Senior Bella Cruz-O’Grady accidentally fell in love with poetry and hasn’t had a single regret about it. Initially only interested in novel writing, Cruz-O’Grady took Creative Writing her freshmen year and advanced herself from a novice who could barely hold a pencil, to a pro author. From there she discovered poetry, something she had never really been interested in before. To Cruz-O’Grady, poetry was just some weird form of art. However, it dawned on her: poetry was more than what she realized.
“Freshmen year, I was in his [Mr. Vona’s] Creative Writing, and when we had our poetry unit, I realized ‘Hey, I don’t have to rhyme, and it doesn’t have to be so intensely structured,’ and that made it a lot easier for me to enjoy it,” said Cruz-O’Grady.
Slam poetry, a type of poetry where it’s more like speaking with no real poetic structure, is used as an outlet for an individual’s political message to be heard. As a slam poet, Cruz-O’Grady has already had the opportunity to experience a poetry slam where she drew a crowd with her voice. Cruz-O’Grady had the chance to participate in a district-wide poetry jam where she won thrird place, getting invited to perform at the Florida State Fair in collaboration with the Black History Month booth.
“It was definitely something I think I’m going to remember for the rest of my life,” said Cruz-O’Grady
While poetry may be the passion project of the century for Cruz-O’Grady, she doesn’t plan to make a career out of it. However, thanks to poetry, Cruz-O’Grady plans on pursuing a political career. Her aspirations to make something out of her poetry has also driven her out of Florida and up into New York.
“I’m going to law school, and so I wanna go to Syracuse University in New York, and I figure that New York is good because not only is that where the college is located, but also it’s a very rural area and it’s very calm, and it’s almost inspiring. You look around and see the scenery, and it’s a creative energy. It’s a lot more creative of a place than if I were to stay in Florida,” said Cruz-O’Grady.
Despite all of this, Cruz-O’Grady admits that she hasn’t done much to make her voice heard outside of school events. However, she plans on remedying this debacle as she treks along in her final year of high school.
“I’m working on a project for Mr. Vona where he’s telling us to branch out, so some people are going to be writing a novel and getting them published, and mine is to try to go to more open mics and competitions outside of school,” said Cruz-O’Grady.
Aliya Leary // Staff Writer
