The most recent Lighthouse Collective meeting on Feb. 10 began as every meeting does, with a reading of the groups’ alma mater, an emphatic ode to the group.

“It’s somewhere in between/what rises out of us/and what comes into us/when our thick skin peels/when our ribbon hearts bleed,” read the club’s current president, 23-year-old creative writing major, Jacob Mullins.

Photo by Maia Gilmore

The poem was written by Darrell Brock, 28, a Point Park alum who also founded the group three years ago.

“The poem is a way to say, ‘we survived another two weeks, and here we are together again,’” Mullins said.

At a previous meeting, Mullins assigned the wide-ranging group a challenge to write two new poems in two weeks.

The first to test her work was Kaylee Ritchie, 25, the creative writing major who stood before a crowd of seven people to read one of her new poems, which dealt with “unfulfilled desires.”

The hum of laughter and discussion that had previously filled the room came to an end when Ritchie began to speak.

“Bodies yearning for nearness in a drafty room./Lovely, fractured wanting,” Ritchie read. 

As she completed the reading of her poem, a loud wave of finger snaps filled the room for her as it did after every other reading ended, a wordless sign of emphatic agreement. 

By the end of the night, every member had participated in Mullins’ challenge, which doubled as an exercise in building confidence. Some members were still hesitant to present their work, but they were consistently met with encouragement from their peers.  

The group was casual and very akin to a family, so much so that 20-year-old psychology major Maia Gilmour mentioned how she was planning to transfer out of Point Park, but decided to stay after coming to just one Lighthouse Collective meeting.

The club welcomes anyone regardless of if they write or not. Brock brought his guitar and performed two songs at the last meeting in addition to reading poetry, and Naomi Keefe, a 20-year-old dance major, choreographed dances while poems were read at the groups’ previous meeting on Feb. 1.

“When I first joined, this group was pitched to me as a creative outlet for anything,” Gilmour said. “It is centered on poetry, but people always said to come if you play the guitar, if you have drawings, anything. It’s just a cool way to meet other artists.”

Gilmore also noted that having regular meetings has helped her write more frequently, because she is motivated knowing that there are people who actively want to hear more from her.

“The best thing I gained from this is friends, honestly. It’s a community of writers and thinkers and poets, which is definitely something that I think is hard to find,” Brock said. 

The Lighthouse Collective meets every other Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the multipurpose room on the second floor of Lawrence Hall. The newest challenge given by Mullins is to write a slam poem to be performed at the next meeting on Feb. 24

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