Morrisania teen’s poetry goes national
Shelley Polanco, freshman at Brandeis University, was recently published
BY JASON COHEN
Since she was young Shelley
Polanco has loved to
write. Today, the Morrisania
resident and freshman at
Brandeis University is celebrating
her poetry appearing
in a national publication.
Polanco, 18, had her poem
“Ezra” printed in a recent
edition of the American High
School Poets “Inside of Me”
anthology. “Inside of Me”
is a meaningful study of introspective
poems written
by teenagers from all over
the country.
In her poem, the reader
fi nds a mint plant in a dusty
attic and explores what goes
on inside the heads of today’s
teens in those quiet moments
when the outside distractions
are fi nally turned down
and one is alone with one’s
own thoughts.
“Sometimes poetry is
meant to be lyrical, but for
me it’s symbolic as a writer,”
she explained.
While Polanco began writing
around age 12, she did
not really get into poetry until
her freshman year at Beacon
High School in Midtown.
She took a creative writing
class with her teacher Mr.
Chilten, who got her hooked
on poetry.
She explained to the
Bronx Times that her poetry
is based on observation. For
example, Polanco listens to
conversations on the subway
and hallway in her apartment
building, things she
sees in nature or every day
things in the streets.
Although she grew up in a
rough neighborhood, she has
always kept her poetry positive.
Polanco noted that going
to school in Manhattan
was a culture shock and she
even met people who never
traveled past 96th Street.
“I felt a little more welcome
here,” she explained.
“I stand out in environments
like that.”
As a child she loved to
read and even created a picture
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BRONX TIMES REPORTER,32 SEPT. 25-OCT. 1, 2020 BTR
book when she was
12. This spawned her passion
for writing and it has
never left.
In January she entered
the poetry contest in hopes
of landing a college scholarship.
While Polanco did
not win, she was notifi ed in
April that her poem was getting
published nationally.
While she is attending
Brandeis to study neuroscience
and hopes to work
in prison reform from an
education point of view,
Polanco still plans to
continue writing.
“I think it’s poetry a nice
form of therapy,” she said. “I
fi nd a lot of power in it. I want
people to know I write with
my heart. It feels so weird to
call myself a writer.”
American High School Poets
is a quarterly publication
published by the Live Poets
Society of NJ in conjunction
with JUST POETRY, the National
High School Poetry
Quarterly Magazine.
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Shelley Polanco of the Bronx, whose poetry was recently published nationally.
Courtesy of Shelley Polanco