Junior Steph Kealey‘s passion is slam poetry, which is a strongly emotional poetry form, usually describing the poet’s own experiences, that is recited in front of an audience. Kealey started writing poetry around the end of last school year and is hoping to participate in the next monthly open mic night at the Nelson-Atkins Museum, and eventually in slam poetry nights at The Art Factory in Prairie Fire, once they are set up.

Q: What are some common misconceptions about slam poetry and what is it really?

A: Most people don’t understand how it’s poetry, since there’s not necessarily a rhythmic pattern, but it’s just about raw emotion and presenting in a poetic way. It can be metaphoric and it can talk about what you’re struggling with — it’s kind of like a rant in a way, but about something you’re passionate about.

Q: Where did you first hear about slam poetry?

A: Over the summer I was on Tumblr and I came across a video and a description about slam poetry, and it led me to the YouTube page of Button Poetry. I think it’s held by some college at a coffee shop sometimes, and so they record their students presenting — they’re super passionate and their poems are so good. I got inspired [because I] thought it was really cool.

Q: When did you first begin writing poetry?

A: The first poem I wrote, I was in my car driving home from somewhere and I started thinking about this guy that I’d had a thing with. I was mad at him, kind of, and so I was just having these thoughts, and I realized they were kind of poetic. So I just used the [text-to-speech] on the iPhone with the notes and started writing a poem while I was driving. Then I just started [writing poems]. If I were ever in a lonely or sad mood or angry about something, I would just channel it into poetry.

Q: What other kinds of writing do you do for fun?

A: We write English papers and they’re only 300 to 500 words, and it never feels like it’s enough to convey a message or connect with the reader, and so I guess I got inspired from events in my own life to start writing a book. I want to try to get it published so I can share my words with other people, because one of my life goals is to give people something to relate to and to inspire people through my writings like I’ve been inspired by others.

Q: Since poetry writing is also short, what makes it different?

A: In an essay you have to explain one to two ideas in a full paragraph, and if you only have two body paragraphs, then that’s four ideas max. But poetry can be taken line by line, and slam enables me to express ideas in multiple lines, and the expression I am able to use conveys so much more than possible in a couple paragraphs. Slam poetry is the most raw expression of emotion, and it can be expressed however the poet wants it to be presented, rather than in the school-required MLA format.

Q: What makes slam poetry different from other art forms?

A: I kind of relate it to song writing, but it’s not in the form of choruses and verses. With song writing you tell a story, but you only tell part of the story, and what I liked about slam poetry is you can tell a whole story with a poem.

Q: What usually inspires your writing?

A: Usually it’s really just how I’m feeling at a certain point. If something is going on in my life and consuming all of my thoughts, with slam poetry it helps to get it all out into a writing form and clear it from my head. It’s easier to focus on other things once I take a half hour to an hour of focusing on channeling it into a poem, and then it’s just easier to move on.

Poems by Steph Kealey:

A Broken Puzzle.

September 19, 2014, 7:53 a.m.

My chest is caving in but there’s nothing besides the weight of a t-shirt against my skin yet my chest is heavy and I must have been impaled with a bullet because there’s blood draining from my heart and I can feel it sinking but this is nothing new and I have felt this way before as my eyes begin to disconnect from my brain it becomes impossible to see my thoughts clearly and my head is off somewhere and I am lost because my soul and body have been divided into sections yet I am forced to function like my pieces fit together just like a puzzle and if I am puzzle well my pieces have been taken from those of miscellaneous boxes and I feel rather like I’m a maze because with nearly every turn I find a dead end but maybe I’ll get lucky and I’ll stumble upon the one path that will guide me to where I’m supposed to be but my destiny seems to have manipulated by those who have raised me while I’m still trying find myself and maybe when I am able to see my own soul in the reflection of a mirror then maybe I’ll be free of which has been weighing me down and I’ll have escaped this cycling labyrinth of suffering.

What Love Is Not.

August 17, 2014, 11:08 a.m.

I think I’m in love no I can’t be love is supposed to be healthy and if this is anything it’s far from healthy because I lay awake at night trying to find the comfort of your arms by surrounding myself with pillows and I try to find the warmth of your chest under the blankets and when I finally run out of oxygen to breath I pull myself out of this tangled mess of these pillows and those blankets but it’s not the the same kind of air that I drew when I was with you and our lips touched and our bodies intertwined and with that I felt like I didn’t need to breath because you were my air and you were my oxygen and I wanted you in every breath that I took but you’re gone now and you took my supplies to survive and maybe one day you’ll come back and I’ll want to breath again because I don’t want air I want you.