Joneise McCrae, a 15 year-old junior who attends Curtis High School, will be hosting a slam poetry night for teens at Cromwell Center this upcoming July!
After her spoken word was published in a literary magazine for Curtis High School students called The Kaleidoscope, Joneise realized how talented her fellow peers were. It was at that point she decided to somehow form a local event to showcase written work by Staten Island teenagers.
As a volunteer with The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Joneise can be found behind the camera and participating in park events across Staten Island. So, it was only natural for her to bring the idea for a poetry night to the attention of her mentors within the NYC Parks Department. As always, Cromwell Center jumped on the opportunity to help Staten Island’s youth culture with their creative endeavors.
The showcase will be held at 7:00 P.M. on July 3rd, at the Cromwell Recreation Center, Pier 6, on Murry Hulbert Avenue. Please come out and show these young poets some support. Joneise, along with other teen poets, will be given four minutes to recite either one long piece or several short pieces. When asked which of her poems may be a prospect for the evening she commented, “Miss. Invisible,” A poem she wrote because she feels that, “Sometimes you just wanna disappear and get away.”