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While teaching a unit on Poetry in April I incorporated the use of Slam Poetry. In the process my students challenged me to write and preform a Slam Poem on the spot. This is what I wrote.

I Want You to Learn
By Taylor Jacquez

I want you to learn…
Punctuation, grammar, and writing are important and adding and subtracting you need in life. But that’s not all.

I want you to learn…
That there is always a chance to make a change. From your clothes, to your grades, to your attitude, to your life.

I want you to learn…
Today will soon be yesterday so don’t dwell on it.

I want you to learn…
The skill you need to live and not just survive. Push yourself to be better tomorrow than you were today.

I want you to learn…
That you are important to many people and grades aren’t all that define you.

You will go many places in your life but above all,
I want you to learn.

Very inspiring...a poem I'll read over and over.

Thank you! I greatly appreciate it.

It's impressive that you wrote and performed this "on the spot." I've done some poetry writing, but I don't think I could do it that way!

I have always struggled with poetry and the fact that I did this without thinking still surprises me. I think I had to get past the idea that poems have to rhyme which is what I was working with my students to also understand.

tjacquez wrote: I think I had to get past the idea that poems have to rhyme which is what I was working with my students to also understand.

When I was in school, we always read rhyming poetry. I had no concept that poems didn't have to rhyme until I started college and a new friend asked me if I had read Allen Ginsberg. I hadn't, although I had heard of him, so she loaned me a book...and rhyming hasn't been my favorite style since then

I can't imagine writing something on the spot like that, however you have done very well!

I don't think slam (or "flash") poetry is something that is truly spontaneous. I think that it is a lot like "automatic writing". It is something already present in the composer which finds its voice, often serendipitously, at precisely the moment it is needed. For this poet to recite this perfect and beautiful poem instantaneously upon being challenged tells me that this poem already existed within the teacher's heart, perhaps not in words, but rather in the dedication he/she holds toward his/her wards and profession. I don't think this poem was "slammed". Its composition was begun long ago when the teacher first became dedicated to a life of teaching. It was composed slowly, line by line, with each encounter with jubilation as well as heartbreak. It is the articulated product and summation of a dedicated professional's life.

My compliments tjaquez. We need more teachers like you.

Thank you so much DATo! You are correct in that this is something that I try to get across to my students daily. I teach in a juvenile detention center and many of my students have the attitude that no one cares so why should they. The fact that I went along with their challenge, even though it made me nervous, showed them they could trust me and and that I will do what I say. Something many of them have never known an adult to do.

This is actually a very inspiring piece of work. I've always found this kind of poetry kind of cool.