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A new crop of championship youth slam poets was crowned last week at Literary Arts’ Verselandia! Competition. At Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on April 30, 22 students from 12 high schools competed for the title of Grand Slam Champion.
Grant High School’s Gio Calandrella won first place with a poem about passing the mic, focusing on themes of privilege, who gets heard and who has the spotlight. Calandrella challenged the audience to seek out and listen to voices and stories that have traditionally been marginalized.
Rounding out the top five, all of whom received cash prizes, were: in fifth place, Carolina Alonso of Roosevelt High School; in fourth place, Diana Aispuro Camacho of Parkrose High School; in third place, Jo Gervais of Lincoln High School; and in second place, Mila Gomes of McDaniel High School.
Owl Matthews of Cleveland High School (“A Poet Who Knows It,” WW, April 29) placed in the top 10, as did fellow CHS senior Alida Shi Lyons.
Matthews, 18, says the citywide Verselandia! performance was “amazing.”
“I’m so proud and happy that I was able to represent myself and my art,” Matthews says.
Verselandia! started in 2005 as a youth poetry slam competition put on by McDaniel High School librarian Nancy Sullivan. Literary Arts came on as producer in 2012. This year’s host was poet and performer Julia Gaskill, co-founder of the monthly open mic series Slamlandia and the Bigfoot Poetry Festival.
“This year’s Verselandia! championship event was phenomenal,” says Olivia Jones Hall, Literary Arts’ director of youth programs. “The poets touched on so much: from falling in love in Spanish class to the tough decision of mental health medication, from fierce and loving mothers to rewritten pledges of allegiance, from rekindling young feminist rage to the inherent ability in all of us to be artists. It was a joyous and moving evening, and we’re so grateful and proud of all the students who brought their voices to the stage.”
