A dozen Dillingham residents read poetry at the event Friday. Of the four who competed in the "slam," Sadie Sands and Marion McArthur were judged as the two winning poets by an enthusiastic crowd.
April is National Poetry Month, and what better way to close out the month than with a poetry slam? KDLG spoke with several aspiring lyricists ahead of Friday evening's poetry reading and competition in Dillingham.
Ninth grader Sadie Sands plans to perform three original poems. Her shortest entry is titled “A Million Masks."
Acting differently around different people or in different situations – that’s something we all do, but rarely acknowledge. Sands says she often uses poetry to express things that are hard to talk about.
"I normally wouldn't go up to someone and say, 'Do you wear a lot of masks?'" says Sands. "So, yes, it's just a way to ask people or tell people stuff that I normally wouldn't say."
Poetry can also use sounds, sights and smells to summon emotions and memories in a way that prose can't.
“My poems are slim bombs craving explosion,” wrote the Canadian poet Robert Currie, reminding us that poetry often uses vivid imagery to great effect.
Sophomore Sue Lee wrote this one, called “Flashback."
Lee wrote that in a creative writing class, after her teacher sent everyone outside to find some inspiration.
"That was the day we actually went to the playground," says Lee. "[Ms. Budbill] wanted us to think about our childhood, and it just reminded me of how I used to play when I was little."
While poetry allows ample room for self-reflection, it can also be a way to process things that happen in the world around us.
The shortest poem we heard was also the heaviest. Tenth grader Michael Schlosser made this piece by blacking out all but six words from a newspaper clipping.
It may have been done hastily for a class assignment, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t sincere. Schlosser says he was thinking of how many snow-machine wrecks end up in rivers, especially during the last few winters when the rivers aren't freezing as solidly.
"So people try and make it, and can't make it, and they end up in the river, you know. It actually happened to my uncle Don," says Schlosser. "Yeah, it’s pretty heavy. Just tell people to be careful crossing rivers."
Tenth grade student Ashton Cavanaugh also wrote from his own experience. He says he was thinking of all the good things he sees people do for each other.
You’ll hear more from Cavanaugh and other local poets at Dillingham’s second annual poetry slam, Friday night at the elementary school gym.