In a warmly-lit room with bookshelves scaling the floor to the ceiling, the Gulo Gulo Poetry Collective meets every Tuesday on the second floor of Wolverine Farm Publick House to share in a celebration of poetic art. 

On Tuesday, Feb. 17, the collective gathered for an open-mic reading, showcasing the creative works they had prepared individually or written with the aid of the collective’s structured workshop program. The collective was established by poets Thomas Ivory Jr., Raef Van Putten and Ally Eden — co-founders who collaborated heavily with Wolverine Farm to introduce Gulo Gulo Poetry to the Fort Collins community. 

In paying homage to the role Wolverine Farm played in the collective’s formation, co-founder Thomas Ivory Jr. shared that Gulo Gulo is actually the scientific term for wolverine. 

What began as solely an open-mic opportunity from time to time shifted into a week-by-week rotating schedule of drafting workshops, editing sessions, open mics and even opportunities for publication. 

The founders called this cycle of sessions “the journey of the poem,” designed to offer a guided approach to creativity for regular attendees and to offer community and support for those who only attend on occasion.

Ivory described the collective as community-centered, explaining how “poetry is so much fun because we’re all poets. Even nonpoets are poets, and it’s a really fun thing that we can share as a community.”

The collective operates under the guiding principles of accessibility and inclusion to ensure it is welcoming and available to the community.

“Making it accessible for people and as easy for people to be able to participate is also a really important thing,” Ivory said. 

All of the sessions are free, as the collective is a nonprofit and relies solely on donations for its operational costs, which Ivory noted can sometimes be challenging in respect to the budget. However, he said he sees the accessibility of the collective to be well-worth the occasional difficulties.

“Just being here (at Gulo Gulo) really helps with the creative juices flowing because you feel free.” -Maggy Palacios, Gulo Gulo Poetry Collective participant

Ivory continued on to discuss how the collective seeks to provide as many people as possible with the opportunity to perform at an open mic, publish their work in the collective’s poetry anthologies or lead in a group workshop. 

“That’s what we try to do — really give these people an opportunity to share their voices because we have so many leaders within our community, and all that they need is just a stage and a microphone to speak up,” Ivory said. 

Members of Gulo Gulo described the profound impact of the collective’s designation as a space for sharing poetry, noting the respectful and inspiring atmosphere. 

Among those who read aloud their works at the Feb. 17 open mic was Maggy Palacios, who discussed how she began writing poetry due to “a need to process my emotions” and has since shifted her focus on poetry and its cathartic qualities in her life. 

“Poetry means expression,” Palacios said when speaking of the personal importance of poetry to her. 

Palacios described feeling appreciation for the Gulo Gulo Poetry Collective’s structure and the community it provided in her creative journey, as she made sure to emphasize the lovingness and inclusivity of the collective in supporting its members. 

“Just being here (at Gulo Gulo) really helps with the creative juices flowing because you feel free,” Palacios said. 

Also in attendance was Dan Van Horn, secretary of the Gulo Gulo Poetry Collective. Van Horn shared that he initially sought out Gulo Gulo Poetry looking for a community with whom he could share his passion for poetry. 

Van Horn discussed the format of the collective, saying, “It can be difficult to figure out where to send your creative energy, … so the journey of the poem allows sort of that framework for you to create.” 

Ivory spoke to his aspirations for Gulo Gulo in the future: to continue growing while staying true to itself. He said he hopes to see the writing and artistic community in Fort Collins continue to develop with budding poetry organizations. Ivory mentioned CSU’s own Dead Poets Society as something that gives him joy, seeing the art be taken up and expanded upon by younger generations.   

“It’s my belief that we all have the ability to be creative,” Ivory said.

Reach Addie Mitchell at entertainment@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.