On an unseasonably warm Thursday evening, five classes from four Bronx schools took centerstage at the Public Theater’s Joe’s Pub to compete in the 2023 BronxWrites Poetry Slam finals. Opened in 1967, Joe’s Pub is a historic music venue and cultural New York City icon created by the Public Theater — founders and producers of “Shakespeare in the Park.” And for these young Bronx poets, on this night, Joe’s Pub was all theirs.
The initial competition and semifinals were held virtually and culminated in an in-person competition divided into two parts: elementary and middle school, with the elementary school students opening the evening.
Topics ranged from body image and bullying to cultural identity and love. And while one may be quick to dismiss the experience of young people as puerile and naive, the thoughts and feelings of these young poets run deep and are anything but immature.
Carlos Perez, a fifth-grader at P.S. 315 Lab School in Kingsbridge Heights, recited his poem, “There’s Always Two Words to Say” — “Let me tell you about my family, which we never crumble, under any pressure, of any kind. A fact that still stands proud, uncorrected, like how the Earth is a sphere,” he professed.
The evening’s showcase was presented by the DreamYard Project — a program that works with Bronx youth and families to create equity and opportunity through the arts. They are also the founders of BronxWrites and their annual slam poetry contest. With the help of teaching artists provided by DreamYard, students write, choreograph and perform their poems in an annual poetry slam competition.
A rubric is provided to a panel of judges which, this year, included first-ever Bronx poet laureate and native Bronxite Haydil Henriquez. She wears many hats, including program manager for the Scholastic Art & Writing award and board chair of the Literary Freedom Project. Henriquez explained the…
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