Maia Abruzzese, sophomore, has made it to the third of four rounds  in a national slam poetry competition called Light the Stage.

The judging, which began on April 1, will end at the final exhibition round in Dallas, Texas, in June. Only six contestants will qualify to perform at the national speech and debate tournament, and contestants  will earn college scholarships. “Slam poetry is the art of performance poetry. For some, it includes a lot of raw feelings about their experiences, and for others, it is a way to spread a message,” said Abruzzese on her feelings about this form of poetry.

One element of the competition is public voting, which means that the one entry with the most YouTube likes will also advance to the final round, regardless of the judges’ opinions. Abruzzese encourages people to help her out by voting for her piece, and “most importantly, to give it a thumbs up on YouTube,” she said.

Abruzzese’s piece is titled “A Letter to my OCD” and describes her struggles with obsessive compulsive behavior. “My poem is a way for me to take ownership over something that I’ve struggled with for so long, and talk back to it,” she said. “As a kid, my therapist would ask me to draw my OCD and give it a name. I named it ‘the trickster.’ That’s really what it is, it tricks me into believing that bad things will happen if I don’t engage in certain rituals. You all should watch the video to get the full message, but my poem is basically a more comprehensive way of speaking to “the trickster, or the OCD.”

Link to her piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=5QLeeEDtSiU