Dead Poets Society puts on a lunchtime poetry slam

Students read original poetry during all three lunches

Mic drop, attendance spike: Seniors Nick Peña, Tyler Owen and Jesse King check out Dead Poets Society’s March Madness booth. Sophomore Aaliyah Blackford, a current member of the club, works the stand along with club president sophomore Kassie Gruel. Dead Poets Society put on a poetry slam at all three lunches Monday March 5 for their March Madness day in order to increase awareness of their club. The three seniors pictured above later gave a group performance of the poem “Cynthia” from the film 21 Jump Street. Despite student participation during the poetry slam, the club currently has only 5 members and is looking to increase membership. Junior Malika Charles participated in the poetry slam and intends on joining the club. “I feel like I have a lot of things that I want to say that I can’t talk about on a daily basis. You know, really deep things and stuff about life that wouldn’t be in a normal conversation and writing is sort of a way for me to get those things out. So that’s why I write and that’s why I read [my] poem,” Charles said. Blackford described the club as perfect for anyone interested in any kind of literature. “An average [club] meeting right now is mainly trying to get more members because we are so small. But what we anticipate for the club is that eventually it will get big enough to where we will do sharings either with stuff that people have already written, analyse premade texts or things like that. We would really appreciate new members and everyone is encouraged to come,” Blackford said.