Mr. Wes' Article On the Love Poetry Competition

8/14/2019 Mr. Wes' Article On the Love Poetry Competition

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Wesley Gifford

16 February, 2009

Love and Poetry in D.C.s Sixth Ward

Laughter begins to tumble out of our mouths like lightning, striking, / Waiting for thethunder to roll. So tumbles poetry from the mouth of Nile Khalil Myers, a scholar in D.C.s

Higher Achievement Program. The undaunted eighth-grader stands behind a podium, framed by

two American Flags, launching confident verse into a mesmerized crowd.

At Ludlow-Taylor Elementary, the fifth annual Literary Love Poem Contest challenged

the student-scholars from H.A.P.s Ward Six Achievement Center to submit original love poetry.Eight scholars were chosen from the 5th to 8th-grade to present their work to a panel of judges at

last Tuesdays competition.

I was really, really impressed .... The ideas were advanced, but also by the way thepoems were structured and just their style, says fifth-grade mentor Liz Decker. From the

humorous to the haunting, the poems broad range of style surprised and impressed the audience.

The main goal of H.A.P. is to place scholars into top choice high schools, but events likethe poetry competition allow them to display their broad intellectual talents to the community.

The contest came as eighth-grade scholars were working through rigorous the high school

admission process.

It was clear from talking to the poets that night that the poetic process, while taxing, hadbeen cathartic and enjoyable for those involved. For the eighth-graders, the night was a welcome

respite from the application process.

The mentors present all expressed pride for the scholars who had left their comfort zoneto produce the remarkable poetry. Sam Dodson, H.A.P. Ward Six Assistant Center Director, was

grateful to the mentors, who he says were the reason why scholars started writing poems. He

praised the mentors who caused a surge in poetry submissions by encouraging scholars to pushthemselves - a key facet of H.A.P.s program.

Among the many ways in which mentors try to challenge scholars, public speaking is

consistently emphasized. Speaking in front of a group is encouraged as a way to push self-

imposed boundaries, and the poetry competition was a prime way for scholars to step up to this

challenge.

Eighth-grader Jovona Anderson, given the task of reading first, set the tone for the night

with her explication of pure, vibrant love, Your Love is a Strong Desire. Her bright,metaphor-laden poem left a smile on every face in the room.

The scholars flexed their creative muscle, each interpreting and expressing love

uniquely. Love, by sixth-grader Aliyah Gaskins struck a solemn chord, asking, Do you knowwhat love is? and declaring frankly, Sometimes, love hurts. Energetic fifth-grader Ryan

Lamell followed with an amusing four line rhyme, Lucky Love. The contrast of these two

poems exemplified the range of scholars writing.


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Other poems impressed by avoiding traditional ideas of romantic love. Me, Myself, and

I by Amirah Imoni Chaplain burst with attitude, proclaiming love of herself: I am nice, I am

friendly, and I am smart! Yet, it was My Sassy Classy Jazzy, by sixth-grader Noelle Edwards

that captured the judges choice of best work in the fifth- or sixth-grade. Noelles coupletsabout her love for Jazzy, an oft-difficult niece, were delivered with pride and confidence. Shes

still sassy / And shell always be my classy Jazzy, ended the poem, clinching the award forNoelle.

Eighth-grade mentor Rick Stoddard later said Any competition like this that has positive

reward and encourages thinking is goodit cannot do anything but encourage students to reachhigher and reach further.

Matt Thornton, the H.A.P. Ward Six Center Director, echoes Stoddards views on theneed to push scholars. Each week, he lauds scholars who take a positive risk by speaking in

front of the group, sharing ideas or taking a step out of their comfort zone.

Every poem embodied a positive risk that the scholar was willing to take. Those who

were able to take the biggest poetic leap were the eighth-graders, who combined confidence andstrength in their delivery with powerful subject matter.

My inspiration as a scholar comes from him. / The work I do, the plans I follow,

declares Nile in My Brother, My Best Friend. This touching work is dedicated to fellow

scholar and poet, Hakeem Babatunde Bello, though Nile omitted the dedication from his reading his name I will not state, but he will realize. The calm yet impassioned delivery silenced the

audience and pulled it headlong into Niles fraternal avowal.

Lamonte Willis Jr. closed the show on a sorrowful note with The Love I Cant Have.Through his candid exposition of personal strife at the hands of love, Lamonte poignantly

conveyed his determination to triumph over loves anguish.

The star of the night was, unquestionably, Hakeem Babatunde Bello. Winner of both the

judges and peoples choice for the second year in a row, his name set off raucous applause asthe natural poet surged up the steps to the podium.

His voice at once emotional and composed, energetic and refined, Hakeem rang out the

freeform, Final Verdict: Recognizing L.O.V.E. His hands marked out rhythm into air, hisvoice never faltered; Hakeem was clearly in his creative element.

The poem was written on his own time as the sequel to last years winning poem. Once

the pen touched the papers the ideas just flow, said Hakeem to the judges about his creativeprocess.

After the show, Hakeem briefly discussed his high school application process. Its

terrible, he said, I felt like I was applying for college. He listed at least seven separate

schools that he applied to, with Duke Ellington High School of the Arts as his top choice.

Higher Achievement focuses on getting scholars into private or charter high schools.

Their goal is sensible: according to the Washington Post, in 2006 nearly 25% of students chose

to attend one of 51 non-public high schools, rather than DCPS.


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The admittance process is wearing on the Hakeem, who wants to be an automotiveengineer, but he remains positive. He says that the rigorous application process has at least

prepared him to face the same challenges when applying to college.

Lamonte Willis Jr., who has performed Shakespeare, has been asked to recite amonologue from Death of a Salesman for one of his high school interviews. New Yorker and

AU freshmen Ryan Murphy says I dont even know how to react; the idea of even applying to

high school is such a foreign concept to me.

Many AU students are shocked by the rigorous process. The necessity of applying to anon-public high school is completely alien in most students hometowns. It is because of these

unique challenges faced by D.C. students that H.A.P. has developed its unique program.

Beginning in sixth-grade, scholars and parents are prepared by H.A.P. for the high schooladmittance process. Sixth-graders are given assessments that compare them to what top high

schools are looking for. These assessments are used to form a plan for gaining admission to their

top choice school.

In seventh-grade, scholars participate in a six week long preparatory class to study school

options and procedures. This comes alongside tri-annual assessments of progress. Eighth-gradebrings a focus on the application process, including practice essay writing and SSAT preparation.

Currently working with 500 scholars across the District and Alexandria, VA, H.A.P. iscarving out large successes in helping scholars. In the 2007-2008 school year:

66% of scholars improved their math grade by at least one whole letter grade 55% of scholars improved their reading grade by at least one whole letter grade 100% of scholars increased DC-Comprehensive Assessment System test scores

by an average of 20%. Comparatively, DCPS students only increased by an

average 3%.

And, perhaps most significantly:

100% of graduating scholars were placed in college-preparatory high schools,designated as such because of their Honors and Advanced Placement programs,

good student-to-faculty ratio and high percentage of college-bound graduates.

Clearly, the H.A.P. approach is working. Each week, lessons on math and literature areinfused with social justice themes and opportunities for scholars to step outside of their comfort

zone.

Although he does not intend to pursue a literary education, Hakeem said with convictionthat Im not going to stop poetry. Im not going to stop doing what I like.

Like the mentors that encouraged them, Hakeem and Lamonte advocate writing as a form

of relief and expression, no matter how or what you write. Poetry really has no bounds, says

Hakeem. To AU students they say, you can learn lessons from the college mentors that are herewho really support the scholars.


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Mr. Wes' Article On the Love Poetry Competition