Giuliana Savini
Reporter
In honor of National Poetry Month, the Fourth Annual Poetry Fest was held in the Wagner Room at 7 p.m. on Apr. 14. Hosted by English teachers Kristen Brown and Melissa Rampelli, students gathered to perform their original work. Over 60 student poets presented their poetry, each competing for one of the four awards including Best Poem, Best Imagery, Best Presentation of a Poem and Best Play on Words. Four honorable mentions were also given in each award category. This event shined a spotlight on students who may not have been given the chance otherwise. “Poetry Fest allows people to recognize the talent of others. It’s an opportunity for all those students that want to publish and expose their work to a larger audience,” Ms. Rampelli said.
A program was published containing the students’ poetry, allowing the audience members to follow along in the program while the students read into a microphone at a podium in the front of the room. “In a way, this is a form of publishing. It highlights the writing process and really focuses on revising to perfection,” Ms. Brown said.
Poetry, ranging widely in format and subject, served as an effective vehicle of expression for the student poets. “Poetry is a form of writing that is intentionally laden with ambiguity, so if you’re looking to communicate a general idea in an aesthetically pleasing way, then this is the correct genre to do so,” senior Izzy Meckler said. Equipped with bongo drums and sporting all black attire, Izzy served as the emcee and introduced each poet before he or she performed.
I have watched you wither,
And succumb to this strange place.
With a sense of disillusionment,
you sought your perfection.
So you constructed your glass jar,
All vacuumed up with your sanity.
You perched it on the ridge top where you could watch
the manic depression unfold,
teeming under the emerald grass.
excerpt from Ticky-tacky by Peter Lacerenza
After thorough deliberation by judges Ms. Rampelli, Ms. Brown and English Department Chair Heidi D’Acosta, awards were presented at the end of the night. Senior Peter Lacerenza won Best Poem for “Ticky-tacky” and Honorable Mention was given to sophomore Alyssa Thompson for “Dear Downs Syndrome.” Freshman Kala Berg won Best Imagery for “Going Back” and Honorable Mention was given to junior Cally Conron for “The Performance of Peter Rabbit.” Seniors Nils Anderson, Lexi Bodick, Ryan Timberlake and Nick Zanca won Best Performance of a Poem for “Our Future” and Honorable Mention was given to Nick Zanca for “Boston.” Freshman Gita Abhiraman won Best Play on Words for “A Battle Worth Fighting” and Honorable Mention was given to freshman Lauren Fusek for “Time Can Heal.”
Peter, taking home the biggest award of the evening, drew inspiration from the themes of films such as “American Beauty” and “The Virgin Suicides.” “The inspiration of my poem came from the ideas of conformity and how people feel compelled to do so. I wanted to highlight how easy it is to fall subject to not being yourself,” he said.
The only collaborative effort of the night, “Our Future,” was produced during Michael McAteer’s Poetry class. All four seniors wrote their individual lines to display their own personal thoughts. “I’ve always been really interested in group pieces and mixed voices. We intended this piece to be over-dramatic and over-ironic which made it really enjoyable to perform,” Nick said.
According to Ms. Rampelli, an important goal of Poetry Fest was to encourage student writers to carry their work out of their own individual English classes. “Often times many people think of poetry as just an English assignment,” she said. “But it’s a very powerful motive of expression that goes beyond the confines of a classroom.”
Video by Giuliana Savini
