DarkMatter, a South Asian poetry duo, performed with a group of students from Ohio State on Friday night.
DarkMatter is a New York City-based poetry performance group, made up of Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian. The event was held to welcome LGBT students, and was sponsored by three organizations at OSU: Never Let Your Pen Dry, Trans Mission, and LGBTQ Q*mmunity.
“I like poetry and follow Never Let Your Pen Dry, and I knew (DarkMatter was) coming, therefore here I am” said Alyssa Kerensky, a second-year in political science.
Never Let Your Pen Dry is a slam poetry group, which has represented OSU at national poetry competitions in the past.
Balasubramanian explained that the name “DarkMatter” comes from the concept that dark matter — a type of matter not fully explained by science but being studied by researchers for its properties — composes a large percentage of the universe. In turn, the group encourages its audience to look at the world in an alternative way.
The event, aimed as an inclusivity event for new LGBT students, used nature and science as metaphors in throughout the performance. Throughout the performance, Balasubramanian used the moon, Schrodinger’s cat and mushrooms as metaphors for a certain kind of worldview.
Appy Frykenberg, intercultural specialist for LBGT issues at OSU’s Multicultural Center, said the event was a good way to start the new year.
“This is a kick off event for our LGBTQ community,” Frykenberg said.
