New poetry group blends writing and tea for creative connection

ForTé Tea Studio hosted its new poetry-sharing session on Wednesday, Feb 12, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event saw a diverse group of local poetry enthusiasts come together to share their work.

The tea store, located on Broadway St. in Cape Girardeau, aims to spread the word about the recently opened shop and form a community for SEMO students.

Mikayla Jones, a freshman majoring in wildlife conservation biology and an employee of ForTé Tea , organized a poetry night for the studio to promote the shop and her passion for poetry. Inspired by her grandfather’s passing, she began writing poetry in high school and has continued throughout college.

The idea for a poetry night came to Mikayla while making content for her store’s Instagram page with her manager.

“We were making tea and making content for the store's Instagram, and I just had the idea in my head,” Mikayla said, “I was like, we should do a poetry night.”

Mikayla and her manager had been looking for something to do on Wednesday nights, and they thought this would be a good mixture of their hobbies and work.

ForTé began officially planning the event after Mikayla brought up the idea with her boss two months ago, who was quick to support the idea.

The name of the event would later be named Poet-Tea, Mikayla’s original idea which symbolized a play on words.

This first event was a closed, invite-only event to introduce the concept to SEMO students. At the event, several SEMO students read their original poems to each other and took part in the shop's snacks and tea.