Slam, Free, and Fly Poetry Night
Slam, Free, and Fly Poetry Night
The Slam, Free, and Fly Poetry Night at Exeter High School on Friday, February 16th, showcased artistic gifts in performance and brilliantly written poems. This event was hosted by the local podcast, Creative Guts. They interviewed the freshman talent and will publish everyone’s work into a zine so that the well-crafted work can be presented to the world. Creative Guts believes the performance is the best, “no one performance can be the same.” Passionate examples of this were shown at the poetry night through word choice, pacing, and sound. Creative Guts also describes poetry as, “vulnerability on paper.”
There was poetry that made the audience laugh, but also many that left everyone stunned. “The Bat Story” was performed by Gradyn Ard who memorized his story and presented it through body language. He connected to the audience so well through his story, experience, and jokes. “Contemplating How To Talk To Someone Without Totally Overthinking” was performed by Lauren Leigh who structured her poem through clock times and expressed the anxious embarrassment of talking to someone as a cycle. “I Wish You Lied” was performed by Aeris Gagne who shared a very vulnerable piece that included trigger warnings on suicide and created beautiful repetition. “What It Takes To Be Popular" was performed by Stephie Heelan and included an evocative callout on ways people will fit in to hide themselves. This performance was engaging and memorable There are many, many, strong poems and performances that took place at the Slam, Free, and Fly Poetry Night that kept everyone equally engaged and entertained for the entire time.
During the Freshman interviews, they were asked two questions: how can creativity change the world and which of the five senses is most closely connected to creativity for you? The first question was answered in many different ways. Overall they believe creativity can change the world through multiple solutions, self-discovery, a growth mindset, curiosity, personality, and “everything would be sane without it.” Out of the five senses -- sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste -- the majority said sight and hearing closely connected them to creativity and how they gain inspiration.
If you are at all interested in listening to the event, it will come out soon! Click here for the zine to read and to listen to the actual performances on the podcast, Creative Guts. Check it out, you will be amazed at the poetic talent at EHS!