The halls of Heritage High School have gotten a little artsier this April, as the Upbeats Poetry Club works to help students celebrate National Poetry Month.
The club has selected a new poet each day to be featured on the Poetry Wall outside of the Second Floor Lecture Hall. On Monday, April 14, the club chose to feature member and poet Shannon Pansini ’15. She is passionate about the importance of poetry to society, and has been writing since her freshman year.
“Much like art, poetry expresses our emotions in a profound and meaningful way. It composes our words into a kaleidoscope of new and beautiful ideas that allow our voice to be heard and our imagination to be, well, put simply, imagined,” says Pansini.
Club co-sponsor Ms. Meagan Wilson has a love for poetry and looks at National Poetry Month as a way to expose the building to a unique art form.
“People are still writing poetry, and we want to make people aware of that. It isn’t just about reading the words of a bunch of dead Victorian men. It’s a living art,” says Wilson.
Upbeats set up this poetry wall outside of the Second Floor Lecture Hall. A new poet is featured each day.
Pansini has written many poems since her freshman year, including “This is not what love is, this is why it exists,” which can be found below. She keeps a few goals in mind when creating a new piece.
“I’d like my poems to not only mean something to me but also to the people who read them. If I can get someone to really tap into their inner self just by reading my poems, I have done my job,” says Pansini.
Pansini has found fans of her writing in both the other members of Upbeats, as well as the sponsors.
“Shannon’s poetry is very emotional and personal. It’s important for people to be willing to be vulnerable. She’s really willing to put herself out there,” says Wilson.
Students interested in writing poetry are welcome to join Upbeats, which meets every Monday after school in room 206.
“This is not what love is, this is why it exists.”
By Shannon Pansini
Brothers, sisters…
The love we have for you is so strong,
The love we have is unstoppable it comes
From the heart.
Every pump of blood rushes through our
Body because our heart isn’t as strong
As people think, just know we are
Thinking of you.
I try to fake a smile, some days just
To make the world smile around me,
But what I now realize,
It’s ok to cry sometimes.
Pain gives us chills,
Our body wants to faint,
Our veins given way,
Our knees collapse to pay
A debt that we feel, we did something
Wrong today.
Tears held in children, their mom and dad gone,
An old man sits by his wife’s
Grave remembering her hugs, YES, even animals too
Have loss in their life, like the elephant and dog, like a horse
And its cat, there is something in their hearts that creates a bonding friendship
Like that.
LOVE. The moments together, the faces we see, the emotions handled like people,
Because WE are humanity.
Though days may seem hard and
Rough from the start, there isn’t a person out there that doesn’t feel your
Hurt.
People don’t like to be lonely, they
Feel sad and confused, when no one is
There for them, no one to amuse.
No one to love, share a warm embrace,
This is the face of loneliness and it
Happens every day.
I would cry a tear, day and night
For every single living thing who has dealt, is dealing and will deal with strife.
I would take a fall before I fell,
Give kindness when I could, help out all the people and
Animals just as well.
The world, there is pain, hate, misery, destruction,
We don’t even have good communication.
Tears fall from the eyes of children in fear,
A homeless man reaches his frozen hand out, but no one comes near.
An animal on the streets of hunger and thirst, it hasn’t any home because
No one will give it warmth.
I could speak all day of the bad in the world, like cows sent to the slaughter,
And poverty on earth…
But what about the good that we tend to ignore
Because we give life a price tag and make it a store.
We forget about the simple things like
Love and compassion
We are more engaged with the thoughts of
War and competition. Let’s all take a stand (literally if you will)
To be connected as one, become people with LOVE and FREEWILL.
by 
