Teen Poetry Slam @ Bloomingdale Library

Thursday and Friday, April 22nd and 23rd, Bloomingdale celebrated National Poetry Month by hosting a poetry workshop for Teens and Poetry Slam. Teens were invited to participate in a Spoken Word Poetry Workshop with nationally renowned Spoken Word Poet, Adrienne Nadeau. Then, on the second day of the workshop the teens stood up to test their poetry skillz against each other in a Poetry Slam. Each teen performed two poems and then were judged on their performance for each. After all the poets competed, the poet with the highest score was Bailey McCoy, who received a copy of Adrienne Nadeau’s poetry CD and an opportunity for the poem to be published on our Teen Blog. Second place went to Rohan Snyder.

Praise Poem
I was told to write a praise poem,
to tell about who I am by what I have done.
But, where to start?
The scar on my knee from when I fell off a scooter?
or the one on my elbow from my bike?
(miraculously I didn’t cry either time, however, I did cry when I hit my thumb with a hammer)
The anxiety which has prevented me from so many friendships?
or my ADD which ended so many others?
Maybe I should tell about the time I got sick and missed the bucket
(I couldn’t stop apologizing to my mom for that)
Should I tell about my religion?
(or lack of it)
The people who bullied me as a child?
I should definitely include my fast pace in walking and talking
and the lack of rhyming and structure in my poems
I am a 14-year-old girl who has not done much (besides school)
But even the little that I have done has managed to shape me into the
beautiful person I am today

- Bailey Lynne McCoy

Congratulations to Bailey and all of our poets for their creativity and for their courage in standing up in a room full of strangers and allowing their poetry to be judged by others.

Michelle Frasier @ BDL