Community members from West Orange and South Orange joined together on Saturday, March 24 for a Poetry Slam, where teenagers and adults used to power of their own words to share in a reflection of sentiments both solemn and light-hearted.

The event was held at the Kelli Copeland Creative Arts Co-Op, a brand new coffee and artisan boutique shop located in the Valley Arts District. Valley Arts, an organization serving the neighborhood of the same name in Orange and West Orange, aims to support artists of all mediums by engaging community members. In recent years, they’ve been associated with Luna Stage, who helped sponsor the Bardbeatz poetry slam and who is coordinating future poetry performance events in the Valley.

This particular event was the brainchild of Josephine Kravits, a senior at West Orange High School. Hoping to share her passion for the spoken word, she contacted organizer Leslie Duval of Luna Stage, and recruited Mountaineers to not only attend, but read selections of their own choosing.

“Poetry is something that I’ve always been passionate about, and a lot of people know that,” Kravits said. “Many people have been asking me about the possibility a poetry-related club, so I had the idea of organizing a poetry slam as a creative outlet for those students.”

A “poetry slam” is intended to be more freeform and unrestricted than other performances students may be familiar with, like Poetry Out Loud. This slam had no judges, and was meant to encourage as many people as possible to take the mic without any specific requirements.

Over a dozen works were recited, comprising poems and short stories excerpts composed by the speakers themselves or by other poets. It was a comfortable environment, where were gathered closely together as readers simply walked to the front, and introduced themselves and the stories behind their pieces of writing. Some performances employed multiple speakers while others stood solo, making for a broad variety of intimate and dynamic readings.

Among those attending was WOHS English teacher Tonio Favetta, who remarked enthusiastically on the caliber of students’ original work. He also entertained the audience with an excerpt of his new book, “Falling from the Ground”.

“We don’t have many poetry outlets at our school, so events like these provide the opportunity for students to share their talents while addressing societal, political, and personal issues,” Kravits explained.

The poetry won’t stop here. The next Luna Stage-sponsored event, a Bardbeatz poetry workshop, will be held on April 22 in the Valley Arts District.