During A Lunch, five Mountain Vista students and four English teachers attended the third Poetry Cafe meeting of the year. Poetry Cafe is a relaxed and fun bi-monthly event that gives students and staff the opportunity to indulge in lunch, coffee and some amazing, original poetry pieces written by students and staff alike. “We got the idea to start Poetry Cafe after the Creative Writing Performance Night in the spring,” English teacher and Poetry Cafe sponsor, Staci Stech said, “There were students in the audience who really wanted the opportunity to perform poetry more often, so Josh Brandt, Jeff Hoefs and I decided that it would be a really good idea to have a constant open-mic experience.”

Students Ethan Gregoire, 11, Kate Willyward, 12, Grace Humphries, 12, Sara Prokosch, 12 and Blake Waechter, 12 all attended. Gregoire shared his piece on a girl that he wanted to be friends with, but ended up taking his friendship the wrong way, while Kate Willyward recited her poem about growing up.

“There was this girl who started a total mess,” Gregoire remarked about his poem, “She had a boyfriend and I just wanted to be friends, but I guess the way that I came off made her think that I was in love with her. I wasn’t in love with her, so that was kind of weird.”

“My inspiration for my poem came from the Internet and Mr. Hoefs,” Willyward said, “I wanted to perform something that people would relate to, so I wrote this one.”

The cafe has been around for two years at Mountain Vista now. “Mr. Hoefs, Mr. Brandt and I all decided to start the Poetry Cafe after the Creative Writing Performance Night in the spring,” Stech said, “There were students in the audience who really wanted the opportunity to perform poetry more often, so we thought it would be a good idea to create an open-mic experience like this.”

“One of my philosophies for education is that all students should have a place where they feel free to express themselves,” English teacher and Poetry Cafe sponsor, Mr. Hoefs, said, “We have a lot of places for art, athletics, student spirit and music where kids can do that, but there are still kids out there whose outlets are writing and poetry. The purpose of the Poetry Cafe and the Creative Writing Night in the spring is so that these types of students can have their outlet and express themselves.”

In addition to the two students, Mr. Brandt and Mr. Stech both also recited their own poems while Mr. Fisher and Mr. Hoefs listened. Ms. Stech’s poem was a beautiful piece called “The Sun Rises and Falls” and Mr. Brandt recited an unnamed poem about a crazy experience he had at a crosswalk.

“Poetry Cafe is a really relaxed and fun environment,” Stech said, “Everyone’s welcome to attend, you aren’t required to perform poetry and we promise that if you do attend, you will hear some awesome poetry. We really look forward to having some more people attend.”

Poetry Cafe meets every first and third Thursday of the month during A Lunch in Room U311. The Cafe is sponsored by English teachers, Mr. Hoefs, Josh Brandt and Ms. Stech. Their next meeting on October 6. Come to perform, come to listen, come for the coffee, come to Poetry Cafe!