Everyone has his or her own form of expression, whether it is through music, art, personal style, or in this case poetry. The GHS poetry club is a space where one can go to learn to write pieces that beautifully express what they feel; anger, sadness, joy, wonder. Ms. Whitmore, one of the school’s beloved teachers, hosts poetry club weekly for she believes, “writing resonates with students [because] it’s so random and interpretive. It’s inclusive and can be written in many different ways.”

Summer Whitmore began the first GHS poetry club and hopes learning about poetry’s powerful diversity will allow students to connect to the art form. To help students understand the layers between each line, Whitmore and the students read poems together and discuss their meaning, the language, perhaps even the motivation behind the piece. They may even respond to a prompt or edit poems. Once the students begin to feel comfortable with poetry and their writing, they begin to write poetry that relates to them, or can even co-write with another pair of eyes. Poetry, according to Ms. Whitmore, is a “therapeutic endeavour. We bring stress and can work through it with writing. It bonds us together and helps us work through our life stuff.”

One of the best outcomes of this club is to show students how important it is to be themselves and that every individual has their own traumas. By knowing the writer, Ms. Whitmore can help find a poem they might relate to and can reflect on, showing the students they are not alone in their endeavors. Whitmore hopes this will help build their confidence in a judgment free zone; and although this may end at 4, students remain encouraged to pursue a love of poetry outside the classroom. If you’re interested in learning more, stop by on Wednesdays after school in room 304 or see Ms. Whitmore.