Eliza Visconsi ‘25
On Monday, April 22nd, the St. Mark’s community entered a week of poetry celebration. With various events, like “haiku for ice cream,” poetry contests, and daily poems shared with all St. Markers, this week was full of opportunities to embrace individual and collaborative creativity. Ms. McCann and her Poetry Workshop class took the lead this week, making school announcements and encouraging their peers to get involved. Whether they loved poetry or not, many members of the St. Mark’s community engaged in the activities that Poetry Week had to offer.
St. Mark’s held a week-long poetry contest, including various categories for poets. The following Wednesday, May 1st, Ms. McCann recognized the winners for each type of poetry submission during the school meeting. The categories and respective winners are as follows. The award for most successful poem of three lines or fewer went to Izzy Mundel, with a poem titled “M P D.” The most meaningful poem and art collaboration went to Jihu Choi and Eliza Visconsi, with “Waiting for Sea Glass.”
An Excerpt from “Waiting for Sea Glass” by Eliza Visconsi and Jihu Choi
Let the water come to you.
Watch it breaking in
To a house already broken in.
At long last
The waves wash up the
Refurbished, recycled rectangle glass
Under a night sky, infinite.
It is cautiously cradled
In the hands of a stranger,
Lonely but alright.
Add it to the collection.
Jihu Choi acquired another title with her poem “Omw,” winning the most successful individual poem prize. Ms. Bates’ Short Story class won the title of best “exquisite corpse” poem with their poem “It's Past 9:30.” Ms. McCann’s advisory (The McCannics, including Gina Yang, Divi Bhaireddy, Teni Ogunjumo, and Emily Ling) won the award for the best advisory poem with “Love Letters.” Ms. Caron’s poem, “Umbilicus,” won the most successful faculty poem award, and Wendy Wu’s “I Saw Life Expand” for best poetry written at the “haiku for ice cream” event.
“Umbilicus” by Ms. Caron
Round and folded
like an ear.
And I press my lobe
to your belly
to listen, perhaps
to hear, what secrets
your intestinal
gurgles might hold.
I trace your navel
with my fingertip,
imagine love flowing
from me to you
like the blood swirled
between us those months
we were connected.
The stump, dried
and disconnected,
sits in a clear baggie.
Reminds me of distances
you will grow from me.
Haiku by Wendy Wu
“I saw life expand / fireworks in miniature / muted green fungi”
To conclude the week, on Friday, April 26th, during the afternoon community block, Ms. McCann’s poetry class hosted a “haiku for ice cream” event in the Lion’s Den. In exchange for an originally written haiku, students were rewarded with ice cream sundaes. Students packed the Lion’s Den, many motivated by the ice cream and some excited to share a piece of their original poetry. Either way, students were enthusiastic about their chance to write a haiku. The turnout of this event shows the level of involvement that students have in taking advantage of opportunities and how willing they are to show up for their community! Maddy Bean of the sixth form recounts her experience with this year’s poetry week, saying, “During poetry week, I had a lot of fun and got a lot of really great memories from it!” Overall, poetry week allowed students, faculty, and staff to express their creativity, learn, and appreciate the art of poetry.
Congratulations to the winners of these awards for their artistry and originality and for sharing their talent with the St. Mark’s community.