WATCH a video about the center’s anniversary.

To Conner Shivers, poetry is a way to express himself.

He loves to share his poetry with others.

Shivers read two of his poems at The Wick Poetry Center’s open reading.

“It’s a way to get stuff off my chest that I’m thinking about or worrying about,” Shivers said. “It’s a way to celebrate things.”

Shivers has been writing poetry since he was in fifth grade.

“I go for what it would feel like or what it would it would smell like or what it would feel like and I just kind of snowball from there,” Shivers said.

Shivers has attended events for the Wick Poetry Center to learn more about the importance of poetry, particularly in education.

This event included a panel discussion about arts administration and higher education.

The center celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary this year.

For people who work with the Wick Poetry Center, it’s about more than just poetry. It’s about the community vibe.

Program and Outreach Director David Hassler says the center has an exciting feeling to it.

“There’s a sort of spirit in the room,” Hassler said. “A spirit in the auditorium, in a classroom of coming together to listen to one another in new ways, to encourage each other’s voices.”

Hassler says once people get involved with the poetry center they get hooked.

“It’s the kind of thing where when you experience it you realize it’s not a scary or abstract thing [poetry],” Hassler said. “But rather something that can be very accesible and meaningful in your own life.”

The theme of the Wick Poetry Center is encouraging new voices.

One of the missions of the center is to expand poetry’s audience.