The Belmont Hill Poetry Fest is an annual event renowned by all members of the Belmont Hill community, and this year’s performances were no exception. Every boy in the school must memorize and perform a poem in their English class, with each class sending their best performer to the semifinals; from there, the very best performances go on to perform before the whole school in a long school meeting, with three boys crowned as the winners.
This year, there were twelve finalists who performed before the school. Owen Pickette of the Fourth Form recited “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Sixth Former DJ Demetri performed “A Letter to the President” by Prince Ea, Charlie Booth of Third Form delivered “If” by Rudyard Kipling, Fourth Former Macdony Charles presented “Because He’s Black” by Javon Johnson, Yazeed Dahleh of the First Form recited “Alone” by Edgar Allen Poe, Alex Czarnecki of the Fifth Form performed “For the Life of Me” by Taylor Mali, First Former Timothy McCormack performed “Woman Work” by Maya Angelou, Seth Israel of the Fourth Form recited “Cartoon Physics, Part 1” by Nick Flynn, Charles Mullaney of the Second Form performed “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” by Emily Dickinson, Third Former Hamza Shemsu delivered “Complainers” by Rudy Francisco, Brendan Pulsifer of the Sixth Form performed “Rhapsody on a Windy Night” by T. S. Eliot, and Fourth Former Coleman Walsh closed out the chapel with his rendition of “Ten Responses to the Phrase ‘Man Up’ ” by Guante.
While all the chapel performances were recited phenomenally, there could only be three winners in the end. DJ Demetri’s “A Letter to the President,” a slam poem which he performed with conviction and emotion regarding the problems that America faces today, was the first victor. Macdony Charles won with his rendition and passionate performance of “Because He’s Black”, a poem regarding race and its impact on a child. Brendan Pulsifer was the third and final winner, with his confident and well-delivered recitation of “Rhapsody on a Windy Night.” Overall, the poetry fest was a great success, allowing students to both witness the hard work of their peers and enjoy hearing poetry.
