This year one of Messmer's most popular clubs, Spoken Word, is back in action. The group consists of closet poets, creative writers, and students from all grades with hidden and not-so-hidden talents. This year, the team is working with UWM, the Stillwater Collective and nationally known poets from HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. These experts help students prepare for upcoming competitions, help the writers develop better skills, and open all minds to new ideas.
The club is lead by Theology teacher Mr. Jason Gonzalez who himself is a closet poet. He stated, “I think we have a extremely strong team and each individual has their own ideas. We work very well together compared to other high school teams and we will be a hard team to beat.” The club meets every Wednesday and the students share their pieces of spoken word or poetry. Senior Chabeli Romero said, “Spoken Word club helps me with my writing because it makes my mind go in different places with the different warm-ups and the homework assignments we are given. You develop a different way of thinking and seeing things.”
Senior Sam Briggs said “It’s a activity where you can express yourself freely.” Spoken Word is different from poetry because spoken word depends on the topic and the tone of the performance. Spoken Word is performed with much emotion and makes the listener feel as if they are part of the piece.
See video at left of Junior Denzel Taylor's spoken word in progress.
