Jacksonville (AL) – Brett Buckner from the JSU Press department shared that JSU English students had edited a teen literary project.
Robert Frost defined poetry as the moment when an emotion finds its thoughts and the thought finds words. JSU English students provide a platform for teenage poets around the globe to express themselves through words and thoughts that can inspire others.
The “Teen Sequins”, an online poetry project, has been an offshoot from the literary arts magazine “Gigantic Sequins.” It gives selected poets between the ages of 14 and 18 a platform to share their work. When Dr. Kimberly Southwick Thompson, Assistant Professor of English joined the faculty, both publications were affiliated with JSU. She was the founder of “Gigantic Sequins”, and she served as its editor in chief for 13 years. “Teen Sequins,” however, was an opportunity to provide hands-on experience to students in her publishing practicum class.
She said, “They can participate in real-world publishing projects and all the emotions that go with putting something out there into the real world.” It’s one thing for one person to submit something for an assignment. It’s quite another to make it available for all to see.”
Students are responsible for reviewing submissions, choosing the poem that will be featured online each day and keeping in touch with the authors. They also designed the Teen Sequins section of the “Gigantic Sequins”. Even though it is only available online, this distinction does not mean much to the poets who are sharing their work.
Southwick-Thompson stated that “just because it’s published online doesn’t make it any less of an platform.” It is likely to reach a wide audience due to the way it’s published and promoted online.
Past teen poets were featured in famous literary journals such as “Poetry,” magazine.
Southwick-Thompson stated, “I’m so proud of the ‘Teen Sequins” being one of their jumping points for careers in poetry.”
Sophie Klahr was a former editor of “Gigantic Sequins.” She and Robby Auld (one of her former students) began accepting poetry from teens all across the country in 2015. Klahr handed it over to Southwick Thompson’s publishing practicum class.
Yechan (Chloe), a 14-year-old rising freshman at an international school in Korea, is one of “Teen Sequins’ most recent featured poems. This excerpt was published by “Teen Sequins.”
By Yechan Chloe Le
I like the sound my own laughter and my own screams
I shout my own shouts along with the crowd’s
We dance through vapors from mindscapes
We are loyal.
“Follow the here, now–not whenever–of flow.
To be unafraid and unhindered by a billowing
A mass of opportunities that are not limited by perfection,
I don’t want to hear you tear my paper trail of wanderings
I am being sucked into society greed.
To constraint, to make heartless murmurs, or for
A smile that changes without my …”
