CampusRoundup Ninth Grade Waxes Poetic at Annual Slam students in other grades were posted on the Fenn website each day during April, in honor of National Poetry Month.
The Burden
They wrote about family, about love, about loss, about sports, school, and pets. Some lines were rhymed and others presented in free verse form. The annual ninth grade Poetry Slam, a morning of verse, friendly competition, good food, and camaraderie, was held on the day before March break, as is traditional, at the Wards’ house. After tucking into fruit, eggs, and pastries, students performed in selfselected teams of three, and their poems were judged by a panel of five faculty and staff members excluding their English teachers Steve Farley and Laurie O’Neill. Serving as judges for the event were Peter Bradley, Dave Duane, Dave Irwin, Jeff LaPlante, and P.J. Libby.
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The Dapper Gentlemen, comprised of James Jennings, Carter Reed, and August Voelk, who were jauntily dressed in bow ties and bowler hats (August wore a French beret) and carried walking sticks, won first prize in the contest. Team Voldemort (Conor Ingari, Luke Randle, and Nick Demsher), The Poetry Finders (Tom Morrison, Andrew Wilson, and Ryan Alipour), and Not A Total Disappointment (Ben Marchand, Danny Meyerhoff, and Paige Sanderson), were finalists. John Fitzsimmons and his guitar opened the event with a ballad, Duane shared a poem he had written about his time spent in the Peace Corps, and O’Neill read a piece by Mary Oliver. Poems written for the Slam and by
Lost in vacancy, Blank skies and emotionless faces, Rising seas and falling stars. Breaths go and come again, Leaving me alone, in a catatonic state Of racing emotions. Alone, boarded between walls, Sinking, deeper and deeper into a state of repentance. An unbearable burden placed upon my shoulders: Regret, sorrow, and pain. Opportunities wasted. Choices that put me against the grain, Spreading further away with every breath, But never forgotten. Never does the world stop spinning. Never slowing, Never stopping. by August Voelk