Introduction

INTRODUCTION

The universe is made of stories,

not of atoms.

~Muriel Rukeyser

May 10th, 2024 was the date of our 52nd annual Spring Poetry Festival. Unfortunately, we were unable to celebrate the voices of our community. That didn’t take the power away; it acted as reinforcement of empowerment, to tell our stories. To use poetry as power: the pen is mightier than the sword.

As the incoming director and senior poetry mentor, I know there is authenticity in the words of these young poets. The importance of their poems are heartbreaking, joyous, important, and palpable. These are the voices of our future generations. They want to, and deserve, to be heard.

This can be seen in the poem "A Flower’s Tongue," from the High School of

Fashion Industries' Esme Alam:

My words want to hold you

Ever so gently.

Like you could wither away at any moment.

Alam continues with:

Only in those shadows am I given a voice.

A time when my words fall to sleeping early

Only given the chance to bloom when no one is there

To bask in it.

While Alam declares that they are only given a voice in the shadows, the sun has

begun to show through the clouds in order to let the words bloom.

We also see this in Marcus Nieves-Farmer, from Leaders High School, poem,

"Other", where Nieves-Farmer writes:

My identity is me, myself, and I

Yet the world calls me other

Like no other…

I’m me

Please don’t label me

Other is not a real identity

While these poems use the idea of voice in distinct ways, the concept of

authenticity is there. As is for most poets, there is authenticity as well as the

reader’s connection to it. We read and write poetry not simply to understand the

world, but also ourselves, in whatever way that might be. While this might typically

seem serious, we hear that tangible authenticity in other ways too. For example,

Edward R. Murrow High School’s Tamara Ben Yair's poem, "A Complicated and

Messy Pizza," Yair writes:

I crushed the rotten tomatoes…

I shredded the cheese

Angrily

And without shame…

I threw it all in the oven

Making it a complicated and messy pizza

It was beautiful

It was me

While there is humor in Yair's poem, the beautiful, complicated mess is still relatable and genuine. It illuminates a different way of viewing one’s self. The rotten tomatoes, angrily shredded cheese, just thrown in the oven—complicated and messy. Aren’t we all?

Even our elementary school students realize the importance of identity, authenticity, and their own stories. Cheyenne Brelet-Tuthill, a 4th grader from P.S. 321, writes joyously about what it would mean "If You’re Moss":

Sit and

shine

in the

warmth

of the sun…

Let the little

bugs touch

your fur

and sit

on you

for the

afternoon

Similarly, another 4th grader from P.S. 321, Mabel Marshall writes in "What would you do if you were water".

Touch the cool, smooth, shiny, gray

bushes glinting in the sun, standing

up tall, you’d leap and sashay all day

long.

These poems show authenticity that is both removed, but still personal. This is
what our young poets do. They have the unique ability to separate themselves from
the poem while still inserting their personalities into the words and lines, relatable
to those who read them.

One goal for our young poets is to write with an authenticity that allows their

poems to tell us who they are, in their own words and worlds.

Pamela Laskin’s words always leap off the page. She understands how the poet is

"deeply smart" yet can also "comprehend a broken heart/ language weeping off the

page.":

this poet is so deeply smart

language leaping off the page

he comprehends a broken heart

language weeping off the page.

Thank you for your continued support of Poetry Outreach and our Poetry

Festival. Please join us Friday, May 2nd, 2025 for our 53rd Poetry Festival.

Special thanks to the Poetry Outreach team: Jennifer Buño and Gregory Crosby. Much love to our outgoing director, Pamela Laskin, who has been a champion for poetry and poets at all levels. We are forever grateful for all that you taught us.

Alyssa Yankwitt

June 2024