Just as Wednesday poetry reading was heating up, the fire alarms went off in the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

The reception following the poetry reading of Cristin O’Keefe-Aptowicz was brought to an abrupt halt when the building’s fire alarms began flashing.

A Doudna crew member initially reported that it was not a false alarm because of the presence of firefighters.

Capt. Tim Meister of the Charleston Fire Department later confirmed that the alarm was activated by a faulty smoke detector in a lounge on the first floor.

Christopher Robins, a graduate student, was presenting his non-fiction tale of heart surgery as the building’s siren started ringing.

“I was a little nervous,” Robins said. “I was just getting into the flow of it.”

The audience was not left completely unsatisfied.

Earlier in the evening, slam poet O’Keefe-Aptowicz read and performed her original works as part of the first installment of Eastern’s English Department’s Lions in Winter reading series.

O’Keefe-Aptowicz described herself to the audience as a nerd and trivia buff before showing off her love of history in a poem dedicated to William Howard Taft and his famous incident involving being trapped in the White House bathtub.

She said, “How long did he sit there, cold and silent, before he realized he needed help?”

In “Lit,” she complained of Jason and biology majors “Self imposed illiteracy isn’t a turn on”, and that his “heart is so dark that even Joseph Conrad couldn’t see it,” in reference to Joseph Conrad’s 1903 novella Heart of Darkness.

O’Keefe-Aptowicz gave advice to the audience members who are considering publishing their own works to think of failure not in a negative connotation.

“I went through a period of rejection that was really dark,” she said. “Even if you face rejection, see if you can repurpose it towards your goals.”

Scott Crawford, professor emeritus of kinesiology, said O’Keefe-Aptowicz was vivacious on stage.

“She gave a very athletic performance,” Crawford said. “She really connected with the audience.”

O’Keefe-Aptowicz said presenting at Eastern was different from performing at other universities.

“As a performer, I try to meet an audience where they are in terms of engagement,” she said. “So at a place like Eastern, I was able to present a wide variety of material that I might not do at other colleges.”

O’Keefe-Aptowicz said of performing at Doudna that it had a lot less drunk people and better lighting than a traditional club or bar.

Josh Magee, a sophomore art major at Lake Land College, came to O’Keefe-Aptowicz’s reading after having been a fan of her performances on YouTube.

“It was great watching her,” Magee said. “It was that much more personable watching her perform and interact with the audience.”

Magee said he will use O’Keefe-Aptowicz’s advice and personal stories of writing in his own poetry.

“It’s about being more open, write as much as possible,” Magee said. “Whether it’s good, bad, or ugly, its all expression.”

Andrew Crivilare can be reached at 581-2812 or ajcrivilare@eiu.edu.