Poetry Reading Event Softens Cruelty with Sonnets

The air inside the bookstore Women & Children First smelled faintly of old paper and new ink. A soft shuffle of feet and the rustling of programs filled the room as people hurried to their seats. Between the stacks of bookshelves, chairs were set up for a March 20 reading from Steven Leyva’s new poetry book, “The Opposite of Cruelty.”

Poets Charif Shanahan and Terra Betts joined Leyva, contributing verses to the evening’s theme of trying to soften a harsh world. 

Shanahan and Betts chose what they called “B-side” poems — pieces they rarely share in readings. Betts’ “Go” added to the theme of being authentic and finding happiness in the little things.

“I will never allow myself to live half a life,” Betts read.

Shanahan followed with “Race,” an exploration of solitude and the comfort people find in knowing themselves.

“Though you are alone and alone you want to be,” Shanahan read.

Before delving into his own reading, Leyva set the tone with a lighthearted anecdote. He recalled a conversation with Betts, where she interrupted an interview to ask his age. 

“Forty,” he’d answered, prompting her to reply, “Well, keep moisturizing.” 

He said the moment stayed with him, not because of its humor but because of its simplicity — sometimes it’s the smallest interactions that make life feel less cruel.

Leyva’s book wrestles with that very idea — how mundanity and attention to small things make the world a little less harsh. His poetry weaves together mythology, both Western and beyond, alongside pop culture references —  from Miles Morales to OutKast. Leyva explores how these elements shape the way we confront the world and find beauty in it, even when it feels unkind.

“What might we find if we move beyond the trite, quick answers to difficult problems in the world?” Leyva said. 

Form plays a crucial role in how Leyva examines the opposite of cruelty. The book is heavily structured around sonnets, a choice Leyva views as a path to freedom in his search for answers. 

Leyvsa said readers shouldn’t look at the title and simply say the opposite of cruelty is compassion, as the concept goes beyond that. Instead, he said after reading the book, everyone will find the opposite of cruelty in their own way.

In addition to his book, Leyva mentioned his crown of sonnets, “Halo.” A crown of sonnets is a series of seven focused on a single theme, with each sonnet connected by repeating the final line of the previous one as the first line of the next. Written during quarantine in 2020, “Halo” captures the relentless repetition of that time. 

“If that poem felt long, so did COVID,” Leyva said. “COVID was a repetitive day where people did everything but it was also a heartbreaking, hard time — sort of like Sisyphus.” 

Just as Sisyphus was condemned to push a boulder uphill only for it to continuously roll back down, Leyva said during the pandemic people faced repetitive, draining days with no clear end in sight. Despite their efforts to maintain normalcy, the weight of uncertainty and hardship made the experience feel both relentless and exhausting.

For Leyva, the poem was a way of processing loss, loneliness and the strange ways people learned to live apart. 

“We have to be disconnected from each other to let one live,” Leyva said.

But the recurrence of events, Leyva said, doesn’t have to be an endless loop. Throughout the book, Leyva tries to break the cycle of repetition and instead engage in tasks for personal enjoyment. The key, he said, is attention. 

“You brush your teeth, you get up, you go to work and can move like a walking zombie and never attend to other people or their own needs,” Leyva said. “People can be in deep pain and never say anything. It’s the attention to those things — the attention to other people — that can bring something renewed to the surface.”

Leyva closed the night with a reflection on poetry’s role in uncertain times, as literature names the nameless and expresses unformed feelings, creating space for dialogue. Leyva said he hopes his book sparks conversations, even without definitive answers. 

Betts, thinking back to the monotony of the pandemic, said sometimes it’s necessary to give in to depression — not as defeat, but as a way to sit with it. Poetry, she said, can be a place to breathe, a space where the weight of the world can be put down, even if only for a moment.

“If we have gravity, we need to have levity,” Betts said.

While finding the answer to the opposite of cruelty, Leyva said to view the book as a form of preparation. Poetry has a way of working ahead of time, planting seeds that may not bloom immediately, but instead linger in the subconscious — preparing people to respond to moments they have yet to face.

“Poems sees further than politics and can be preparing us for something coming we might now know,” Leyva said.