Jovan Mays, a highly successful poet, recently came to LHS for his annual visit. He visits many schools this year, including the LPS high schools.
Mays is a Poet Laureate of Aurora, a National Poetry Slam Champion, a TED speaker, and the author of three books.
Mays came to talk to many language arts classes in the forum and shared his experience with poetry, along with tips for students to have a greater appreciation for poetry.
When talking to students, Mays talked a lot about his third-grade teacher and how inspiring she was in creating his love for poetry.
“The definition [of poetry] that I work with the most is the one that my 3rd-grade teacher gave me, poetry is my own language,” said Mays.
It wasn’t always that way for Mays.
“For a kid who struggled in school my entire life, it was a great superpower to understand that I had control over something because the vast majority of my educational experience involved having no control,” said Mays.
Mays also spoke about how he visits 3rd-grade classrooms and that every hand goes up when he asks who in the room is a poet, but high school is a different story.
“My life’s work is to understand what happened to your poet. Your poet, the best way that I can communicate, is thinking about whoever the 3rd-grade version of yourself was,” said Mays. “When I think about mine, I think about a kid that was fearless. I think about a kid who was experimental and hypercurious.”
For those who didn’t see poetry as much of an outlet for them, Mays talked about how humans are made to come up with crazy ideas, as an encouragement to make a space that works for them.
“Your writing should be the space where you explore this in life. If you have other vehicles- meaning you are an illustrator, you’re into music, you’re into athletics- those are fantastic spaces too.”
Mays’ speech to students kept students engaged throughout and was inspiring for students to create their own poetry in their own lives.
Mays encouraged students to attend to LPS poetry slam which will be hosted at 6:30 on November 8th at Options High School.
