The BACC Rag: Annelie Hyatt Performs at the Nuyorican

Oct. 26, 2014

AnnelieHyattArticlePic — 7th Grader, Annelie Hyatt, Performs at Writopia's Spoken Word

by humanities7 and Mr. Lakhaney

BSGE 7th grade Annelie Hyatt performed her spoken word poem titled, The Immaturity Dissection (full poem included below), at a recent event at Writopia's Spoken Word at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Annelie wrote this poem as part of a program she attends at Writopia Labs where she has been developing her writing for the past couple of years.

Annelie says that she was always into writing and then two or three years ago her mom helped her find this program. At Writopia ?there are instructors who are published authors in literary magazines and newspapers who come to teach kids who like writing once a week? Annelie explains. Each week the kids get to "sit on comfy couches and chrome book computers and at the start of the workshop you do some games or answer some prompts and then get into writing and at the end you get to share out your stories and get feedback." The poem featured in the video took her one or two days to write and then got revised. Since she started with the program she has written around 20 different stories and poems. She would recommend this program to other students who like to write.

In addition to writing and performing, Annelie interns at Writopia and works with some of the younger kids on their writing but sometimes she gets embarrassed because, as she explains, "some of them [the younger kids she works with] are taller than me so they think I'm one of the younger students. It's really embarrassing."

Eventually Annelie hopes to gather all of her written works and publish them. Here are links to two of her other performances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm70kmYZs5c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5HWbvBzQVE

Writopia Labs offers programs for kids aged 6-18 and according to their website, Writopia Lab is a not-for-profit organization that fosters joy, literacy, and critical thinking in children and teens from all backgrounds through creative writing.

Immaturity Dissection by Annelie Hyatt

Dear future self:

Yes, I am immature

because ignorance

is the dark matter

that makes up the universe

and you only see bodies but not

souls

and you're scared

to start believing again

because believers get hurt by society

and no one has time to dream

because the age of stories

is over

and you think you're mature

but maturity is an illusion

and adolescence

the death of not your body

but your soul

and in my world

you don't breath air

but the stuff of stars

and you can dream dreams

bigger than the sun

and no one will laugh at you

and I'm immature

with a wall

that blocks you out

because the maturity disease will not

kill me

like it already killed you

and in my world

I go on adventures

far more interesting than our lives

will ever be

and I'm sorry

that you had to miss out

on those adventures

because you wanted to get a head start in life

and I won't let adolescence break me down

because I'm stronger than adolescence

and I will shake the earth with my dreams

and I will never be forgotten

and I don't want you to be forgotten either

because money is a drug

and we're all addicted to it

and it makes the skies black

and the world smokey

and that murderer who was hired to

kill a little girl

went home to his family

and ate for the first time

in so many days

and that girl

looked down from the skies

and knew that she had made that family

so happy

and she forgave them

and that man at the store who sells those cigarettes

sells them for money

and doesn't feel the regret that used to well up in his heart

and at midnight that girl in her bedroom

wakes up

to see her mother

place a dollar bill under her pillow and throw

the tooth away in the trash

and she feels betrayed

and I might be broken down by adolescence

and my soul might die out

and I might become that ordinary adult

but believe me

there will always be a part of me that

will always believe

in you.

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