“You latch onto these moments, these images as they race in your head as they take tight turns. As a force like gravity pulls and pulls you away. You find yourself empty.” — Adam Pepper-Macias from his original poem, White Walls
OVS senior Adam Pepper-Macias has a love, and a talent.
Luckily, he is in love with his talent, and he gets to exercise it freely and frequently at the Upper Campus.
Adam is a powerful poet whose work is often featured on the OVS journalism blog and was the focus of his senior Capstone project last month.This year, he is studying and creating poetry in a one-on-one expository writing class with veteran English teacher Terry Wilson.
But perhaps the highlight of his poetic journey thus far came just a couple of weeks ago when he was invited to be the featured reader for the Ojai Poetry Series, a monthly event in which poets from Ojai and beyond gather to share what they have written and listen to and enjoy the work of their peers.
“He has a real gift for language, for hearing the music of language, but that’s only half of what makes good poetry,” said Adam’s AP English teacher Crystal Davis, who is co-originator and co-coordinator of the monthly poetry series. “The other half is having what I call the obversevant poets eye, and that is being able to see the situation.”
For his part, Adam traces his love for poetry to his middle school years at Ojai Valley School, saying it was there he found the freedom to express himself through this medium.
“I owe most of my love for writing to my 8th grade English teacher Ms. [Marsha] Hoem,” Adam said. “She gave me the space to experiment and allowed me to play with styles of writing that I had thought were lesser because they weren’t by the book.”
The freedom Ms. Hoem gave Adam allowed him to work on his craft, and develop the skills that make his writing so special.
Fast forwarding four years, Adam was searching for ideas for his senior Capstone project when he hit upon a plan to travel up the California coast to follow in the footsteps of the great California writers and pen poetry about his trip.
The result was a powerful Capstone presentation in which he read a wide range of his original work to an appreciative audience.
That led to his invitation to be the featured reader for the Ojai Poetry Series, meaning he was the centerpiece of the event. He was chosen by Ms. Davis based on the merit of his poetry, and he read from a collection of poems, ranging from the whimsical to the heart wrenching.
He truly showed off his writing ability, and received incredible praise from those in attendance, which included several heavy hitters in the poetry world.
As Adam continues his journey into college and beyond he is keen on making his writing a permanent fixture in his world.
“I want to make sure that writing is always a part of my life,” Adam said. “I want to make sure that no matter what I am doing I have the space and the time to express myself through writing.”
“This is just about the best place in the world to take in a cigar. Yeah, I said, I feel Yeah, not feeling it. I don’t know what made me think of it. Rolling valleys and rivulets rambled to the sea. Sweet cigar smoke dance with time. This old man turns to me and smiles. He’s been here before. And I’ll be here again.” — Adam Pepper- Macias from his original untitled poem