Slammin' for better and for verse

Rashad Freeman was dealing with Philadelphia violence yesterday afternoon, in a way that had come only recently to the 17-year-old.

He was reciting his poem "The 'Hood":

There are no children here,

I tell my friend Lafayette . . .

A shame that I'm the one

To tell him

There's no such things as heroes.

A senior at Philadelphia Military Academy in East Mount Airy, Freeman explained afterward that on the streets of violence there can be no room for children or heroes, only survivors.

Freeman spoke his 28 lines from memory to about 100 people at World Cafe Live near 30th and Walnut Streets.

It was the first poetry slam sponsored by Teen Zone, a local online magazine at

» READ MORE: www.tzomag.com

.

The event and online site shared the same intent, site coordinator William Butler said in an interview, "which is to bring teens from across the area together to empower their voices."

Butler also is director of tech programs for Caring People Alliance, a nonprofit that runs three local community centers.

Since the four-year-old Web site was redesigned eight months ago, Butler said, it has attracted 150 members and about 200 hits a week.

Sitting at the back of the cafe after his recitation, Freeman said he had been inspired by reading

There Are No Children Here

, a 1992 nonfiction book by Alex Kotlowitz about life in a Chicago public housing project.

Freeman, who will join the Air Force after graduation, said that since August he had been studying poetry and performance art in after-school sessions at Benjamin Franklin High School.

Jasmine Lawrence, 16, a junior at Williamstown High School in Monroe Township, said her English teacher required poetry writing daily.

"I have epic poems," which she has written for class, she said. "I have short poems."

So, in part, Lawrence read:

Drug money flows

Through the streets like rivers.

Drowning our hopes

While the dope fiends shiver.

Praying to God

In the sky up above,

What happened to the city

Of brotherly love?

Is her future in writing? No, she said, but as "an electrical and computer engineer."

The hour-and-a-half performance, by eight teen poets, was interspersed with music from three acts.

The music might be reviewed, because Jodi Bosin, 17, a senior at Lower Merion High, said that as the site's arts editor, "every time I go to a concert, I write a review."

Seven teenage editors gather every other week at the headquarters of Caring People Alliance to strategize.

Since August, Maria Salvemini, 16, a sophomore at Bishop Eustace Preparatory School in Pennsauken, has been the chief editor, encouraging contributions for the site's 10 sections, including artwork, photography and short stories.

Evidencing her affection for the 160-year-old rhythms of Edgar Allan Poe, she told of her impressions of the dangerous streets of today:

By a path unseen and yonder,

Where the dark angels continue to wander,

This land where Hades is in command

Of the poor souls which have been damned . . .