Standing before her peers, most of which sit while sharing their work, junior Tatyana Younger slams a poem about experiencing racism.

It’s a reoccurring theme among the poets, along with mental illness and other topics. Some days, the discussions, or slams, are sparked with heated passion. Other days, group members are laid back, comfortable with each other and debating peacefully. The serious topics are talked about with students who trust each other enough to bring up harsh conversations.

This all happens in the Poetry Club, which meets every Thursday. The group focuses on slam poetry, performing pieces in front of each other, and preparing for competitions.

When describing the new club, several members, including Younger, compare it to a family.

“We’re a close-knit club,” she said. “It’s kind of like a family. We do a really good job of cheering each other on and helping each other with our poems.”

She said that members focus more on spoken word and slam poetry.

“It’s a way for people…to say what they want to say and still in an art form,” Younger said. “Slam has a sort of emotion behind it that you can’t find in other things.”

Slam poetry is typically emotionally or politically driven and is usually performed with a lot of passion. Sophomore Claire Walther sees the club as an opportunity to grow.

“It’s something out of my comfort zone, so I’m excited to try it,” Walther said. “I think it’ll be a good branching out of skills that I already have.”

Members of the club use their meetings as times for them to share their feelings without judgement, whether or not the feelings are positive.

“It does a good job of really letting people do what they want and making them feel comfortable, like this is a safe space to share your thoughts and ideas,” sophomore Mia Romano said. “Slam poetry isn’t always a happy thing.”

Developed in the 1990s, slam poetry depends on the oral presentation of poetry, channeling intense emotions to make the poem more relatable to listeners. Slam poetry called to young minorities, such as members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Since then, slam poetry has spread across the country and is performed around Lawrence. Even Free State has had a slam poetry club for two years. Now, LHS has its own Poetry Club, sponsored by English teacher Jeannie Merritt.

“I had heard what was going on at Free State and then [Jeff] Plinsky had said, ‘Hey, Free State does this really cool thing with the slam poets,’” Merritt said. “So… [when] Alexus approached me and said, ‘Hey, could we do this?’ and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, let’s get this going.’”

Despite being unofficial, the club has had good attendance so far, with the same 10 to 13 people returning for regular meetings every Thursday. For the members and Merritt, the club is a learning experience since it’s in its early stages of development.

Members receive prompts that are presented at their weekly meetings, and the group discusses whatever is on their minds. The topics discussed usually end up in each poet’s work.

“It’s so diverse and so much fun,” Walther said. “The whole idea of Poetry Club has always called me in.”

Merritt said the Poetry Club has been interested in competitions since the beginning.

The major competition, which starts on March 10 in Kansas City is called Louder Than A Bomb. The poetry competition started in Chicago and spread across the country before coming to the area only three years ago.

“It has a philosophy, and what it’s kind of looking for,” Merritt said. “They want to hear students talk about their own personal stories through poetry but really use their own voice and get their own ideas out.”

Slam poetry competitions start with preliminaries in March, then lead to finals later on in the year. At finals there are five rounds, four of them individual and scored by a group of judges. Before the competition, school clubs rehearse their pieces and workshop them into a satisfactory slam poem.

Romano said the club meets with Free State and Olathe South to share their works, all leading up to their first competition.

“They bring [their poems] in and it’s been fun to watch the club develop… to make them better poets,” Merritt said.