For the second time in three years, Anthony Arnieri '18 has earned the right to be among the best young poetry slammers in Greater Springfield.
Anthony won the Wilbraham & Monson Academy Poetry Out Loud Slam Jan. 31 at Alumni Memorial Chapel. He advanced to the state semifinal round, which will be held in Springfield March 4.
"It feels really good," said Anthony, who also won the WMA event in 2016. "I messed up the first poem so I figured I wasn't going to advance. I'm excited to go back. The last time I went (to the state competition) it was really fun. I made a couple good friends so I'm excited to go again."
Picking from a Poetry Out Loud collection, Anthony chose "The Lamb" by Linda Gregg and "Brian Age Seven" by Mark Doty.
"'Brian Age Seven'" I picked that last year after I lost," Anthony explained. "It's about a man in his son's first grade class looking at a picture his son drew. He's considering what his son's picture means to himself and about his son. 'The Lamb', I like it because it creates an image about an image, and how she thinks about the image and what she thought about World War II.
"I think poetry is really interesting," Anthony continued. "Being able to share poetry, which is an easy way for people to express how they are feeling, is a much more accessible way than writing a novel. I think this is a good way to teach kids about poetry and get kids interested in poetry."
At the WMA competition, Moonsu "Jackson" Kang '20 won the international category and Maggie Kuhn '20 earned first place in the English 10 division.