Mr. Mike Stein  organized a poetry slam for his classes on Friday, January 26, during seventh period in the library.

The poetry slam was not open to all students – only Mr. Stein’s classes and Mrs. Monroe’s speech and creative writing classes. He will hopefully organize another slam, which will be open to more students as a “regional slam.” This will include Coffee and Moore County students performing their poems.

Although, the poetry slam was limited to the allotted seventh period time slot, each individual’s poem did not have a time limit. This eliminates many boundaries for the students to be as creative and free as they want.

The slam’s sponsors are called Southern Word, who are funded by grants. Their website is southernword.org.

Mr. Stein first got the idea for the slam through a personal friend, Carrie Barnett, who had Southern Word work with her students and recommended it to Mr. Stein.

The inspiration for the slam also came from Mr. Stein’s personal opinions: “I think that students do not get to express their opinions often enough… They get bogged down with responsibilities. I am grateful for this opportunity for them to be able to express themselves. I hope my students will realize that and take advantage of it. I wish I could give them more opportunities like this. I think student voice is important.”