On an unseasonably warm Thursday evening, five classes from four Bronx schools took centerstage at the Public Theater’s Joe’s Pub to compete in the 2023 BronxWrites Poetry Slam finals. Opened in 1967, Joe’s Pub is a historic music venue and cultural New York City icon created by the Public Theater — founders and producers of “Shakespeare in the Park.” And for these young Bronx poets, on this night, Joe’s Pub was all theirs.
The initial competition and semifinals were held virtually and culminated in an in-person competition divided into two parts: elementary and middle school, with the elementary school students opening the evening.
Topics ranged from body image and bullying to cultural identity and love. And while one may be quick to dismiss the experience of young people as puerile and naive, the thoughts and feelings of these young poets run deep and are anything but immature.
Carlos Perez, a fifth-grader at P.S. 315 Lab School in Kingsbridge Heights, recited his poem, “There’s Always Two Words to Say” — “Let me tell you about my family, which we never crumble, under any pressure, of any kind. A fact that still stands proud, uncorrected, like how the Earth is a sphere,” he professed.
The evening’s showcase was presented by the DreamYard Project — a program that works with Bronx youth and families to create equity and opportunity through the arts. They are also the founders of BronxWrites and their annual slam poetry contest. With the help of teaching artists provided by DreamYard, students write, choreograph and perform their poems in an annual poetry slam competition.
A rubric is provided to a panel of judges which, this year, included first-ever Bronx poet laureate and native Bronxite Haydil Henriquez. She wears many hats, including program manager for the Scholastic Art & Writing award and board chair of the Literary Freedom Project. Henriquez explained the criteria on which the poems are judged, including but not limited to: sensory details, visual language, memorization, personification and the overall message of the poem.
The evening opened with grammy-nominated, Fyütch, singing his feel-good song, “Family Reunion.” The room was electric with friends and family cheering, screaming and supporting the poets whose nerves got the best of them. Some students cried in the spotlight as they stood on stage in an intimate theater where the room was dark, but not so dark that they couldn’t see the sea of faces, in tiered seating, staring back at them. Others had their performance in the bag.
“I’m confident,” said 11-year-old Johanna Raymundo who performed her poem, “Wishing Stars” and closed her performance with an assured nod. Raymundo’s class, the sixth grade at P.S. 315, were the elementary school winners for the night.
“I love that DreamYard makes such a big production of these performances for the students. It means a lot to give kids this age a literal stage to be heard and to belong,” said their teacher, Ruth Duran Chea.
The middle school students comprised the second half of the competition and discussed the significance and importance of poetry in their lives as they patiently waited their turn in the greenroom.
“I feel like poetry is an important way to express yourself because I’m not the type of person to communicate my feelings – poetry is like music to me,” said Savanah Lee, 14, who performed her poem, “My First Love” and was part of the winning team for the middle schoolers with her eighth grade class from the Bronx Community Charter School in the Norwood section of the Bronx.
Overall, the evening was dynamic. The teachers, students, and judges all expressed poetry as a means of catharsis. Saying that, it allows for personal awareness and transformation, and gives people of all ages a platform for freedom of expression, which these younger poets said is crucial for the formative years of their lives.
Reach ET Rodriguez at etrodriguez@gmail.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
