Pam Middlemas and the GJHS library is hosting the seventh annual poetry slam. Nine students have currently signed up to share their poetry at lunch on Friday, April 29 in the library. What many people do not know about poetry slams is that they are competitive.

“I’ve been writing poetry just for fun and I just thought it’d be kinda fun to try it out, I guess,” said Caleb Bell, GJHS sophomore and participant in the 2022 poetry slam.

There are three rounds of poetry judged by members of the audience to single out the top three poets. Students participating have three poems prepared going into the slam although they might not use all of them. Middlemas is also planning to include a special speaker such as a teacher or community member who likes writing poetry.

Poetry slams have a reputation for dealing with heavy topics since it is performance poetry and it is easier to incorporate lots of emotion into the poems.

“Typically, if it’s a spoken word competition or poetry slam it’s usually a little edgier stuff,” said Middlemas.

Bell is taking a different approach.

“I think [my poems] might be a little funny, yeah, I like funny poems,” said Bell. Bell has just recently started writing poetry in the past few months and is excited to share his poems even if he doesn’t win.

“It’s really fun,” said Middlemas, “We’ve had some great poetry in the past.”