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Acclaim for a young Boston poet who is too well-versed in loss

E-mail | Print | Comments () Posted by Cara Bayles April 5, 2011 04:32 PM

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(Cara Bayles, Boston.com)

Tajah Lee, flanked by her mother, Tasha (left), and Freya Hoffman-Terry, a coordinator for America SCORES, will read her poem at the Apollo next week.

By Cara Bayles, Town Correspondent

Poetry allows Tajah Lee to confront the sadness of loss. The 12-year-old Fields Corner resident writes about her recently departed grandfather and her cousin, Jovany Eason, who was shot to death in Uphams Corner last summer.

“In a poem, I’m able to tell how I feel and not put everything out there in a way I probably wouldn’t otherwise,” Lee said of the difficult topics she writes about. “I’m able to express myself more than I can with words out of my mouth, not on paper.”

Her poem on bullying, which makes reference to the suicide of a peer, earned her a trip to New York City next week, where she will be one of two Bostonians performing with students from around the country for the twelfth-annual America SCORES poetry slam. The event will take place at Harlem's historic Apollo Theater, on a stage that has launched important jazz and pop musicians to fame since the 1930s.

Lee's mother, Tasha, remembers watching "Showtime at the Apollo" when she was younger, and is ecstatic to see her daughter perform on the same stage.

"When I was growing up, we never had programs like this," she said.

America SCORES, a program serving 14 cities nationwide, partners with public school systems, combining soccer, poetry and community service as after-school pursuits for elementary and middle school students.

The program started in Boston in 1999, and serves about 1,500 students in 12 elementary schools and 10 middle schools, according to education coordinator Freya Hoffman-Terry.

“We talk about poet-athletes,” she said. “They become more comfortable sharing their writing as part of a team.”

Another student from Hyde Park will also read his work at the slam. His poem, "The Person Inside Me," deals with the positive effects the program's exercise component has had on his life.

Lee wrote her winning poem after a fourth-grader at the Jackson Mann School died in October, allegedly committing suicide. Although authorities have not said so, Lee believes the death was the result of bullying, a problem she has witnessed among her peersand which she says can lead to the street violence that killed her cousin. Lee used to attend the Mann, and the girl, whose name has not been publicly released, was the same age as her.

“It hurt me that someone I could possibly know was now gone,” Lee said.

In her poem, she references the death of her Jackson Mann peer, writing, “Stop the bullying, it hurts too bad/Stop the bullying, it makes us sad./Bullying is wrong; because of you, our loved ones are gone.”

Lee, who has never gone to New York or been inside an airplane before, was excited about the trip, seeing the Apollo and representing Boston in front of an audience of 500.

“My friends want me to do a shout out to them, since they can’t fit in my suitcase and come,” she said.

E-mail Cara Bayles at carabayles@gmail.com.