The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Emotion Into Words: Katherine Woodward reads her poem about a friend who died of AIDS, titled 'Think of Me.'

Holidays, love and Fiona Apple move young poets

Clad in jeans, youthful writers share their works at Glen library

By Christine M. Lias

William Wordsworth once wrote, "All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." He went on to write, "Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge--it is as immortal as the heart of man." The words he wrote in 1800 still resonate today.

Last Tuesday night, a small room in the Willow Glen Public Library came alive for an hour. An intimate crowd circled around local poets, and the air took on the inexplicable energy that is usually born at poetry readings.

And the writers who had brought the gift of poetry? Jeans-clad, slightly nervous teenagers and young children. And about 30 parents, children and other lovers of poetry turned out for the hour-long poetry reading in the children's wing of the library.

Young Adult librarian Jenny Robinson organized the event in commemoration of National Poetry Month and also acted as emcee. Dressed in a long velvet skirt and sporting green nail polish, Robinson coaxed some of the shyer poets to come forward.

"I think poetry is an expression, a way to work out what's going on inside a person," Robinson said. "It's a way to communicate to other people what you're feeling."

This is the third young-adult poetry reading the library has sponsored. The first one occurred in October 1996, the second one last May.

"Young adults have a great interest in poetry, but many feel they don't have a forum for their views," Robinson said.

The event began with one red-headed teenager describing her depression and the darkness she feels. Heather Markus ("Impy," as she likes to be called) is a sophomore at Willow Glen High School. She began to write poems only two weeks ago, "when I was depressed as hell," she said.

"I don't like to write poetry about being happy with flowers and stuff--shallow poems," Markus said. "I like to write poems when I'm depressed, as a way to get my anger out. When I'm depressed, I usually have deeper thoughts."

Her friend Cheri Stanley, also a sophomore at Willow Glen, has been writing poems since elementary school. She said she has had several of her poems published and has created a Web site for both Markus' and her poems.

The soft-spoken Cheri read several poems to the circle of onlookers. One described unrequited love; another was a touching piece about friends who had died in a car crash.

Kelsey Siebert, however, shared more uplifting poems. A 10-year-old Booksin Elementary School student, she read about a dozen poems, all sporting drawings she had done.

"I have about 30 poems at school, 14 at home," Siebert said. "I write about my cats and nature mostly." Siebert began to write poems when she was in kindergarten.

She shared numerous holiday poems, interrupting several with a "don't laugh, Mom," as her smiling mother looked on.

One girl wrote about getting sick. An older teenager talked about losing her boyfriend. Another wrote about gangs and incorporated Fiona Apple and Beatles lyrics into his poems. A girl with long ebony hair read a poem about her friend who had died of AIDS.

Robinson said she was pleased with the turnout and hopes to conduct another poetry reading for young adults next April.

"I think poetry in all age groups is gaining popularity," she said. "It's becoming more accessible and less intimidating. It's not just an elitist thing anymore."

Information about National Poetry Month can be found online at www.poets.org.

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