Poetry Club Offers Students New Writing Opportunities

It’s that one unit that’s rarely remembered: a brief break from the long, tedious paragraphs of essays for something short, sweet, and full of passion.

Poetry is often given the short end of the stick in the English curriculum, but one club at ELHS might be able to save that.

The latest addition to the roster of activities, Poetry Club takes place the first Friday of each month during homeroom in A237. The club allows students to bring in, discuss, and create their own poems.

“We like the idea of diving deeper into language, ideas, and how they affect other people,” founder of the club and ELHS senior Bella Chambers said. She, along with co-founder Kylee Johnston, worked together to start the club this year, as they both had an interest in poetry, especially after watching the movie “Dead Poets Society.”

“I typically write unstructured poetry, but we’ll work on all types in the club to see everyone’s different strengths and weaknesses,” said Johnston. Some students get stuck on the idea that poetry is too challenging for them to write, but the club intends to help people with that.

“People think poetry is something hard, and that it has to be hard to understand, but the reality is that poetry is something we use a lot in our lives. We see it in movies, or read it, or in music, which is a form of poetry,” English teacher and advisor to the Poetry Club Kimberly Buckley said.

Ms. Buckley is thrilled to advise the club, as she also believes that poetry should be taught more, in places such as her AP Literature class.

“You can really dive into a poem and experience it because it’s so small and compact and every word matters, and that allows students to explore and experience and see the power of language in a unique way,” Ms. Buckley said. Not only is poetry helpful in the classroom, but it can also be a useful tool to emotionally show thoughts and feelings.

“Poetry is unapologetic. I think you can express whatever you want to express, however you want to express it, and you can really just go off the hinges and do your own thing,” Chambers said.

The Poetry Club founders hope that students will feel comfortable sharing their emotions through their poems, and would love for more people to join.

So, if students are searching for activities, stop by A237 the first Friday of the month during homeroom, and bring your favorite poems!