(crowd cheering) (microphone feedback echoing) (heartbeat pounding) (young man inhaling and exhaling (gentle music) Storytelling is one of our oldes and most revered art forms.

As humans, we've shared our tales around campfires through the voices of griots and in the rhythm of spoken word These stories tell us who we are and where we come from.

Sharing our stories and listening to others helps us connect, heal and grow.

- We were born with this instrum that we have to learn how to pla We can use our voices and showcase emotions really tied to words and thoughts.

- We want the poet on stage to tell us something that tells us, "I see you, I feel what you feel, and I validate you."

- It's taking a lived experience, putting it on a page Step one is writing the work for And then step two is sharing it.

And in that sharing, it transfor (inspiring music) - [Narrator] Get Lit empowers our young poets through the power of spoken word with a mission to uplift youth through innovative programs.

At the heart of this mission is the Classic Slam.

Now in its 13th year, this slam is a major competition where students from all over LAUSD come together, performing in front of over 1000 In an era of literary crisis in Get Lit takes the charge.

By integrating the Classic Slam into their curriculum, students earn school credit and open doors to a brighter fut - The Classic Slam reminds me of the passion I felt when I first discovered spoken word.

- When you write something so personal to you, it's very scary to go up there and just say it out loud in front of people that you don't even know.

- I feel pretty brave.

I get to share me to a lot of pe - I've been coming to the Get Lit Classic Slams since I was in sixth grade.

(she sighs) - I didn't expect it to be so in It was nerve wracking.

- Oh, I'm gonna make sure people listen to me.

- I wanna win the whole thing with my team.

Be Get Lit champions.

- [Students] Get Lit Slam '24!

(students cheering) (student sighs) - [Student] Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously.

- [Students] Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously.

Bodega, bodega, Topeka bodega.

- You know you love unique New York.

(students laughing) - You know!

- As we do always, randomly one of us is gonna go up, say our classic poem, do the who "My name is whatever, whatever, I'm from Zane Grey Continuation High School.

My classic poem, I'm reciting blah blah blah."

And then- - We should - - On to response.

- Okay.

- We should practice how to like, perform it.

- Yeah 'cause I was helping Rosemary earlier.

- We can do the first one as solely on memorization.

We don't really have to focus on (delicate music) My name is Abigail Escobar and I'm 16 years old, from the one and only Zane Grey Continuation High Scho And I am in this position for writing a poem that I thought was going to be a singular, short term project.

And I am still a part of this new world, honestly.

Well, I've always enjoyed writing and all that, but then when I heard about this and it's like, "Well there's this program and it's called Get Lit.

And you basically write a poem and you perform it in front of p And if you're lucky, you'll get into semifinals."

I was like, no.

Poetry, uh-uh.

Performing in front of that many people?

No.

And then they said, "Well, it's worth 40 points."

(sighs sharply) All right.

(gentle piano music) - My name is Isabella Michaels.

Poetry has been my life for eight years now.

It's really something that I lov and it's something that brings me a lot of joy.

I was in sixth grade and I saw people do poetry.

I had never seen poetry, slam poetry, in my life.

And then suddenly it was on my r and it was all I could think abo I saw the kind of vulnerability that I'd never seen before.

I was a very emotional, sensitiv and I feel like nobody really understood that when I was growing up.

It was very much like, hush hush And so when I saw people like, being very open about things that really affected their lives all these things that like, you don't really tell anyone, it was amazing to me and I thought it connected with me so deeply and I knew that it must connect with everyone.

And I think I wanted to make poe that could be shared with the wo - There's a lack of brown and black boys in poetry spaces and it's taken me a little bit to wrap my mind around it because when I came into the poetry scene here in LA, it was predominantly a male comm - Yeah, when I was doing spoken there were a ton of Black and br I mean, it was one of my favorite parts of being a poet when I was a teenager, okay?

- In my team, at least, most of the poets are young women.

And that's been the case every y - 'Cause I felt it too at the be I thought, "You know, this is not a guy thing."

- Man, being the only boy on the team was different.

I saw the list, I'm looking.

I'm like, "Yeah, I'm the only bo - I think there aren't a lot of boys in poetry because a lot of the times in so boys expressing how they feel is looked down upon.

It's really hard for them to be vulnerable.

And I know a lot of guys struggle with that.

So I think that's a reason why a lot of guys aren't in poetry.

- There's not a lot of black boy because expressing your emotions you look soft or you're not manl when really expressing your emotions is more a man than not, because you're coming to terms with yourself.

