Raven Hogue says she and her younger brother have dealt with their parents’ divorce in very different ways. Both took to the pen, but whereas Hogue writes poetry, her brother writes graffiti.

Hogue says her 13-year-old brother has gotten in trouble more than once for tagging. This was part of the inspiration for her poem Scaffolding, in which she describes washing spray paint out of her brother’s clothing and struggling to understand his behavior. “Another fine for our parents to fight over,” she writes, his “fingers are wrecking balls.”  

Her piece is the third in our month-long series of young poets performing their work on location, in honor of National Poetry Month.

To set the scene, we filmed the 17-year-old Oak Park River Forest High School student performing at a writers’ wall in River Forest, IL. You can check out Hogue’s poem in the video clip above.

WBEZ is a presenting partner of Young Chicago Authors’ Louder Than a Bomb Teen Poetry Slam Competition and Festival. Click here for more information.