De Soto High School’s English department and library teamed up last week to bring attention to a type of literature.

Last year, there was no Poetry Café due to the construction being done on the new wing, but the Poetry Café was back in the library this year on April 20-21.

“We took a break last year because of construction. It’s here, back in the library, so I am really happy because I like it here,” said library media specialist Jennifer Sosna.

The Poetry Café is where DHS students can get up and read poetry and get a reward of a snack.

“[The English teachers and Sosna] worked together to develop a café where the students could present their works,” Sosna said.

The Poetry Café has been a DHS tradition.

“When I started back in 2000, [The Poetry Café] was a collaboration with another one of the English teachers,” Sosna said.

Students can read poetry they wrote or from another author, and some students even read song lyrics.

“My favorite part is the presentations. Kids that you do not think will ever get up there and do a poem, and then they get up there and they blow your mind,” Sosna said.

This year, the Poetry Café had a new feature. Students got to create their own poems using books and paint swatches.

They could line books up and titles would be a poem and the paint swatches would include the paints names as words in the poem.

“It gives students an opportunity to share their creations when sometimes they do not get that opportunity, and a lot of students who are into poetry, that is their thing so we do not get to see them be really outgoing at other times,” English teacher Amanda Sweet said.

Sweet adds that poetry not only demonstrates an outgoing quality but can also show a student’s personality.

“It is an opportunity to express your feelings but also to be silly and get your energy out in a different way,” Sweet said.