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Jordan diPalma wowed the crowd with his poetry

One of our teen correspondents at JRHS, Summer Cash sent this in:

The third annual poetry slam at James River High School, sponsored by Currents 2009, the art and literary magazine, hosted 24 poets from both James River and Lord Botetourt High School.

The tie for the two winning poems went to Jordan DiPalma, a sophomore at James River, and Terri Wallace of Lord Botetourt. DiPalma’s poem was entitled “Writer’s Block” and told the tale of a writer hopelessly caught with a big blank page and nothing to fill it. Finally, in the end of his poem, the writer realizes his subject matter. Wallace’s poem is told from the point of view of a soldier in the battle of Thermopylae. This soldier doubts the value of what he and his fellow comrades are doing, which causes this soldier sees the hopelessness of war.

The judges, Dee Sheffer and Jenny Pearson, also awarded four honorable mentions: Wren Hoyt for her poem, “Two,” Jakob Kelley for his poem, “The Doll,” Rhett Norris for his poem, “Growth,” and Jessica Webb for her poem, “Obession,”

Other poets who read are John Bentley, Jessica Bocock, Victoria Bosely, Amelia Cassell, Kristina Dant, Morgan Deacon, Anthony Garrison, Lauren Hall, Trent Jolin, Sandi Mahon, Stephen Marion, Kellie McKnight, Miana Patterson, Ashley Reynolds, Kim Rickman, Amanda Rogers, and Jennifer Stull,

For entertainment while the judges were making their decisions, the James River Choir, under the direction of Joel Bremner, performed five selections. Members of the choir include: Summer Cash, Shannon Hodges, Krista Hylton, Jenifer Moss, Aurelia Persinger, Kim Rickman, and Vanessa Stowell.

The SADD club, sponsored by Katie Jennings, provided the concessions for this evening event.