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Talking Up: Expressions camp offers creative opportunities

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On Friday, July 15, men, women and children gathered together to hear the words of 35 poets, as they recited their own creative works. The poems included themes of empowerment and confidence, as well as abuse, abandonment, discrimination and more. The poets had written their pieces just the previous week, spending time collaborating and creating. Nearly all of these poets, by the way, were between the ages of 13 and 17.
That’s right—29 teenage residents of Prince George’s County came together during the week of July 10 to 16 for the fifth annual Expressions: Talk Up, Not Down overnight camp, at the Patuxent River 4H Camp.
“I really wasn’t expecting anything—well a lot of work—but it’s actually a lot of fun,” said 12-year old Khiara McClain, a first year camper at Expressions. “I have found a lot of ways to express myself instead of holding it in and getting mad all at once.”

In addition to poetry writing and visual arts sessions, the camp included traditional 4H camp activities such as hiking, canoeing and archery. Staff included the 4H staff, as well as poets Chris Fields (Poetry Man), Neville Adams (Phoenix), J Joy. Matthews Alford (Sistah Joy), Deserie Johnson (Sanjo Jendayi) and Sekeithia Johnson (Queen Gyre), visual artist Pierre Dennis, and counselor Glenda Bullock Willis.

“We give the teens the opportunity to discover their own voice, which is who they are based on their life experience,” said Alford, which often brings out a variety of tones and emotions.

“I didn’t realize I had so much balled up inside,” said second year camper Todi Ajiboye. “I didn’t know I could write poetry like I do.”