by Michael Atwood Mason
CEO, President Lincoln’s Cottage
guest contributor

On Thursday, April 28th, poetry and song rang out across the south lawn of President Lincoln’s Cottage. The Cottage welcomed about 150 people for “Ride the Verse,” the annual poetry slam organized by the Roosevelt High School Poetry Club with the support of Friends of Roosevelt, a non-profit dedicated to supporting global students, the arts, athletics and more at Roosevelt.

The parlor served as the green room for the excited performers, till Princess Best of One Common Unity invited each one onto the veranda-stage: Seventeen students recited original poems and spoken-word, sang original songs, and performed covers.

Like the restless minds of young people, the poetry addressed a range of subjects, including social issues, mental health concerns, and—of course--love. Ethan Anderson recited “Homeless Man.” Mischa Smitherman dropped the line, “She cried with the voices of her son in her head.” My personal favorite was Casadra Zelaya Torres, “Love was meant for me. It was meant for everybody.”

It was easy to imagine Abraham Lincoln listening to these budding poets with rapt attention—till DJ De Juan Nunn—also known as DJ Epicsituation — played “Wobble,” and students, teachers, staff and families rose to the challenge, filling the south lawn with joyous movement and sound. Lincoln loved young people, so it is easy to imagine him smiling as they showed off their skills.

This celebration of the arts was the largest after-hours event to date for the Poetry Club, which was started this year by Roosevelt teachers Emily Gómez and Erich Heckel. The Poetry Club shared t-shirts designed especially for the event by student Timoire King.

The Armed Forces Retirement Home and the Metropolitan Police Department deserve special thanks for their flexible support of this event.

The team at President Lincoln’s Cottage was thrilled to help host this event. We thrive on using this special place the way the Lincolns did, and that means experiencing the whole range of human feelings and aspirations—from celebrating poetry and song to struggling with the enduring love for a lost family member, as our exhibition “Reflections on Grief and Child Loss” does.

Strong communities sustain a sense of identity through local traditions, a sense of history, and special places—like the Cottage. Our goal is to serve local communities by co-creating programming with them at the Cottage. We have a long history of working with local partners, and we plan to expand these collaborations in the future. We preserve this special place, so you can be at the heart of our work. To riff on Cassandra Zelaya Torres, “The Cottage was meant for us. It was meant for everyone.”

#RideTheVerse2022 @LincolnsCottage