Stamford High was recently graced with two poets of rather amazing merit, Mahogany Browne and Jon Sands. Browne and Sands came by to show the youths of Stamford High a glimpse of the world that is Slam Poetry. The session started with one poem from Mahogany Browne and then she immediately put all the attention on her colleague Jon Sands who then performed three of his own poems.
For one poem Sands urged an audience member to beat box for him even offering a dollar to anyone who would do so after a few moments of awkward silence when everyone was reluctant to beat box for him. The session ended with an opening for a Q&A and when asked what the hardest thing for him to write about was Sands just decided to perform the poem. This poem was about a moment from high school where he thought he was (finally) getting to second base and the moment went haywire when the girl in question wasn’t particularly into it.
The Round Table was able to take a few moments to ask a few questions. When asked how the experience of talking to Stamford High students and other audiences Sands responded that he “regrets not getting to hear the students poems” and that “nothing merges with community than hearing them [the poetry]. What separates them is the art.”
Mahogany Browne and Jon Sands came to help create some excitement about writing Slam Poetry and signing up for the Slam Poetry competition that Stamford High hosts every year. As Sands says, “I call myself a writer. I think poems have so many lives.” So create life, write a poem, and sign up for the competition!
Check out Jon Sands on Twitter: @iamjonsands
Check out Stamford High’s Annual Slam Poetry competition on May 28th at 6:30 pm in room 101!