Student Work
From a SpeakTogether virtual workshop, Talent Unlimited High School, Spring 2020
This poem was composed during a six-week session conducted by author and spoken word artist Sheri Booker, who worked with a class of 10th-grade students to develop their voices. This workshop took place during a global pandemic, a national lockdown, and uprisings across the country to end police brutality and structural racism. Read more about the works in this collection, which are artifacts of this period and a true testament to the vision, creativity, and resilience of these students.
Listen to a recording of the following poem above.
Final Poem
by Kayla Barbee
In madness she lived, please don’t rest
It was painfully quiet
In the tall grass, my heart drops in my chest
Dad should never know, as he would riotI wish she had stayed
But hearts torn to pieces
Where long lonely strands laid
Her summer love ceasesThe summer weeks will pass
She is then let go
Long lonely strands flew gently
From where she used to be
Kayla Barbee was a sophomore at Talented Unlimited High School in NYC at the time of this recording.