This school’s poetry club is not just a club, but also a community. 

Within a school of over 600 students we were able to find a shared love for poetry.

In this club we have all gotten at least a little bit vulnerable, and it’s truly amazing seeing the support we give each other without skipping a beat.

We share poetry we found, poetry we’ve written. We start projects together, we support each other. It’s a love that you can’t describe, you just have to feel it.

In this paper I am going to try and explain what poetry means to us and why we do it. 

Here are some words from members of the club about poetry…

“I don’t even remember when my love for poetry began. I would read poetry, I liked poetry, yet I never saw myself doing poetry… until I heard about this club. This club has helped me understand my own feelings and thoughts, it helps me turn my thoughts into art. Not only has this club been fun, but it has been a fantastic opportunity to explore my own self, and have a community who supports me. This club has taught me to express my feelings rather than bottle them up. It helps me say the things that I can’t seem to say out loud in the real world. Over all this club has done wonders for me.”

• Daneisha Quimas

Private and reserved

One’s voice can be heard

Ears will no longer be unnerved

To have poems birthed

Ready to be served

Your voice shall be preserved 

• Kaile Chong

I like poetry

I like the way poetry is emotion on paper

A feel made 2D

A way to say pain is art

To be or not to be

A way to take something hurtful or tragic and make it beautiful or magic

Maybe it’s the way you can turn your thoughts into art

Or put a tear and a smile in a story ark

The way your experience can be romanticized by adding a rhythm and a rhyme,

It’s another thing to be criticized

A moment to process your thoughts

Comprehend what is and what’s not

To be heard by others or just by yourself 

Or maybe to jot down and put back on the shelf

– Quincy Quijano

“I love poetry, poetry is an outlet for my mind, leaving behind the memories that were once stuck, my thoughts finally flowing like a river of tears turned to ink, poems are my words, my fears, the link to my heart, a brand new start to it all, because now its fall and my worries are no longer so tall…”

-Tristin Ah Puck

Poetry is my passion

It’s a thing that I do

A way to express my emotions

Like you can do too

A passion to write 

While rhyming along

Poetry’s everything

and nothing at all

Poetry is my passion

-Tyras Chong

Poetry means a lot to this group, it’s a way we connect. The passion, pain, and love coming from this club is magical, and I am so glad to be a part of it. Maybe it could be for you, all I want to say is try to think it through.