MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – The Mendocino County Office of Education, or MCOE invites the public to attend free poetry readings by local students.

The Poetry Out Loud Final and Coastal Slam will be held Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. in the Arena Theater.

The Pacific Coast Charter High School Tourmaline Reading will be held May 20 at 2 p.m. at the Coast Community Library.

The Countywide Slam will be held May 22 at 4 p.m. at the Mendocino High School Matheson Theater.

MCOE provides financial support that enables local students to benefit from the Poets in the Schools program, a program that has served California students since 1964.

The Poets in the Schools curriculum is offered to all Mendocino County high schools, and the program provides opportunities for youth to perform their work publicly as well as to see their poems published and broadcast over the airwaves. Some elementary and middle schools also use the poetry curriculum.

Kimberly Barden, manager of MCOE Educational Services and Student Events said, “Last year, we published the Mendocino County Youth Poetry Anthology: Heart of Bone. It was the culmination of hard work, explored emotions and thoughts, and courage to put what needed to be said on paper. All students and schools who participated received an anthology.”

Copies are available to view at county libraries and for purchase at https://goo.gl/Aozwf1 .

Local poets speak eloquently about the impact of this type of self-expression. Poet Karen Lewis said, “When a classroom falls into a silence and the only thing heard is the tap of pencils on paper, an amazing energy vibrates through the space. Young minds at work. Young hearts sorting out languages they need to create a path forward, to express dreams and possibilities. New images born. A deep sharing of selves. Excitement of ‘Ah-ha, I’ve found it.’”

Another poet, Dan Levinson, recalled an exercise in which students chose a favorite or worst moment to write about. One student wrote about a particularly fun night with friends, then being awakened by a text message. The line in the poem reads, “I see the text, there's been an accident, and he's gone.”

“This line is the only one in the poem that breaks the rhyme scheme, and what follows is an ending rhyming couplet,” Levinson said. “We might surmise that this is the first time that this student ever wrote about the loss. I would imagine it's the first poem [they] ever wrote about it anyway. It had only been three months since the loss, which shows great courage in confronting it, and shows how poetry can be cathartic in moving past – or through – a tragedy.”

“In all, Mendocino County Poetry in the Schools contributes immeasurably to the cultural life of everyone who calls Mendocino home,” said Poetry Out Loud Coordinator Blake More.

More thanked sponsors, which include the Mendocino County Office of Education, California Poets in the Schools, Arts Council of Mendocino/GASP Program, Community Foundation of Mendocino County, Good Buy Clothes Point Arena, California Arts Council, Mendocino County Reading Council – Young Author’s Fair, Dana Gray Elementary School Parent Group, Hudson Family Trust, participating school site funds and individual donors.

For more information regarding local poetry slams, contact Blake More at 707-884-9189 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..