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Poetry influences people by allowing them to emotionally express a certain topic. To provide this release of emotion, Grosse Pointe South students came to the Ewald Library to show their passion for poetry in front of their peers and the judges.
The Poetry Slam allowed students to communicate anything through poetry during open mic and slam. Open mic is when anyone who signed up expresses their writing. Slam is similar, however, it includes new poems and is scored by judges.
English teacher Henry Campion has hosted this event for 20 years, first at local businesses, and now at the Ewald Library. He was thrilled to see many of his students participate and others come to the event.
“I think it went very well, I was very pleased with the turnout,” Campion said. “I was very pleased by my poets and their confidence, it was great to have some people I didn’t know there.”
Even if someone doesn’t have a huge interest in poetry, it’s always fun to try something new and be surprised how much talent they may possess according to Lualhati Verzosa ’26. Though he isn’t a master when it comes to reading and writing, Verzosa said he uses poetry to let out his feelings and express himself.
“I’ve been reading a lot since I can remember,” Verzosa said. “And it’s just kind of come naturally to me, which is just a spot that I’m not experienced in yet, so I’m trying to work on that.”
Although poetry is a nice way to create something, events like the poetry slams require students to fix little mistakes with the goal of impressing the judges. Judge Marielle Caruso scored the participants’ writing, making sure to give them reasonable numbers. Caruso said she has been passionate about poetry since high school and it has continued to be a big part of her life.
“(My experience at South) was really enjoyable; I actually went to Grosse Pointe South and graduated in 2008,” Caruso said. “I did (poetry slams) back then, so it was like a full circle movement. It’s really cool to see kids be so creative.”
No matter if you do it for fun or to impress people, poetry can be a strong way of expressing one’s self as Caruso said.
“The written word is so powerful,” Caruso said. “The most powerful tool we have in general is poetry, and I think poetry is amazing.”
