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Princess Dumbuya, Franklin High School’s first Poet Laureate, was all smiles June 10 in the high school library.
Dumbuya, a Senior, welcomed guests to the publishing party of her book, “A Bouquet of Verses,” an anthology of poems written by her and a number of her classmates.
The idea for the book, and for the position of Poet Laureate itself, came from Sarah Montanari, an FHS English teacher.
Montanari said she had help in developing the idea from teachers at Hudson County Community College.
“We just have so many talented poets at Franklin High School, and we wanted to promote poetry, promote literacy, provoke student voice,” she said. “And so this program is just the perfect way to do that.”
“This book was a crucial part of the poet laureate vision for this program,” Montanari said. “We wanted a book to highlight the poetry of our poet laureate. We wanted them to have some type of legacy that they can leave behind in print to again inspire students coming up and also to have that lasting impact on their community.”
Dumbuya said she liked the idea of a book, but didn’t want to make it all about her.
“I’m like, okay, but then I didn’t want to make it on myself because my whole job as a poet laureate is to spread poetry and have more inclusion with the student body,” she said. “So I was like, let’s have some students added into this book, too.”
Dumbuya said she came up with the theme of flowers because, she said, they have a “wide range of meanings.”
“Each theme is flowers, but it’s about the human experience,” she said.
Each of the 15 chapters has a different theme and flower associated with it, and Dumbuya has one poem in every chapter. Other students in her poetry class are represented as well.
The book’s cover was decided by a contest, with a piece of art drawn by Moncerrat Diaz-Quiroz being the one chosen.
“I’m very honored to have been able to design this for such a passionate project that many poets are a part of.” she said.
Diaz-Quiroz said she took her inspiration for the piece from the poets in the book.
“I realized that the book was more about the souls, the inside of people’s feelings,” she said.
Montanari credited Dumbuya for opening the book up to her classmates.
“What a testament to your character and what a testament to how you have served this community as poet laureates and keep advocating for other student voices,” she said.
“My hope with this book is that the students who are published in it will continue to be inspired to write, will continue writing, and maybe also inspire us to do the same thing,” she said.
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