First up was the introduction of host and Poet Laureate, Maritza MxKenna. Ms. Frese wielded a megaphone to set the tone and gain some audience attention. It was a mostly disinterested and distracted audience, but the poets powered through with dignity and bravery to let their words fly. 

Serine Poe was the first poet to read her original poem “Realism” :

I used to think 

I couldn’t be a poet 

Because a poem is soulful and tempestuous

In one moment your distress, sorrowful even jocular

Unveiling your inner self

Or your outer happiness

Into the ears of whom care to listen 

Who will suddenly understand 

My feelings and many others 

Of the guilt we’ve had.  

Next up was Ms. Frese who dedicated her original poem to the Bookmarker maker, student Ruben Rodriguez.

“Hope and Justice

by Ms. Frese

For Ruben

Hope and Justice

Bookmarks on my heart

The page markers from the start 

Of the chapter that changed everything…

Hope and Justice

Bookmarks designed by

Ruben for part of his CTE Pathway

Business project ch-ching!

Hope and Justice

Two people I’ve always wanted to meet

And when I do, I’ll greet them

And say, how do you do?

How do you do Hope and Justice?

To have and to hold these things

Would give me the wings I need to fly free, to

Flee the mystery that keeps me suffering. 

Hope and Justice

Bookmarks on my heart

The page markers from the start 

Of the chapter that changes everything…

Finally, to wrap up the event, which was the first ever Valentine Poetry Slam here at Gilbert, Juan Agraz recited his original work “Shoes”

“Shoes” by Juan Agraz

Where do shoes come from? What makes shoes special? Is it the brand? Is it the color? Is it the time you took to save up for the money to buy them? What makes my shoes special for me? All the money I saved to buy them, or is it because they’re my first pair of expensive shoes? I don’t know. Where am I going with these shoes, where are they taking me? Did I think that these shoes would help me become more popular at school, and make me look cool? At first, but now there’s more to it. I’m still invisible, even if I have visible shoes, I’m still in the shadows even when I’m wearing shoes that stand out. No matter how much you take care of those shoes, they will eventually wear off, and become invisible just like you. Why does shoe brand matter? Why do we let them define who we are? Why do we let them define us as weak, strong, poor, rich? Nevertheless, they’re part of my journey, they are what make my footsteps for others to see. They see what they want to see, but they won’t understand what it was like walking through this journey until they are me, until they walk on my footsteps, in my shoes. It will never happen. No one will ever see what it took to get where i’m at, they will never see the things i saw, feel the things i felt, walk over the things i walked over. Have the same glass I got in my feet, have the same tears my shoes have, the holes the bottom of my shoes have. 

Gallery • 6 Photos

The Storytellers club has planned another slam for all you poets out there. It’s  a St. Patrick’s Day limerick contest. Stay tuned for more info to come.