Poet Ashaki Howard, 17, is a senior at Kenwood Academy and competed in Louder Than a Bomb 2011 as a member of team Epic Sound representing her high school.

Her piece, Devastating Cycle, is the story of extinction – of the tiger and also the black man.

Though everyone knows the points are not the point – the point is the poetry – congratulations to Ashaki, who was selected as an Indy Finalist in the 2011 competition which celebrated over 600 young writers.