Student Feature: Sarah Gordon
Sarah Gordon, a high school senior at Littleton High School, pursues her love for writing and poetry outside the English classroom in Slam Poetry festivals located in Boston. Ever since she was eight years old, Sarah loved to write poetry in the form of simple verses. She was introduced to these competitions when a friend of hers competed in a competition called “Louder Than a Bomb,” or LTAB for short. She was instantly inspired by her friend and started attending poetry classes at Grub Street. The extensive youth program offers young writers the opportunity to improve their style and eventually compete on their own. Throughout Sarah’s sophomore and junior years, she took these classes to develop and improve her craft.
Slam Poetry is a form of art that combines traditional rhythm and elements of poetry with aspects of music and rap. It came from African American communities in the 1980s from Chicago. Jazz clubs would often host competitions to encourage lyrical writing. These competitions were called “slams” where a poet is judged on their writing and their performance individually or in teams.
Modern day poets write about a variety of topics that express how an individual perceives the world. Nowadays, poets that compete in Slams often address the bigotries and social injustices of their community through their lyrical writing. Sarah found through her classes at Grub Street that she was influenced by her experiences as a woman living in the current political climate. The importance of speaking one's mind is heavily enforced and feels freeing to Sarah.
IMG_2361.MOVStylistically, she incorporates the structured writing she learned from English class and intertwines it with an unstructured, modern-poetry style. The formality of the classroom seems to mold her ideas into a presentable piece of literature. Her poetry also makes its way into her academic writing at school. She noticed the stylistic devices of poetry elevate the factual and argumentative writing assigned at school. Sarah says that having a natural affinity for literature and constantly writing outside of school helped her excel in her classes.
After the Parkland shooting in 2018, the students at Littleton High School organized a walkout that took place in the auditorium. Many seniors and juniors at the time spoke their minds as a reaction to the massacre. Sarah wrote a poem as a reaction to the shooting and read it to the school; she was able to perform her work in front of a larger audience. She specifically wrote about her experience as a sixth grader learning about the Sandy Hook school shooting compared with the high school shooting just last year. The student body was able to hear Sarah’s work spoken and seemed to appreciate it. The work was shared through the community and some deemed it “message.” Sarah believed that her poem was just a genuine reaction to the world we live in rather than intentionally calling out the government. The Parkland event was weighing heavily on her mind and she needed to write out her thoughts on paper. The overall response was full of positivity and praise by a variety of members of the community.
This is the link to the poem she read at that event:
LTAB is a statewide youth poetry festival that encourages young participation in the form of teams. In Sarah’s junior year, she auditioned for the same competition that she was inspired by in ninth grade. She placed in the competition, and trained with three other poets from Grub Street for a few months to prepare for the competition. She decided to use the poem that she read aloud at the walkout because it was so well received. They ended up in the top 16 teams and were in the semifinals.
This fall, Sarah will be attending Northeastern University as a graphic design major. Along with pursuing her love for design, she will be involved with the slam poetry club/ team. By finding her community of poets, Sarah will be able to actively write with the support of others. Just being in Boston will allow her to take advantage of all the poetry opportunities in the city.
And here is the link to the poems she’s reading in the video:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q3ccIuJOMYHPzYd1anISAsmnb9EDumKnP9LxmitdU68