Friday Night Poetry Readings at Donnybrook
Written by Hannah Strickland
We walk in and the room is hushed. Only a small voice from a corner passionately reads the last few lines of the first of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. The room is brightly, but softly lit and the grungy couches sag and wrinkle under the familiar weight of kind friends and companions, who gather at the Donnybrook every Friday night.
Here on Hillsdale’s campus, we never run out of things to do. Sure this might be something that your admissions counselor will tell you, but, hey, it’s true. If you’re like a lot of the Hillsdale students here and you’ve become utterly exhausted by a week of classes, work, and homework, balanced with little sleep and forgotten meals, then you treasure a peaceful Friday night.
That’s why every Friday night, the off-campus house, lovingly called the Donnybrook, holds Poetry Fridays. Near the end of each week, the email goes out which always begins, “Kind friends and companions…” The authors of the week or time period (or whatever category the patriarchs of the Donnybrook have decided) are announced. The length of this list of “kind friends” always amazes me – it seems like half of campus is invited to this event. In reality, everyone’s invited, but those who live there only know so many people.
The Donnybrook has existed like this for years (maybe even a decade now that I think about it, since some of my professors were “Donnybrookers”). The evening consists of poetry readings by everyone there (as long as you’re brave enough to read aloud). Tea and coffee is offered to everyone, and on rare occasions there’s even something like raisin cake, baked by one of the guys of the house.
The group of students who inhabit this house have been some of the most kind, generous, and quirky men I’ve ever known. And there’s almost always one who can play the guitar. They attempt to invite the entire campus over for these readings and are thrilled every time someone enters the door, no matter how late, usually with a loud “Yeahhhhhhhhh!”
The night wraps up with an hour-long session of singing traditional Irish songs. My first three years here, one of my dearest friends who lived there played the penny whistle. He and his companion on the guitar would begin with Irish standards such as “St. Brendan’s Fair Isle” or “The Leaving of Liverpool.” At the end of each night, those still present sing a reverent a capella rendition of “The Parting Glass.”
Some might not find these kinds of night appealing, but the culture and companionship found in these intimate gatherings is something not found other places. Some graduates will even tell you that it’s the one place on campus that still feels like home. These are some of the evenings I have treasured most in my four years here – the companionship is incomparable.
A senior English major, Hannah Strickland is heavily involved in the music, art, and classics departments. She has sung with the Hillsdale College Chamber choir since her freshman year.