On Feb. 5 students, parents, and teachers filled the Steinbrenner Media Center for the second annual Poetry Cafe, sponsored by the Echo Literary Magazine. Students were offered the chance to sign up to perform an original poem, song, or story for the entertainment of their friends and family.
Poetry Cafe was inspired by the annual Poetry Jam competition which is a contest for poets that outside spectators are not invited to. The idea for the cafe was a way to invite people who normally aren’t interested in poetry to watch and listen to the people they know express themselves, as well as get more people excited about the Echo.
“Poetry is something I like to do and other people are proud of me for doing,” said past Poetry Jam winner and Emcee of the event, senior Logan Conrad. “When it comes to poetry, its something you keep shelled inside and having an event where we can bring those feelings out and let people share their emotions is a really big deal,” said Conrad.
The night was filled with performances ranging from covers of famous songs and funny stories, to more serious poems about internal conflict and thoughts. Students, however, were not the only performers of the night; English teacher Dr. Yvette Robitaille has written multiple poems for her children and shared one entitled “The Bear and the Mare”. Despite the possible change in attitude from poet to poet, there was never a dull moment and the flow of support from the audience was never ending.
“My favorite part is just having people work together and creating a community feel,” said Conrad. “I think that’s the main focus of what we do which is to make people more comfortable with sharing their emotions and sharing their work as poets, writers, or musicians.”
To break up the performances, Editors-in-Chief of the Echo, seniors Wendy Smith and Melissa Ferrin put together some “Paper Plate” awards with some titles including “Least Mainstream” and “The Best Narrative about a Narrative”.
The night ended with an interactive song-poem performed by Conrad and Senior Ricardo Morales which got many viewers singing along, holding up cell phones, and earned a standing ovation at the end. This year’s Poetry Cafe was an evening full of cheers and creativity and left the audience already craving next year’s batch of performances.
The following performances receive The Oracle’s Honorable Mention:
- Senior Mell Finefrock – “Dear YA Author”
- Senior Alisha Arcuri – Untitled Poem (but with a knock out line “We broke up because of religious reasons: He thought he was God; I didn’t.”
- Sophomore Ally Carlin – “Not a Choice”
- Senior Rachel Madden – “A Day In The Life of Rachel”
- Senior Ashlynn Spector – Hipster Poem
- Senior Wendy Smith – “Magazines”
Emily Goldbach / Editor-in-Chief
**for videos of the performances from the 2015 Poetry Cafe, visit The Oracle YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/user/SHSTheOracle
