A&E
Poet Alok Vaid-Menon charms audience in reading for the Voices of Color Lecture Series
By Liz Lvov ’17
December 1, 2016
Tags a+e
Alok Vaid-Menon wore an absolutely gorgeous outfit for their reading ––a pretty floral dress and fabulous teal platform heels, paired with a bold white lip. Their hair gleamed. In the shifting reds and yellows of the spotlight, they put on a truly spectacular show with nothing but their voice and an incredible towering charisma that had the entire audience enthralled. At the end of the show, we all rose as one to give a raucous standing ovation the likes of which the Fillius Events Barn only sees once every while.
Alok doesn’t like to be filmed or to have their picture taken during a performance, because they want the space to be able to mess up––but with their smooth patter they did not stumble a single time. We were all in it, under a fabulous spell that we loathed to leave.
I went to the event almost by accident. I was passing by the Barn when I glanced through the window and saw them standing at the front, gesturing with expressive hands. I received the email from the Voices of Color Listserv, which said something about the importance of attending given the current political climate. It was the day of the march to the Clinton green. I figured that at the very least, I would stop by for the snacks. My hair was still wet with rain when I settled down into my seat and that is where I remained until the show came to an end. I felt that Alok’s voice was a cure to the dreariness of the weather––it sparkled and it glowed and it warmed me right up.
Alok read a series of poems, interspersed with bits of what I am tempted to call banter, even though it really was more like tiny lectures of radiant truth presented with breathless conviction and incredible charm. Alok wants us all to sit on the floor and have an honest cry about our daddy issues. Alok sees the structural issues of our society, and believes in every individual’s capability to self-empower and live a beautiful life in bold and radical opposition to those deficiencies that attempt to hold us back.
After the reading I attempted to find videos of Alok giving a similar performance, but nothing quite matched it. This is not to dissuade readers from looking up some YouTube clips–– “OkCupid” is one of my favorites, and the closest to capturing their energy––but is to say it felt like a very special and unique experience to be in their presence, and to experience a performance that was simultaneously intensely personal and political yet somehow also ephemeral. Overall it was an amazing experience and I am excited to see Alok’s work in the future.