And if you think expressing your emotions is lame, what is Kendrick doing?

What is Tupac doing?

Expressing their emotions throug Rap.

Rap is poetry.

(upbeat hip-hop music) - You know, I got a lot of feeli that I like to write about and a lot of it comes from baske It was really toxic.

So I had a lot of hatred in my heart for that.

But towards the end of last year around when I left basketball, I felt a little loss.

A lot of people would be telling "Well, just go play ball.

You know, isn't that shit suppos to get the anger out of you?

Get all the bad feelings out of But no, you know, it was just adding a lot of anger.

(upbeat hip-hop music continuing When I left, I would write and just write down my feelings and I realized, yo, this is pret This is pretty cool.

(chuckles) - If I hadn't gotten into poetry I would be spiraling all over th because I wouldn't have an outlet for my emotions.

- One of the ways that I would love to engage more young Black and brown boys is making sure that we have Black and brown men in arts and education organizati If they can see someone that looks like them, there's gonna be an easier way to connect with those folks.

(tense string music) - Welcome, welcome, welcome (woman cheering) to the Classic Slam!

- So excited!

- Yes.

(students squealing) - [Girl] When I came off the bus I just, I felt a little nervous.

(students chattering) - I didn't think it was gonna be all these kids lined up outside.

So then I was a little nervous 'cause of that.

I don't know, like this isn't normal for me.

I don't go out my way to do stuff like this, you know?

At first, I thought it was just my teachers forcing me to do it or whatever and be like, "Come on, come on."

But then I like, willingly started to do it because I actually enjoyed it.

(students chanting) - [Students] We all say give it up for Zane Grey!

(all cheering) - Can I get a what?

- [All Students] What?

- What?

(all cheering) - [Students] We're Bravo Knights day and night.

We're Bravo Knights, we put up a We're Bravo Knights, now gimme t Go Bravo go!

(all cheering) - Last year, I came here as like so everything felt familiar and I had goosebumps so it was extremely fun, but I was very nervous.

- When I say "Classic," you say Classic!

- Slam!

- Classic!

- Slam!

- If you like poetry, make some (everyone cheering) (inspiring music) - Welcome to the 13th annual Cla brought to you by Get Lit!

Words ignite!

(crowd cheering) The Classic Slam is the largest youth classic poetry festival in the world, featuring hundreds of young poet from schools all over Southern California area, all competing for the championsh Oh!

(suspenseful music) (students cheering) A poetry slam is a competition at which poets perform their wor and are judged by members of the Here at Get Lit, we combine clas with original modern responses.

You'll hear young people recite and respond to poems by Walt Whi Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath, Langston Hughes, Tupac and Kendrick Lamar!

(students cheering) To us, a classic means timeless.

(inspiring music) Coming up to the stage, clap it up for Bravo!

(students cheering) - The light's very bright and you feel like you're, it's almost like sun, like each spotlight is a sun and it's like it's shining on yo and it's, "Oh my God, I'm the shit," you know?

(laughs) My response poem is "What The Wo (crowd clapping) They linger to my clothes, to my cooked smile, to my five two and sluggish spin They enter my ears, hit the branches of my brain, and they get stuck there.

(students snapping their fingers And everyone was like, (snapping and I just felt the vibes.

I was like, "Oh, I'm so excited.

I own the crowd, I'm just standi And I felt very confident.

Yeah.

(crowd cheering) So keep your words to yourself or I'll be louder and over scream you with love fo (crowd cheering loudly) (upbeat pop music) Next, clap it up for Zane Grey!

(crowd cheering) - This is the first time I've ever performed.

The way that moment was for me, I was like very nervous, like I didn't want to get up outta my chair, but once I got up, like everybody was clapping and stuff, so it felt good.

(crowd cheering) And my response poem is named "S Echoing in my head, your songs came to an end.

My best friend.

Your life was cut off by a threa Driven away by the temptation of temporary bliss.

I never understood, why was it so hard to resist?

Echo.

Wait, dang.

(students snapping and cheering) And I had messed up once, but when I messed up, everybody was like clapping stuf It was very like supportive, I f Like everybody was just showing (students clapping) The pills in the palm of your ha used to mute out the sounds of v echoing through your mind.

All I hear now is your silence.

After I walked offstage, I felt Everything was like, it was like a big weight off my shoulder, you know, like it felt good.

