Good Times and Rhymes

Where can students go to express themselves in an uncensored environment? Last Spring, Markus Batchelor and Moo Johnson wondered the same thing. Hoping to give their peers an outlet to the long days and what they perceived as constant reminders of limits and restrictions, Markus and Moo approached Ms. Jones hoping to use her classroom one Friday a month for Student Poetry Slams. Ms. Jones agreed, contingent on the notion that the slams would be entirely student driven. Ms. Jones would open her door and the students would take it from there.

The inaugural Student Poetry Slam was held last March. It consisted of 7 excited students. Each subsequent month, the group grew, as more students eager to freestyle and read poetry attended. The most recent slam took place on Friday, January 8. About 20 students packed Ms. Jones' room for an afternoon of rhymes, rhythm and prose. Their words touched on topics as disparate as love and exams. The passion was palpable, as all listened intently to their peers, offering snaps as a showing of approval. With the author's permission, reprinted below is sophmore Malek Latney's moving piece "If love was a color...":

If love was a color,
Would it be red,
That's too traditional,
Make it green instead,
Green would stand for envy,
As love is hard to find,
Purple quite majestic,
As love is sweet and kind,
Blue would stand for the blues,
Once over it you will get,
Yellow for that glow,
That love is often synonomous with,
Orange would stand for warmth,
That you draw from your lover's body,
Pink for flamboyancy 'cause,
You flaunt it around everybody,
White for standard lightness,
'Cause you think you're on cloud 9,
Black for your demise,
'Cause love always ends sometime.

Please stay tuned for the next Open Mic Poetry Slam!