This week on WYSO Youth Radio, we continue our exploration of student voices across the Miami Valley with a visit to Springfield School of Innovation High School, where two talented poets share deeply personal works about navigating complex emotions.
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For this episode, Springfield School of Innovation High School students Vivian Garringer and Bailey Hayden share their poems.
Garringer said poetry helps them process complex emotions.
"I have so many feelings and emotions all the time that it's just, it's really easy for me to put that into words," they said.
Their poem "Happiness" explores the powerful feeling of experiencing happiness after long periods of tragedy and despair. They compare the sensation to feeling warm winter sun on your skin after being in darkness.
Happiness was her name, and she hit me like a bullet right between my ribs. She hit me with such force that the air was knocked out of me. Happiness was her name, and she hit me like a bullet. I saw her waving her hands and calling my name. She drew me in, luring me in with her warm energy. Happiness was her name, and she was amazing. Happiness is what she was called, and she made me feel warm and fuzzy. She made me want to leave the dark space of my room. She made me want to live. I started getting out of bed, not feeling the urge to go back. I started participating, doing more. I started being more. Happiness was her name, and she was a blessing.Happiness by Vivian Garringer
Bailey Hayden, the other student poet in this piece, said writing poetry serves as a calming outlet.
"It calms me down. I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna put these feelings down on paper. So that's what I do," Hayden said.
Hayden's poem "The Kettle" uses the metaphor of a boiling kettle to represent overwhelming anger and the importance of having support from friends and family to help manage those intense emotions.
My body feels like a raging furnace. My veins are full of magma waiting to burst. The kettle on the tip of my neck is boiling over. The steam pushing like a horde of sheep trying to fit into a pen too small. Pressure overlapping. Wanting to let out cries of frustration. The pen snaps. The kettle whistles piping steam. Wait, it burns. It's burning. It's hurting. Hurting others. My friends, family, people around me. It's hurting me. What am I doing? I don't want this. A hand? What's it doing? Grabbing the handle, it lifts my kettle off the fire. The water stops boiling. It lifts my lid. My whistling stops.The Kettle by Bailey Hayden
Thanks to the principal of the School of Innovation in Springfield, Kathy Lee, Beth Dixon from the Mental Health Recovery Board of Clark, Greene, and Madison counties, and the Springfield Museum of Art for their help with this story.
WYSO Youth Radio is made possible with support from people like you, the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council. It's produced at The Eichelberger Center for Community Voices.
