T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Iowa-based poets Kelsey Bigelow, left, and Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey, right, perform together at Gutter Point during a spoken word event on Thursday evening.

On Thursday night, two of Iowa’s only full-time poets, Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey of Iowa City and Kelsey Bigelow of Des Moines, returned for their second event in Marshalltown this year. Back in May, they performed together at the Arts + Culture Alliance building on West Main Street, and this time, they were hosted by Gutter Point at Wayward Social.

Marshalltown Public Library Youth Services Manager Joa LaVille introduced the performers, noting that they had spent the day meeting with Poetry Out Loud students, joining the high school’s LOL book club and speaking to Miller Middle School students and members of the Al Exito student group at the high school.

“We had a very busy day, but they bring the energy. So it’ll be really fun (to hear them),” LaVille said.

Bigelow started by reading emotionally charged poems about her mental health, her difficult childhood, her mother’s passing and her decision not to have children before wrapping up with a poem on the healing process.

“Healing is planning a celebration for my third decade — the one I never thought I’d see and am now eager to ring in — then, recognizing all of these thoughts mean I finally want to grow old,” she said.

The two then performed a “Poetry Potluck” comprised of words submitted to them by readers and followers on social media before Rainey took the microphone, reflecting on his own upbringing as a black youngster in Missouri who eventually made his way to the University of Iowa and being “black in white spaces,” which he described as “a different kind of loud.”

Rainey found his voice through poetry and realized that if it was his way to be heard, he had so much to say. Both poets also spoke about their journey to pursuing poetry as a full-time profession as Bigelow was the first to publish a book, but Rainey, who published his a few months later and found wide exposure and accolades around the country as a result, was the first to quit his day job and figure out the economics of making a living doing it.

“Poetry may be an art form to you, but it’s a lifesaver to me,” they said simultaneously.

A common theme was that poetry provided a safe outlet for Bigelow and Rainey to grapple with their complex feelings and struggles and helped them believe in themselves when no one else, navigate adulthood and speak up about injustices in the world.

“Now, I am paid to be the loudest in the room, a professional poet with the power to take a stage and to make one,” they said. “So I share a mic with every student, storyteller and secret keeper I meet.”

Rainey’s poems touched specifically on his experiences with racism as a youth and how he found his voice regardless.

“You can make each moment a rebellion, and I dare you dance or you laugh at every chance, trust in advance, smile at first glance. You can lift the weight of oppression by choosing connection, thwart trauma with truth-telling, shatter systems with sincerity. You can change the world. You simply have to fight,” he said. “Trade your mirror in for a window and see the beauty we all have to offer.”

He concluded with a message of love and reminding everyone in the audience that they matter, and their story isn’t finished yet. To learn more about Rainey and purchase his books, visit https://www.thenegroartist.com/. Bigelow’s website is https://www.kelkaybpoetry.com/.