(crowd cheering) There's a lot of good energy her (upbeat pop music) - After the break, we were all l "Ah, we're not making it to semi Like we might as well just go ho And we literally just started walking down the street to a park and we were all talkin about how we were gonna get back - Zane Grey, 116.2.

- Oh my god.

It's exactly the same as this on - Now gonna make the announcemen For the teams moving on to semi- we have Bravo (everyone cheering) and we have Zane Grey.

(everyone cheering) - Our poetry teacher, Ms. Kernic called us and she said, "Where are you guys at?

You guys made it to semifinals."

We were like, "What?"

So we all rushed back down here and we got into our seats and then we were like looking around the stage like "Wow, we really made it in here.

- We got six teams competing in the semi-finals round.

(crowd cheering) - Being the only continuation school in the competition and making it in the big stage for the first time, it was very surreal.

- My response poem is titled "Generational."

(crowd snapping fingers) Jose.

The name of a man, I share a last name with.

The name of a man who called himself my father, the sound of mine only serving as a reminder of just how much I am his daught And what if the flaming waves of rushing to my chest doesn't stif What if the coldness of a drink strong enough to make me forget about my last is the only thing that quenches (crowd cheering) I am drunk on memory.

So I wrote it because I was angr and I wrote it because I was angry at myself that I allow myself to be this angry person.

And I was angry at the fact that I was gonna perform it in front of people and I was angry at the fact that I didn't even wanna write about Like I didn't even want to do th and now I have to write it and now I have to face something that I don't want to face.

Once I performed it and once I was really getting in it was more of like, I'm not mad You know, anger is a secondary e Like I was just, I just missed h (emotional music) (Angie speaking Spanish) thank you for being my daughter Thank you for being my daughter.

The only words I remember in his voicemail, the only words that he never hea from the person that was supposed to be there for him, the same exact way he should have been there for me.

(crowd cheering and snapping fin I felt very proud of myself in t and I felt like, "Okay, maybe I did do a good job It feels nice to receive some kind of positive reinforcement.

- Even as I walked down the step it wasn't going through my mind "Okay, I'm really doing this," until I was at the microphone and saw everybody just like, google eyes looking at me, waiting for me to say some, like Shakespeare great speech or what My abuela told me we were meeting family next week.

I remember staring at her stupid rapidly filled by the panic our reunions bring.

A pressure coiling in the joints of my jaw, gnawing to constrain my complain Yet all I had simply told her wa "All right.

That's cool."

(crowd snapping fingers) My response poem was initially going to be about how I hated family reunions.

I just, the discomfort and the p and it's just, (gentle music) it just feels really fake to me.

And I was gonna go from that to me hating family reunions, like, distancing myself away from my cousins, and now it leads to her death and the family reunion I'm having is her own funeral and I don't get to know her because I had hated those family because I had never went.

I must attempt to compress all this distress, but I never knew you.

I know of you from the stories I our low quality photos, the clearest one from your own m bluest of its kind.

I should have known, I should have realized there's so many reasons of guilt.

I don't know which ones are mine (emotional music) At her funeral, I didn't speak at her funeral.

I was like, "Ugh, I'm surrounded by all these people who say are my family but I haven't seen them in years."

They're more strangers to me and I'm pretty sure that's how they see me.

Like what would I even say?

I can't shake the feeling of jus this shame and regret, like I should have put up with just a few minutes of disco if it meant that I would have a few minutes to speak with my cousin when she was alive at those family reunions.

But I'm never gonna get that.

So I just try to feel when I say my poem, kind of like an apology.

Stop walking all over her.

I swear, if you reach over to try to cover her deep brown e to press a walking signal, you impatient prick, I promise I'll take you with me.

(crowd cheering) But none of that will happen, th because I'll clean the graves, I'll keep my balance, I'll leave you flowers.

(crowd cheering loudly) - [MC] Give it up for your girl Abbi from Zane Grey!

(emotional music) - [Girl] Go Abbi!

- [Abigail] When I sat down, I felt very shaky.

Like I felt like I couldn't believe that I did do that.

- I was very proud of my team because I feel like they did 10 times better than they did in the practices.

Like they really put their all into it today.

Especially with Abby and Dez, li they really like, put their all into this poem.

It was crazy.

I loved it.

- I'm proud of my team.

We did a very good job.

(lively music) - We made it to semi-finals!

- Hell yeah, dude.

I'm like... - The biggest thing that I feel that has changed about me ever since I started doing this was just my confidence and the way that I felt about my I'm proud of myself, you know, I feel proud in myself.

