BY AALAYNA GREEN
Special to the Clarkston News
After the bell rings and other students flee their classrooms, Clarkston High School Poetry Club commences and room 209 comes alive with the sounds of pens and keyboards.
Poets lounge across desks, under tables, or with their feet propped as they add stanzas to unrequited-love poems or rapidly complete a political piece they started at 2 a.m. during bouts of caffeine-induced insomnia.
Meetings are held once every two weeks and include mini-lessons, writing time, and share-outs. Each exudes a different vibe as new poets join the club and new ideas form amongst members to expand it.
At the Feb. 3 club meeting, co-leaders, seniors Maria Puertas and Hanna Jeung, distributed slips of paper to members with a different emotion printed on each sheet. All poets were then asked to read the poem Daddy by Sylvia Plath in the emotion on their sheet.
‘In performance poetry, you only have one chance to convince the audience your words are meaningful,? Puertas noted in regards to the exercise. ‘Using a tone of voice represents the mood of your poem will make the performance hugely more effective.?
Other activities at meetings include blackout poetry, where poets take books and use markers to ‘blackout? parts of sentences to reveal a new piece (apologies to bibliophiles); experimentation with different elements of poetry such as rhyme, tone, or structure; and slam poetry, which is the most popular form of poetry amongst the members.
Slam poetry is more than poets ‘yelling? and ‘waving (their) hands a lot? as some may believe due to the comedic slam performed by character Schmidt in the movie 22 Jump Street.
Slam poetry is raw, lyrical, emotional, and ‘is all about connecting with the audience,? said Jeung.
A more accurate representation of slam poetry can be seen in the works of Neil Hilborn, a 2011 graduate of Malcaster College, who, in June 2013, performed his poem ‘OCD,? which has 10,914,613 views on YouTube and inspired millions of poets to write and perform slam poetry.
Slam poetry differs from traditional poetry in the sense slam poetry is composed of two elements, the piece itself and the deliverance of the work.
?(Traditional) poetry is typically a very personal art form, but slam is all about passion and impactful statements,? Jeung said.
CHS poets are encouraged to share poems they’ve written and can receive feedback on their performance or tips on how to improve their writers? craft.
Currently poets are finalizing slam pieces for the upcoming poetry slam this May.
‘Slams are a really great opportunity to listen to, and appreciate, the voices of others and realize other people share a similar mindset as you,? said junior Olivia Maday.
For more information, check Twitter @CHSslampoetry.