The first poet was Bryan McAttee, a recent Central Michigan University graduate. The Lansing native said he was thrilled to come back to Mount Pleasant to share his work.

“This is probably going to be my last time to be doing a reading in Michigan, let alone at Central, so it was really good to do my last reading in the state at the college that taught me everything," McAttee said. "It’s an awesome program, and it’s such an awesome community here. People are just so talented here, and I’ve really learned everything I know from just being immersed within what’s happening in the creative writing program here.”

McAttee said since leaving CMU, he's been in Lansing working and doing readings. He is also preparing to leave for the master's of fine arts program at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. McAttee said poetry is everything to him, and, without it, he said he would be going insane, calling it his own personal therapist.

"Life goes by so quickly; it gives you a chance to really slow the world down and really capture a moment or a mood and use that to make yourself learn something about yourself," McAttee said.

Breaking the tension that hung in the air after McAttee's performance, Daryl and the Bean's, a group made up of CMU English language and literature professors Jeffrey Bean, Robert Fanning and Darrin Doyle performed covers.

The featured poet of the night, Courtney Kalmbach, was the first undergraduate student ever asked to read at the literary series. The Perry senior said she felt comfortable reading her work to the crowd, which was largely made up of her family and those she has known and worked with since she entered the creative writing program.

"I feel really honored to be given this chance and opportunity," Kalmbach said. "I knew I wasn’t going to pass it up as soon as he asked me if I’d be comfortable with it."

Kalmbach's work has been published in several publications such as Open Palm Print and Central Michigan University's undergraduate literary journal, The Central Review. Kalmbach is a recipient of the 2012 Nature in Words Fellowship from the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute and the 2012 winner of the Eric Togersen/Academy of American Poets Prize, as well as the PoetryJett.com/April is National Poetry Month prize. Kalmbach is also the co-president of the registered student organization Poet's Collective and an associate editor at the Central Review.

“It’s amazing to get recognized for your work,” she said. “You work so hard on it, and you take it so seriously."

But Kalmbach said she doesn't write for the sake of being recognized.

"The important thing to me is that people are hearing my poems," Kalmbach said. "It’s not about getting awards or anything like that, just getting to share it with others.”

Kalmbach shared seven eco-poems with the audience. She said the focus of her poetry was on the pros and cons of nature and the human relationship.

One of the faces in the crowd, Kalmbach’s mother, Laurie Kalmbach, said she is proud of her daughter because she has always been so quiet and that it’s inspiring to see her be so passionate about what she’s doing.

“It feels really good to know that she found her path and that she knows who she is and where she’s going,” Laurie Kalmbach said.

After graduating in December, Kalmbach plans to attending graduate school, continuing her study of poetry. Kalmbach said her advice to aspiring poets is to dissect poems and join a poetry group.

“I think you just need to read more poets as much as you can, just find a poet and love their work and try to dissect it,” Kalmbach said. “… Maybe doing that and just getting to read with others. Maybe join a poetry group like the Poet’s Collective, because it really helps to be able to converse and have those conversations with other poets.”