Tradewinds Takes the Podium with Slam Poetry

In March, the students who create the poetry magazine, Tradewinds, hosted their annual slam poetry night.  

“I think the poems from this year were much better, they seemed to be more developed and I know the students had really practiced,” Tradewinds adviser Karen Kostrencich said. 

“We focused a lot on presentation, rhythm, and volume.” 

Poets from the class got to present their poems for an audience. For many members, this event was one of the hardest obstacles they had to overcome.

“In Tradewinds, the hardest part was  probably just speaking in public, which I love because I’m a big talker,” sophomore Mia Dominguez said. 

“I love to talk so it’s easy to do that but you have to be very vulnerable which is something I’m not very good at.” 

For other members, it wasn’t so much the stage fright that they had to overcome.  Writing poetry itself caused a big struggle.  Not everyone in the club started with poetry, like senior Aeryn Rodney who started Tradewinds just this year.

“I am a writer,” Rodney said. “I pride myself on that but I’m not a poetry writer because it’s not something I typically do. I’m more of a narrative short story writer so when I figured out the entirety of Tradewinds with poems and poetry, I realized ‘oh I’m gonna have to figure out how to actually write that instead of what I’m accustomed to.’  I think from the beginning of senior year to now I’ve learned a lot.”

Many talented poets start later in life so it’s not too late to see if you’re passionate towards something.