CALEB NICKERSON
FORT COULONGE
March 28, 2018
The auditorium at École secondaire Sieur de Coulonge was packed on Friday night as students performed in the third annual poetry slam event, with this year’s iteration entitled: À Coeurs Ouverts (Open Hearts).
Dozens of students clambered in front of the audience to perform short written pieces, nervously reciting lines from iPhones and sheets of loose leaf.
Teacher and event organizer Dominique Bomans explained that the nearly 50 students that participated were mostly from secondary four and five, along with a few from secondary three. They worked on their pieces for about two months, polishing their prose and delivery.

As the title of the event implies, the young poets bared their inner feelings for the community, covering everything from banal to the incredibly meaningful. As there is every year, one student wrote about how they procrastinated and couldn’t come up with a topic. Another wrote about losing a loved one to cancer.
An hour and a half rolled by before the first intermission, but the audience still paid rapt attention to the speakers. The atmosphere of the room was more of a group therapy session than a performance, with a mix of laughter and tears.
“I felt that students went into serious things,” said Bomans. “Slam is much more than a school event. They have feelings in their hearts that they want to share.”
Due to the growing popularity of the event, she said she is looking at hosting multiple events throughout the year, perhaps even including submissions from teachers and the general public.