Poetry displays a marriage of mind and emotion. Spoken Word Poetry Competition was one of the three events organised by the Raleigh Literary Society, Department of English as part of the 19th International Biennial Symposium on Literature and Culture in the Asia-Pacific. The event began with the inaugural ceremony, presided over by the Chairperson of the Department of English and President of the Raleigh Literary Society, Prof. Mohammed Asim Siddiqui, and hosted by students Sahil Raza and Yasir Affan. As the event started and pieces of performance poetry began to sway the environment, the audience had an overwhelmingly positive response. Participants included representatives of diverse departments and disciplines, including not just the arts and social sciences, but also sciences. Prof. Akbar Joseph, Coordinator of the society, was also present at the event and highly appreciative of all the talent being displayed. “Many reputed colleges in the country do not hold such events; the vision of this society seems significantly far-reaching,” said one of the audience members. The time in-between performances by the participants was filled by volunteers from within the department, including students as well as senior members of the society itself. Amongst the participants, there was fierce competition, each one of them seemingly having broken out their best poetic endeavours, so much so that the judges found it a tough call to make. After extensive deliberation and discussion, Waseem Akram procured the first prize, Tanya Kainaat bagged the second position and Abdul Muneem took the third prize. The event was wrapped up with a riveting performance of a piece of self-composed poetry by the Secretary of the Raleigh Literary Society, his words ringing out, telling stories of “bits of realities and practicalities, and not to dwell in the realm of possibilities never taking shape into actuality.”