Poetry Pals

Their personalities differ.

Their poems do, too.

But Jillian Hebert, Joseph Medoff and Paulina Perlin seemed like they belonged together last week.

They were talking poetry for an hour on a patio bench outside the Swampscott library.

They know each other from school. They know each others poems.

On a couple occasions, when one of them tried to recall a particular poem, another of them recalled its name.

All three brightened when they mentioned high school teacher Peter Franklin, the advisor for their creative writing club.

Medoff says he might stay back in school so he can take one of Franklin's classes again.

What they like about him, they said, is he lets the students take the lead in the creative writing club. They like his way, too, it's not judgmental.

The three Swampscott teenagers' poetry had a leading role in the Student Poetry category at the Marblehead Festival of Arts/Writers World a few weeks back. They caught the attention of judges and took three of six awards.

The awards came as a surprise to two of the poets

Perlin and Medoff still didn't know about the awards more than a week after they won them:

Paulina Perlin: Best of Show for her poem Andromeda

Joseph Medoff: Outstanding Work for his poem Spring, Sprang, Sprung

Jillian Hebert: Honorable Mention for her poem Defenseless

Perlin, entering her senior year at , calls her poetry dark, very dark. She explores subjects such as self-abuse.

She is influenced by the poet Sylvia Plath and wants to out-write popular musician Lady Gaga.

Medoff, now a senior at Swampscott High, says he keeps his poetry light, tinged with humor. He enjoys Robert Frost's poetry and writes to entertain himself.

Hebert, who just graduated from Swampscott High and is headed to Stonehill College, likes getting her ideas on paper, especially right before bed.

She just started writing poetry this year and says it is therapeutic.

"I write for myself, but you can read it if you like," she says.

If you read their poems, you might see a common thread for all the differences.

Their poems reflect curious minds.

In Spring, Sprang, Sprung Medoff thinks about spring and its prophet, the groundhog, chosen to predict the season's entrance: on time or fashionably late.

Hebert's Defenseless thinks about guarded selves and what a protective armor means for the protected self.

Perlin's Andromeda explores appearances and expresses desperation, using a single line from one person to another as the door to an interior monologue, of sorts.

All three of them will continue writing poems.

And for all their differences, the three leave the library together.

They walk Burrill Street to Hebert's car for a ride home.