Poetry Jam

Poetry Jam: Students connect with homeless through poetry  

If three Saint Mary’s College students interning at the Center for the Homeless were to describe their semester there, they might choose to do so with a poem.  After all, poetry has been a large part of the experience.

Lauren Theiss ’10, Nikki LeGare ’10, and Meghan Larsen ’09 have spent the past several months at the Center tutoring adults preparing for the GED. It’s a project for their Catholic Social Thought class, led by religious studies professor Joe Incandela. One thing led to another and the students soon found themselves working with Center clients on writing poems about their lives.

Resident Poets  

“We thought it would be a good and healthy way for guests to express their feelings and to be able to write them down,” says Theiss, an education major. Weekly poetry jams followed on Tuesday nights, with the Saint Mary’s students and a couple of Center guests reading their poetry to an audience of residents.

“The poetry jams have been something both the guests at the Center have looked forward to attending, and Nikki, Lauren and I have enjoyed as well,” Larsen says. “There are two men that participate regularly who are great poets. The poetry jams have been a wonderful way to get to know them throughout the semester.”

From the Heart  

The poetry jams enhanced the internship project for the students. "One of the goals of the projects for this course is to enable the student to view our society from the perspective of those on its margins.  The poetry jam has been an innovative way for these students to accomplish this goal," Professor Incandela says.

The students recently “published” the poems at the educational resource center on campus and presented the booklet to the men and the Center. “The book is of all their poetry that they worked on throughout the sessions, Theiss explains. “Both of the men are dear to our hearts and this book brought smiles to both of their faces.”