Chicago girls group celebrates National Poetry Month in first virtual session in response to COVID-19
Girls Like Me Project Inc. Logo. Courtesy of Girls Like Me Inc.
Girls Like Me Project Inc (GLMPI) hosted their very first virtual session entitled “The GLMPI Power Hour” on April 16 in celebration of National Poetry Month. GLMPI founder and executive director Lakeisha Gray-Sewell led the discussion with participants via Zoom, a digital meeting platform.
Virtual sessions have allowed GLMPI the ability to continue to offer support and guidance through mentorship and sisterhood in the form of trainings, workshops, and outreach to the organization’s target demographic of African American girls ages 11-17.
Girls Like Me Project announcement design for their first virtual session “The GLMPI Power Hour.” Courtesy of Girls Like Me Inc.
Gray-Sewell explained the role poetry plays in African American community by saying, “Poetry has been used by many to give voice to what's happening around us in the world, to express the way the poet is feeling and the way the poet is reacting to something that's outside in the world.”
Gray-Sewell went even deeper and explained how African Americans have used poetry as an outlet to voice their thoughts.
“There was a movement called the Black Arts Movement that happened in the early 70’s that began to speak about social justice issues and people use poetry in their words for social justice issues,” she said.
The session continued with the group watching a video discussing poet Sonia Sanchez. In the video, Sanchez describes the trials and tribulations she faced in order to become the poet she is today. After the video the girls recited some of Sanchez’s poetry as well as some pieces by poet Lucille Cliftonout by highlighting words or sentences that stuck out to them in the poems. One of the sentences highlighted was from the poem “Won't You Celebrate With Me” by Lucille Clifton was: “Something has tried to kill me and has failed.” One participant provided the explanation why this sentence stuck out to her personally. She said, “The reason that I picked that sentence from the poem was that to me, it kind of sounded as if somebody tried to bring her down for what she was trying to be, but they failed that and she exceeded what she thought she could be.”
Gray-Sewell believes these types of interactions are important during this particular time for a variety of reasons. She said, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, it's very important that we offer supplemental outreach, supplemental engagement, and supplemental emotional reinforcement for girls who are at home, who don't have outlets, and who are also dealing with uncertainty.”
She said she wants to continue to reinforce the topics talked about before, to remind them they have control over their own emotional and mental state of mind.
Lakeisha Gray-Sewell (middle),holding the purple phone, posing to take a selfie with Girls Like Me Project participants. Photo courtesy of Girls Like Me Inc.