On Jan. 31, Whirlwind Coffee hosted a poetry reading, where seventh-grade class winners from the Oak Park Education Foundation (OPEF) Spoken Word residency took center stage.
The evening was hosted by Julian language and literature teacher John Colucci and Brooks language and literature teacher Miles Lee, alongside OPEF spoken word artist and District 97 alum Brandon Stiffic, and OPEF Programs Director Tara Oetting.
With over a dozen students participating, the audience was treated to a variety of poems, with topics ranging from the Israel-Gaza war to the immigrant experience. Students, families and staff in the audience snapped, clapped and connected as the students delivered powerful performances.
The residencies and readings were made possible by the partnership between District 97 and OPEF, who work to provide every middle schooler the opportunity to participate in a poetry residency each year during their language and literature class. They also sponsor the Spoken Word Club at Brooks and Julian Middle Schools.
Q&A on Student Process, Performance and Poetry
This week, seventh-grader Nene N. sat down with the D97 Weekly Wrap-Up to discuss her writing process, slam poetry, and her performance at Whirlwind Coffee. Below are excerpts from the conversation.
Why do you like slam poetry?
"I like little poems that aren’t slam, but I really like slam poetry because I am a performer, I like performing. I’ve been in Bravo, and I like the way [slam poetry] reminds me of singing. The way that this one poet did it–-he was a rapper, I’m pretty sure–and he sounded like he was rapping in the way that he was saying his poem. I thought that was so cool because it was. I really hung onto [the poem] and I remember it. It was called “Blink.” I remember it even more because of the way that he performed it."
What was it like to write your poem?
"Okay so with this poem, “Role Model,” it wasn’t like continuous inspiration when I was figuring out how to do it. It was like, I don’t even know what to say, and then it was me writing five lines at a time. It was just random sparks of inspiration that helped me write the poem. In slam poetry, especially, not only does it matter what words you are saying, but it also matters like the rhythm of how you are saying it. Like there are certain ways that you would be able to write a sentence and it rhymes because of the way that you say it, but it wouldn’t rhyme otherwise. I’d say an example but I can’t remember one."
How would you describe your writing process?
"The way that I work–because I think this is part of me being a perfectionist—as I’m writing a sentence, if there is something wrong with that sentence, I’m not moving on until I fixed the thing. It’s going to be written the exact way I want it to."
What was it like to perform your poem?
"I love performing and I think I did well. I was really proud about the fact that I memorized the poem because I thought you had to, but I guess you didn’t, but I did anyway. So I was really excited that I knew exactly how to say it. I had the gestures down. I had that actual flow. The way I write it down on paper or on a Google Doc, you can’t really tell how I’m going to say it. So I had to actually practice, and that was part of the reason I memorized it because I had to actually practice how I was going to say it. It doesn’t just come out like that."
What was your experience performing out in the community?
"When I was performing, there were a bunch of different random people that I didn’t know and a few people that I did know over in the corner where I was not even looking. So, something weird happened. I was nervous. Like, I am never nervous. When I go up on stage, it’s just like I’m talking to my friends. For some reason though, I don’t get nervous, but this time I got nervous. I was talking to my choir instructor and he was telling me that you get nervous about something when you really care about it. So I guess that means that I was really thinking about this poem and I was really caring about exactly how it turned out."
Do you have any advice for young poets in elementary school or even other middle schoolers who are interested in poetry, but don’t know where to start?
“I feel like the best thing you can do is watch a bunch of poetry. I could not be interested in a topic at all, but then when I actually see it being done, I’m suddenly all about it and wanting to learn everything about it. So if you don’t know where to start, or don’t know how to do it, just listen to a bunch of poems, a bunch of different poems, not just something you might like. Because I didn’t immediately know that I’d like slam poetry. All I really know about it was that you snap at the end. But then I heard it, and I was immediately like, yeah, this is what I want to do, this is what I want my poem to be.”