(inspiring music continuing) - Congratulations for making this to the finals of the Classic Slam 2024.

Make some noise for yourself!

(students clapping) From now until the end of the ni please enjoy every second of it.

How do you do that?

Look each other in the eyes.

Meet people you haven't met befo Listen to all the new poems you're about to experience in th And breathe.

Breathe, breathe.

B When I say, "Spoken," y'all say, Spoken!

- Word!

- Spoken!

- Word!

- When I say, "I made it," y'all say, "Finals."

I made it!

- Finals!

- I made it!

- Finals!

- Good, good, good.

Hands in the Hands in the middle.

Hands in th Get in here.

I'm not that sweaty, y'all.

Get in here, get in here.

What's our dedication tonight?

W - Love, love.

- Love?

- Okay, really loud on the count - Okay.

- Love on the count of three.

One, two, three!

- [Everyone] Love!

- All right, get outta my face.

(inspiring music) - When I heard I was selected to be a sacrificial poet, man, I was a little nervous.

I was like, "Whoa.

Me?"

In the end, I'm really lucky to It's a huge honor to be able to represent something, you know, I take great pride in.

- It's a big thing for me 'cause I'm in the ninth grade, so this is my first year I'm doi and it's just like, "Wow!"

(sweeping emotional music) (students exclaiming and laughin - People and gentle people, welcome to the 13th annual Get Lit Classic Slam extravaganz (crowd cheering) Tonight, we will witness the four highest ranked teams compete for the championship tit (crowd cheering) - Hi, my name is Henna Lopez-Spe - Hi, my name is Navonne Love.

Our response poem is titled "Sea - Working with my partner Navonne on our response poem, was definitely a journey.

(laugh It was definitely a rollercoaste He's very free-spirited.

So I've learned to just be mysel and portray that through my poem - Henna, that's like my sister right there.

She has taught me to become more and focused with my emotions and when it comes to writing, to not wander off and to try and stay on a steady story.

And she's also taught me that, side note, being in high school and like maneuvering my way, 'cause it was my first year as a and I really appreciate that fro 'cause she didn't necessarily have to do that, but she stepped up to be my quote-unquote older sister and really took the lead.

(emotional music) Don't leave this house without m but don't be looking like no dam (crowd shouting) - Of course I wouldn't wanna disappoint you.

Or do I just fear what will happ if I try to have freedom?

- You eat too much.

You don't smile enough.

- [Both] Why are you wearing rip I told you you look like a prost (crowd cheering) - My response poem is titled "The Math Lessons That You'll Us For The Rest Of Your Life."

Length times width equals area I don't want to take up.

Peeling away meals and falling asleep early so I won't be hungry.

I make my own worksheets and dia detailing how to make a bag of chips last an entire day.

Dividing and dividing and dividi until the area I take up is smaller than your average fourth grade girl who just learned about volume and doesn't want to take up spac (crowd cheering) - It's been such an honor to sit in that audience and listen to y'all.

Some of you made me cry, so if my makeup is messed up.

It's your fault.

(laughs) But it's a true, true joy.

I just wanna share with you before I jump into my poem, "You you keep us adults honest, so please, (crowd cheering) please, please, please, please, keep that verocity you have toda Keep being unapologetic and brav because it is really, really ins Like, I wanna go home and write some real brave poems after this.

(crowd cheering) - It is time to crown the 13th a Get Lit Classic Slam champions.

- Does anyone wanna hear the scores tonight?

(crowd cheering) Geffri, will you kick it off?

- Yes.

So as the highest scoring poet tonight with 32.8, we have Hamilton's own Isabella (emotional music) (crowd cheering) - Isabella, you wanna say a word - I love y'all.

Thank you.

Poetry has changed my life.

Than I couldn't believe it.

It was like, literally a dream c - For the first time in Get Lit tied for first place are Venice High School with a 12 (students cheering) and Mark Keppel!

(students screaming in excitemen (crowd cheering) Congratulations, everybody!

- Thank you!

- It's very much like a family.

When you do these competitions, you get really close and you're working together all And once it ended, we were all c and it was super surreal and I love those people to death.

They're awesome.

(emotional music) - I am very competitive and sometimes it's scary because I hate losing.

I really hate losing.

So, and we got third place.

I was like, "Man!"

But it's okay I got three more years and, uh, best believe I'm winning one of them.

(students cheering) (inspiring music)