Watch CBS News

Baltimore Woman Shares Love, Passion Of Poetry At Western High School Where She Was Once A Student

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- There is an award-winning Baltimore team you may never have heard of; they're a slam poetry team called DewMore.

A "slam" is a competition where poets perform their original work.

DewMore teaching artist Mecca Verdell is known as Meccamorphosis wherever she performs her original work. Now, she's performing it all over the country.

The 22-year-old is a professional poet with a manager and an agent. She started writing when a friend invited her to the poetry club at Western High School.

"I was like, I can do this," Verdell said. "Like, I can do that too. I want to do it. It was just me being competitive saying, I gotta write better than everybody."

Now, Verdell is back at Western High School running the poetry workshop. Her poems are deeply personal, carefully crafted and always memorized.

WJZ's Denise Koch: You write a poem every day?

Mecca Verdell: Yes.

WJZ's Denise Koch: You wrote one today?

Mecca Verdell: Oh, no. Because I was rushing here.

Starting as a DewMore member, Verdell is now an emerging voice in poetry.

"All art, and specifically poetry, is really you just creating your own definition on how you feel right now," Verdell said. "That's what I tell my students, you're creating your own definition on how you feel right now."

"It was just a whirlwind of opportunities and awards and accolades and it made me very proud of myself," Verdell added.

Verdell will be at the Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore on Saturday, February 22, at 1 p.m.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.