In the News...

Our own Mackenzie Berry was covered on WPFL news today, read all about it...

On a recent Saturday afternoon at the McQuixote Coffee and Books in Louisville’s Portland neighborhood, past the usual sounds of an espresso grinder and indie rock mixed with conversation, one could hear impassioned slam-style poetry.

“They say Muhammad Ali was as much talk as punch,

that he could move a nation with a rhyme,

that he spoke so strong

people gathered in crowds to see him weak,

the Louisville Lip.”

High school senior Mackenzie Berry, 17, was reading her ode to The Greatest as part of a workshop with Young Poets of Louisville. The nonprofit is designed to teach the craft of poetry and provide young people with a creative outlet. The group offers free workshops for teenagers twice a month.
There were three students at this workshop: Mackenzie, a student at DuPont Manual High School; Jalen Posey from Central High School; and Alex Edison from Eastern High School.

Lance Newman, a poet, teacher and performer, led the workshop. Newman works with young people in a variety of capacities, including outreach work with Roots and Wings, a new poetry-based performance group.

“When you first did that poem at the slam, I wanted Muhammad Ali energy,” he said to Mackenzie.
While much of Newman’s advice centered on her delivery — that day’s workshop focused on performance — he also talked to the kids about rhythm, rhyme, imagery, intention and all the other tools a poet might employ. Mackenzie wasn’t the only one speaking. The students chimed in offering their responses and thoughts on each other’s work, as in a traditional workshop.

Newman advises the group in a variety of ways, but he isn’t the person in charge. That job falls to Mackenzie, Young Poets’ founder.

Read more...

http://wfpl.org/louisville-young-poets-bring-passion-page-stage/