On Wednesday, March 27, the Concord Academy community gathered in the Performing Arts Center for a required assembly titled “Becoming a Poet” in anticipation of National Poetry Month in April. Organized by beloved English teacher Sabrina Sadique and poetry club co-heads Sam Klein ’24 and Smile Jiang ’24, the event featured in-person readings from accomplished poets Cammy Thomas P’08, who taught English at CA for fourteen years, Soren Stockman ’07, and Chessy Normile ’09.

In her introduction to the assembly, Sadique emphasized the speakers’ intentional connection to the CA community. She described how their return to campus forged another link in the chain reaction of knowledge and learning. With an excited tone, Sadique expressed how she hoped the art shared that afternoon would “concatenate” through the audience. Fellow English teacher Laurence Vanleynseele P’22 expanded upon the theme of linear learning in her heartfelt introduction of Thomas, who had been her coworker and mentor during their joint time in the CA English Department. Her deep admiration for Thomas and obvious gratitude both moved and piqued the interest of the now-captive audience.

Stockman was the first author to share his work, but before diving into his first piece, “To Be Born,” he shared his riveting interpretation of poetry as an “alchemy”: an art form that transmutes both language, ideas, and people. With a powerful voice that demonstrated his emotional connection to and deep understanding of his work, Stockman delivered five thought-provoking poems. He concluded each one with a nuanced subtly that left the audience unsure whether it was time to clap. In those electric moments of quiet, one could perhaps feel the weight of his ideas. Behind me, I frequently overheard audible “Huh”s and “Hmm”s drawn from the audience.

Normile took the podium next, and her eclectic, energetic charisma quickly won over the student body. With characteristic self-deprecating humor, she recounted a startling parallel: she had broken her glasses during her travels back to campus and was forced to tape them together—as she did throughout her high school years. In the spirit of nostalgia, she introduced her first poem, “Hymn for Dan,” expressing a desire to share work inspired by her teenage years. Her effortless comedy frequently elicited boisterous laughter from the crowd, who remained engaged and entertained through the reading. Her true mastery, however, was in the way deep emotional meaning would sneak up in her relatable poems, prompting reflections on youth, childhood relationships, and time.

Finally, Thomas shared a number of her works all related to her father, their complicated relationship, and his passing. Her poems touched on darker subject matter, imparting upon the audience imagery of a black-oiled shotgun, extraterrestrial monsters, and piercing shrieks. Thomas dedicated significant time to depicting her writing process in an exercise where she took words from Emily Dickinson’s “After a great pain a formal feeling comes” to create her own poem, “Recollect.” Sharing her revisions, students received novel insight into the poetic process.

This process marked the major theme in the brief dialogue between the three poets following their individual readings. The gracious and humble writers offered their commendations for each others’ work and displayed an obvious love of their shared craft. Stockman, alluding to his ethos of alchemy, described the process of writing poems as “writing more questions to yourself than you are answers.” Normile shared how some of her poems were deeply inspired by her reading material in graduate school studying English. By considering these texts through the lens of poetry, she surprised herself by coming up with new interpretations and insights.

A flaw of the assembly reared its head when this intellectual rapport came to an end as the bell rang to dismiss the crowd. Undoubtedly, students would have appreciated more time for the open discussion and to ask questions. The assembly was well-received by most with students sharing their favorite pieces with friends and debating the assembly’s content at the Stu-Fac table the next day. Poetry Club Co-head Sam Klein ’24 said, “It was inspiring to hear the work of the poets who were shaped by CA. Their work showed me how to be vulnerable in my own poetry.” Others expressed concern over the upcoming poetry reading assembly on April 5, wondering whether students would be willing to engage with another similar event so soon.

In any case, Wednesday’s assembly was a sure success, and it was delightful to witness professional poets who had their first contact with the art form at CA return to inspire the next generation of students.