Spoken word poetry—”best in class”

In grand halls where echoes blend,

Classical music, time transcends.

Violins sing a soaring line,

In their melody, dreams twirl.

Cellos hum with a deeper voice,

In their resonance, hearts rejoice.

Woodwinds whisper like forest breeze,

Notes fluttering through fall trees.

clarinets and flutes, in a nonchalant way,

Dance in the soft clear air.

Brass resounds in a courageous way,

Trumpets and horns declare every note.

Their bold fanfare, rich and profound,

In royal tones, their stories sound.

Percussion echoes, a rhythmic heart,

Timpani and snare, set everything in order.

Their beats, like the pulse of the earth,

Give the music depth and worth.

Conductor’s baton, a magic wand,

Guides each note, a bond beyond.

In its gesture, the music sways,

A symphony of nights and days.

In crescendo’s rise and a soft decrescendo,,

classical music, a timeless window.

It flows like rivers to the sea,

Turning stories into note.

It was such a devastating weekend. I had three big assignments just due Monday, which made me work for almost every hour on the weekends. One of the biggest assignments was to write a spoken poem of your own. I couldn’t believe how the class went so fast and went from “What is a poem?” to “Write a 2-minute long spoken poem” in a week. I’ve almost never written a poem, even in Korean. That’s why this turned into my hardest English assignment so far.

I started by choosing my topic and what to write about. I thought classical music would be a great topic, since that is one of the things that I’m extremely passionate about. I particularly wanted to write about the orchestra in the symphony. I picked Beethoven’s 5th symphony as the model for my symphonic poem since I consider it to be the greatest piece of all time. I listened to the symphony carefully and pondered what makes me so happy when I hear this piece. Soon I decided to divide the stanzas with different instruments and write the beautiful roles of each instrument in the symphony. I worked for more than 3 hours to find the most beautiful word and rhyme for the poem, and it turned out great.

When I finally spoke my poem in front of the class, I was really confident about it because I knew it was great. After every student finished their presentation, we voted on who was the best. I looked forward to the result, and my expectations were successful. When I got the best in class and got a full score, I felt I proved to myself that I can do well in my worst class better than other friends if I work hard enough. My parents were also very proud of me, and I was very proud of myself as well