\n<\/p>\n
At least Sotce seemed to come prepared. Calloway, who\u2019s infamous for her lack of preparation, was up to her old tricks when she took the stage\u2014vamping for about 10 minutes, refusing to offer what she called some \u201chalf-baked shit.\u201d Maybe she was rattled by Woah Vicky and Harry Daniels, who reemerged to get a selfie with Calloway<\/a> before she began. As she spoke, Calloway channeled Andy Kaufman\u2014claiming, repeatedly, that she \u201chad to go\u201d and that her time would \u201cgo by really quick\u201d before spending an uncomfortable and seemingly endless number of minutes hyping up her actual<\/em> performance: her translation of six poems by first century BCE writer Sulpicia.<\/p>\n \u201cAt last, the love I\u2019ve waited for has come,\u201d she read. \u201cA love that would make me more ashamed if I hadn\u2019t hid it from my friends with a veil. And if naked, I had just let the rumors fly. Until now, every poem of mine has been a prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n Caroline Calloway and Woah Vicky<\/span>Justin Wolf<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n Authentic or not, the translations were nothing special. But Calloway\u2019s performance\u2014her manic and sunny disposition, her inability to read the room, her insistence on over-enunciating the T\u2019s in words like Latin<\/em> and written<\/em>\u2014was something to behold. If Calloway\u2019s TikTok page<\/a> is to be believed, she seems to be having a tough time; she recently claimed to be effectively homeless after a bad breakup, though she\u2019s since said she\u2019s found a sublet. (Don\u2019t worry: She\u2019s posting through it.)<\/p>\n Calloway\u2019s act didn\u2019t play well online\u2014one Redditor left a comment<\/a> on a video from the event reading, \u201cI love when she embarrasses herself in public\u201d\u2014or in the room, for that matter. Alex Dimitrov\u2014an actual poet<\/a> and Columbia professor who read a personal, funny, bleak poem about his exile from Dimes Square\u2014hit the nail on the head with his slightly caustic opening remarks: \u201cI think Caroline Calloway is more interested in the performance of being a writer then being<\/em> a writer,\u201d he said, receiving some \u201coohs\u201d from the audience. He quickly backtracked: \u201cI\u2019m kidding. I like her. I like camp!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n