Chatham High School Poet Teaches Poetry Basics To Kids At Upcoming Workshop

CHATHAM, NJ — A four-week workshop is starting up for children in the Chathams where they can learn how to express themselves through poetry, taught to them by an award-winning Chatham High School poet.

Limited seats are still available for the workshop at the Library of The Chathams on Thursdays from 4 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 7, 14, 21 and 28, in the Women’s Club Room.

Jocelyn Xu, now a Chatham High School junior, who was given a coveted Gold Key for the Regional Scholastic Writing Awards in Feb. 2021, plans to teach the youngsters in attendance about different poetry “terms and definitions, as well as the various formats and styles.”

During her freshman year of high school when the pandemic first hit, Xu’s English teacher Rachel Ruffner said Xu’s poetry writing sparked, with it “an outlet to process and convey her feelings” of that time in quarantine, as well as her concerns for “unfortunate social injustices that continue to permeate society.”

Xu’s poem “The Weight of Melanin,” received the Gold Key recognition in the Poetry Writing category, with a Silver Key for her piece,“My Father Plays the Piano.” Her poems, “Postscript,” “Eulogy to Peonies” and “When We Fold: A Guide for the Colorblind,” were given honorable mentions.

To register a child for all four weeks of the poetry workshop, click here.

Read more about Xu here on nj.com

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