The Poetics of Flint: Teen Poets Create Detailed Portraits of Flint Through Verse

On PBS NewsHour Corinne Segal visits Raise It Up!, a youth arts organization in Flint, Michigan where five teen poets discuss the ways that poetry is helping them to express nuanced portraits of daily life in Flint.

At a low point in the summer of 2013, Flint student Razjea Bridges turned to poetry.

“I kind of shut out everybody all throughout that year. Poetry was kind of the one thing that I relied on to make me feel better,” she said.

It was her second year with Raise It Up!, a youth arts organization based in Flint, where she performed on a slam team with other young poets from the city. Going to their weekly practice, and talking to Raise It Up! co-founder Natasha Thomas-Jackson, helped her pull through what she said was one of the most difficult seasons of her life. “Being with the poets on the team, being with Natasha and having that encouraging, positive spirit really did save my life,” she said.

Bridges, who now attends Eastern Michigan University, joined four other young poets with Raise It Up! and tap dancer Leilani Clay to perform on Feb. 28 at #JusticeForFlint, an event that showcased a range of voices from a city known chiefly, at the moment, for its water crisis. These poets say the water is merely the latest in a string of events that have brought negative press to Flint, overshadowing the innovative artists and activists that live and work there every day.

Learn more at NewsHour.