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Emmett Boling Reads "Workaholic"

Emmett Boling is a student at Spokane Public Montessori Middle School.  

From their teacher, Erin Schmidt:

Robert Frost said that “poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and that thought has found its words.” Carl Sandburg said that “poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” Some people just say that poetry does not make any sense. More than anything else, however, poetry is another way to express yourself--an art form that combines emotions, words, and sounds.

For this project, we explored that art form, especially by analyzing spoken word poetry, which is meant to be performed to a live audience. After analyzing a variety of popular, current, spoken-word poems, we challenged ourselves at spoken word, each of us writing a SLAM poem to share an experience from our own life.

After many workshops and peer edits, we were ready. It was time to take the leap. We all delivered our SLAM poems in front of a non-judgmental audience, snapped our fingers in appreciation, and enjoyed each other’s performances as works of art. 

About the School:

Montessori is a term used to describe the philosophy of education that emphasizes the balance of freedoms and responsibilities. Respect for the child is at the center, and guides the learning experiences. At the middle school level, this means strategic balance of rigorous academics and projects, meaningful work, intentionality in our habits, service to others, and outdoor adventures.

Chris Maccini previously worked at SPR as Morning Edition host and producing arts and special programming such as The Bookshelf, Poetry Moment, Northwest Arts Review, special features and more.