Before they began reading their final poem, I Scream Social featured reader, Ira Goga, gave the packed audience at Alienated Majesty Books a choice: “Should I read one that’s fun and flirty or one with righteous anger?” The overwhelming crowd response of “righteous anger” seemed to reflect one of the creative tenets that has made I Scream Social such a powerful and inspiring community reading series for the past 11 years. That night, this Host Publications-run event celebrated the anniversary of the first gathering of this monthly feminist and historically marginalized-focused community staple. 

I Scream Social creators, Annar Veröld and Claire Bowman, kicked off the night with reflections about the event’s evolution over the years and the stronghold it has become in Austin’s art culture. With the joy of a proud parent, Veröld remarked that they have “never run out of poets or authors to feature, as Austin is an amazing city for writers.” They then turned the mic over to poet and guest emcee, Katelin Kelly, who guided the audience through the stacked lineup for the night. 

Nala Washington was first on deck, and this Best of Net Nominee and Texas State M.F.A. student set a high bar for word wizardry that carried through the rest of the night. After reading poems including an epistolary love letter to her home state of Maryland and a powerful piece that pushed back against the algorithm’s conventional beauty standards, she ended with the fantastic, form-skewing “Ghost Sonnet for Toni,” inspired by the classic Morrison text The Bluest Eye.

Continuing the strong standard of poetic voice set by Washington, previously mentioned poet and educator Ira Goga took the stage next. Their seamless blending of metaphor and fine-tuned use of form and technique to create flow and momentum clearly emerged in pieces about the randomness of cruelty and their experiences while hitchhiking. These skills were especially striking during Goga’s reading of the impactful “Passing Sonnet.” The audience was dead silent, gripped by the poem’s journey and its use of twists in repetition to heighten the sense of movement. 

And, speaking of journeys, fresh off a plane from her home base in New York City, the third featured poet, Stephanie Niu, began by treating the room’s ears to a delightful series of works that referenced “ice cream” in some form or capacity. Tinged with humorous levity, Niu showed her mastery of evoking emotion from spaces and settings by prosodically teleporting the event’s listeners to a nostalgic summer day and the controlled chaos of an airport. The Host Publications author alumni ended with the opening poem, “If Words Cost Nothing,” from her most recent collection, I Would Define the Sun. Through this piece’s gorgeously attuned couplets, Niu drifted the crowd into the sea-salt atmosphere of a world unburdened by the limits and demands of human possibility and physicality. 

Before breaking to enjoy the event’s signature selection of ice cream goodies and cap off with its standard open-mic second half, the final featured poet, Osmani R. Ochoa, left the full house at Alienated Majesty breathless with pieces from their self-described “asthma book.” With poems that wind a reader through experiences of destruction, longing, and social justice, Ochoa’s recent collection, more formally known as How to Survive an Asthma Attack in a Climate Apocalypse, is as piercing and compelling aloud as it is on the page. While all of their picks crackled with the sparks of futuristic ideas drawn from a keen understanding of the world as it currently exists, the final piece they read, “<TechTalk> How to survive an asthma attack in a Climate Apocalypse,” managed to really encapsulate the fine boundary they are able to walk with ease between social critique and poignant, heart-shattering lines. 

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Molly Moltzen is a poet, journalist, screenwriter, and jack-of-all-trades writer. She is a graduate of the M.F.A. program in Poetry at Texas State University, where she received the CD Marshall Scholarship.  Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in orangepeel literary magazine, Sand Hills Literary Magazine, The San Diego Poetry Review, and elsewhere. She has also written for Playgirl, Thrillist, and various other lifestyle and cultural websites. She currently resides in Austin. TX. Check out her website here.