collins used motion capture technology to turn the poets into beloved holiday characters, which were projected onto the walls as they read.

“I asked them who their favorite Christmas movie character was, and we turned them into that character,” Dahl said. “It was really surreal to see my friend up there but with a George Bailey (‘It’s a Wonderful Life’) head on her body.”

Next month, in honor of Valentine’s Day, Photon will host a poetry dating show.

“The poets will have to court and woo the Muse,” Dahl said, “and the Muse is just a character I’ve invented.”

Dahl began reading publicly in 2008 at a local poetry slam, just a few years after graduating high school. They have been performing ever since.

“I dove in headfirst,” Dahl said. “Then, I got to coach the youth team in 2009 that went to San Francisco (for the National Poetry Slam), and we were featured on HBO.”

Since then, Dahl has taught youth poetry classes at schools across New Mexico and adult poetry classes with the Albuquerque Disability Arts Collective.

“I’m chronically ill myself, and I have to live with a lot of pain,” Dahl said, “but that’s one of the things about poetry — it gives me time to write and learn about the world.”

Part of the mission of Photon Poetry is to make poetry accessible to everyone through fun, low-pressure monthly events.

The name, Photon, was inspired by Collin’s photon-emitting video projectors, as well as a motif in Dahl’s poem, “Where Light Meets Us Singing,” where photons of light represent sparks of creativity and hope.

“If we all come together with our own little light,” Dahl said, “then there’s not just a light at the end of the tunnel — it’s a bonfire.”