Addie Johnson

Standing in front of a small audience, senior Kimberley Walters shares a social criticism poem titled “Pity the Nation” by Lawrence Felinghetti. Every month, sponsored by the poetry club, the library hosts a poetry reading. “I never thought I would be interested in [poetry readings] because I’m not the biggest poetry fan,” Walters said. “I think poetry is a very succinct way to express feelings and get a story across. Whereas lots of books have a span of a whole story, but it’s put in a lot of words. The power of poetry is that you can be so succinct within, and there’s a lot of power within the words that are used.”

From the famous works of Dr. Seuss to the songs blasting from earbuds, poetry is a constant companion to the average high school student. Throughout history, poetry has been used as a way to express one’s feelings or to spread ideas. Today, poetry continues to be an important form of literature.

Every month the library hosts a poetry reading sponsored by the poetry club. At these poetry readings, students are free to come and share poems they have written or poems they like in front of a small audience consisting of students who come to listen. Senior Kimberley Walters urges people to come to poetry readings to try it out. 

“I never thought I would be interested in [poetry readings] because I’m not the biggest poetry fan,” Walters said. “I think poetry is a very succinct way to express feelings and get a story across. Whereas lots of books have a span of a whole story, but it’s put in a lot of words. The power of poetry is that you can be so succinct within, and there’s a lot of power within the words that are used.”

Walters shared a social criticism poem titled “Pity the Nation” by Lawrence Felinghetti. According to her, it’s important to look at things from a different perspective.

“I think that in today’s world, it’s important to be open to different people’s ideas,” Walters said. “That’s something we really struggle with, with the way that our government is set up. I personally try to be very open to other people’s ideas because ignorance is not bliss, it’s just chosen. It’s chosen not to know more things. It’s the lack of knowledge. And so [“Pity the Nation”] talks about how different countries work and the things that are wrong with them. And I thought that was something necessary to bring up.”

Junior Kaemon Kato is a member of the poetry club and attended the reading.

“I like poetry because I get to express my emotions through more than just feelings,” Kato said. “Everybody has a different form of how they write poetry and I really like different perspectives if I’m going through the same things.”

The poetry club meets every Tuesday in the library. 

“Poetry club was created so that people could share their passion in a welcoming space as well as have a space to express themselves,” senior and president of the club, Bailee Herrera, said. “I think people should join the Poetry Club because it’s a good way to meet fellow poets as well as share some poetry to hear feedback and comments.”

At the poetry reading, Kato shared a poem he wrote himself titled, “Nightmare.”

“I think it’s important to write whatever you feel,” Kato said. “I always write about sad stuff sometimes but I also think it’s important to write about the good stuff. I usually read sad poems and I like to write sad, angsty poems. Sometimes I like to add a couple of jokes in my poetry.”

Kato recommends listening to poetry and coming to the library’s monthly poetry readings.

“I think it’s important to open your horizons and listen to other people’s poems,” Kato said. “I started [listening to other people’s poems] because a lot of times I would write and then feel so alone and depressed, but then hearing everybody’s [poems] and reading all these poetry books, you can see that other people feel the same way and they just describe it perfectly through the words and images they create.”