Between rows of tightly packed desks on the third floor of the Greenough building, students take turns calling out apparently random verses. In a matter of minutes, they work together to refine these clashing lines into a coherent whole in the work of a trusting and practiced community.
Meeting every X-block in room 387, the Poetry Club, led by seniors Rafaela Datel and Nico Hart, often has around a dozen members in attendance. Before joining the club, many of those students were searching for a space where they could be comfortable expressing themselves around others. The Poetry Club has created an environment where they can put their thoughts into words without judgment.
Club advisor and English teacher Nicholas Rothstein said that he has worked hard to create a welcoming space by allowing students to take the lead.
“The structure is pretty freeform. The club is usually very spirited; it’s a very open place and a place of free expression,” Rothstein said.
Students join the club for a variety of reasons. Datel discovered the group at the club fair their sophomore year and was excited about the opportunity to write poetry in a community, junior Haven Montgomery joined due to a previous interest in poetry media, and junior Tal Berreby was inspired by reading poetry.
Berreby said that many members of the club see it as a space where they can process and explore complicated emotions.
“People express really vulnerable things and experiences that were very difficult. It’s like sharing a piece of your soul,” Berreby said.
Sophomore Noah Krewinghaus, a club member, described how they use the creativity in poetry to process difficult emotions.
“I had struggled for a long time with speaking about my feelings, or accepting my feelings, and poetry became a good outlet to explore myself in a different way,” Krewinghaus said.
Hart said that poetry has become a mode of expressing ideas that cannot be conveyed through other forms.
“A lot of the things I can say with metaphors are things I can articulate only through metaphors. It just makes more sense when I say it figuratively,” Hart said.
The Poetry Club can also provide a space to make new connections. Datel said their favorite aspect of the club is its open-minded community.
“The environment is really fun. We’re all super open to trying new things and sharing with other people, and it’s a very collaborative and non judgmental club,” Datel said.
The open community at the club reflects the sense of freedom which Hart believes is fundamental to poetry as a literary form. Hart said that to him, this lack of constraint is one of the most important aspects of poetry.
“I think that one of the beautiful things about poetry is that there are no rules. You can write whatever you want. You can say whatever you want,” Hart said.
Berreby said the lack of constraints in poetry are liberating.
“When you get to write so freely, without worrying about the prose, the grammar, the exact punctuation, it just feels like you can be your whole self. You can just express everything that you have,” Berreby said.
