Poetry is for Me Too!

At Maria Carrillo High, the third quarter of every senior english class, be it AP, Academic, or ESL, is dedicated to a combined poetry unit. There are evening and lunchtime poetry slams, poetry reading competitions, tons of analyzations, a plethora of projects and an entire website dedicated to the posting of our own personal poems called 39poems.com (check out the class of 2014's poems by clicking on the link). This was my first experience with an online class forum, and it provided the most wonderful opportunity for students to share their frustrations and feelings on everything from being dumped to winning the big game to how stupid the poetry unit was... online in the form of poetry! 

At first I wasn't enthused about the idea. I was starting to appreciate other people's poetry but felt zero inclination to write any poetry of my own. We were required to write in a poetry journal everyday and with time and a lot of coaxing from my AP Lit teacher, I started to recognize my own style. In that unit, we learned about the boundaries and parameters of different styles and taught ourselves how to express our innermost or outermost thoughts in the form of something we could share. Every senior had to participate for credit, but it didn't feel forced. As a group of about 300 students, we grew so much closer because of the vulnerability and openness that came with sharing our poetry and encouraging one another through comments! I saw many shy students perform exquisite personal poems in poetry slams that brought me to tears and read many hilarious and witty poems by athletes who's ability to write in iambic pentameter would have been questionable to me beforehand. 

Seniors started using poetry for everything. We were passing notes during class in haiku form, people were making t-shirts with their favorite lines of poetry puff painted on the front, even my best friend asked me to prom over the 39poems.com website! To each of us, even those with no natural ability or inclination to write (ME!!!) poetry became a safe and celebrated outlet. When the unit was over, we were each better for our simple understanding of who we each were. 

So one more hilarious element of this poetry unit is that I ended up winning (I know, we were all shocked) the Poetry Foundation recitation competition with A Fixed Idea by Amy Lowell and Rudyard Kipling's If, my deceased grandfather's favorite poem. I found that I actually can connect on a deep level with people who experienced things I haven't when reciting their poetry. I also felt a bond with my grandfather while memorizing If because I knew it meant so much to him. I've decided to memorize John Donne's sonnet from Dr. Burton's list because I think a memorized poem is like a memorized scripture you can refer back to for a long time after you've memorized it. I plan to share the recited poem with my roommates!