St. Louis poet laureate Michael Castro recited poetry in the Goldberg Formal Lounge Wednesday evening after the event had been postponed in October due to his hospitalization.

The event, co-hosted by Spires Literary Magazine and the Student Union Trending Topics series, brought in an audience of about 25 Washington University students and several St. Louis community members.

St. Louis Poet Laureate Michael Castro reads a poem during the Trending Topics event on Nov 16. The event, put on in conjunction with Spires and Student Union, had been rescheduled from the original Oct. 25 date.

Castro read from his poetry, including “Poetry Is,” “We Need to Talk,” “Freedom Ring” and “The Poet’s Rap.” Some of the works were accompanied by a cellist, percussionist and pianist alongside his spoken word readings, giving it what he called a jazz-like sound.

Castro noted that since becoming poet laureate in January 2015, following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, he has made unity a major theme in his works.

“I made it my mission to do what I can with the art of poetry to promote harmony, to promote unity, to promote dialogue between different ethnicities and races,” Castro said.

Managing director of Spires and junior Catherine Thoms said that she thought the event was a great success.

“I’m so glad that he was able to come out, we had a really great turnout, and obviously we are so honored to have Dr. Castro here tonight,” Thoms said. “A lot of the issues he brought up were really relevant, especially at this time of year, so I was really glad that so many people were here to hear him.”

Senior Liv Weiner said that she found the reading to be an interesting look into St. Louis issues outside of Washington University.

“You can tell that he is definitely very invested in his community,” Weiner said. “I like the idea of taking poets and taking them out of their neighborhoods and sending them off to new audiences, it does make you realize how much is going on in St. Louis.”

Weiner also noted that the poetry took an unfamiliar form.

“It was very rhyme-y, you don’t hear poetry like that anymore, and I like that he acknowledged that at the end…but I think it was nice, it was definitely far out,” she said.