Poetry Slam at Assabet Valley Celebrates National Poetry Month

Assabet Valley Technical High School again hosted poets associated with The Massachusetts Literary Education and Performance Collective – also known as MassLEAP. 

On April 9, sophomore and senior students watched local poets perform original material in a poetry slam.

Erin Silveira, one of Assabet’s English teachers, has invited Alex Charalambides and his associates to Assabet every year since 2009 when she attended a slam at Clark University in Worcester. Since 2009, the slam host, Charalambides, has co-founded MassLEAP and become involved in several poetry projects all over the region as its managing director, including the competition Louder than a Bomb Massachusetts. The third annual Louder than a Bomb Massachusetts competition will be held this May in Boston.

Silveira said, “I felt that poems discussing the search for identity, social justice, and young love would really connect with our high school students.” 

The English department also wanted to open the door to poetry, and show the possibilities of language to students during April, National Poetry Month. With enough student interest, she hopes to start a competitive team at Assabet.

Poetry Slams are competitive poetry events where poets read and perform their original poems without any props or music. Random judges from the audience score the poems on a scale from one to ten, similar to the Olympics.

This year, the host, Alex Charalambides performed two poems: "Hamburger" and "Look at Me." The winner of this year’s slam, Lissa Piercy of Boston, won with her emotional poems, "Father" and "Marathon." Nicholas Earl Davis from Worcester recited "A.D.D." & "Looney;" Liz Heath, from Worcester, impressed with "Richard" and "Beautiful;" and Ryk McIntyre of Providence often won loud laughter and applause with "How to Bake Bread" and "Thankful." 

MassLEAP is dedicated to building and supporting spaces for youth to experience the transformative power of their own voices in community with one another. We exist as a platform for young people, artist-educators and organizers to foster positive youth development through spoken word poetry forums. We facilitate arts learning spaces and build relationships among communities throughout Massachusetts, including the annual Louder than a Bomb Massachusetts Youth Poetry Slam Festival. See its website for additional information: massleapcollective.org. 

Submitted by Assabet Valley Technical High School.