In the back room of the Modern Times bookstore, 11 students sat cramped together, scribbling away in their notebooks. The air vibrated with emotion -- faint whispers and scrawling pens on paper were the only sounds to break the quiet.

Leading a poetry workshop Wednesday evening, Aug. 26, Josh Healey, 25, published poet and program manager of Youth Speaks, encouraged students to put their thoughts on paper. With years of practice, Healey was just the person to do it.

"Spoken word is an oral thing -- an audience thing," he said. "You've got to talk about the love, the pain and the politics."

Through words of support, methods of organizing thoughts and things to ponder, both high school and college students wrote for an hour.

Soon after the workshop ended, the pensive poets signed up for the time of their desired performance. One by one, students of all ages stepped up to the microphone and spoke their life experiences -- classroom anxiety, pets and travails of the heart.

Healey inspired the youth to find the joys of writing and performing their poetry by sharing some of his own work from his book Hammertime: Poems and Possibilities. Covering topics like politics and sex, with comedic and sad moods, the students were appreciative -- meeting each of his poems with applause.

"I love Josh," said Candice Bell, a previous performer at Youth Speaks and City College Student. "I love his poems because they're vivid stories, not metaphysical and crazy."

Inspired by a single open mic night at his Washington D.C. high school, where separate groups came together and spoke their minds, Healey began his pursuit of poetry. From sneaking into bars as a teenager for open mic nights to writing his book released in 2008, Healey has pursued Youth Speaks.

As a national nonprofit organization, founded in 1996, Youth Speaks helps "get kids back in the fun part of finding their voice on paper and sharing that voice aloud," Healy said.

When the readings started at 7 p.m., more people showed up to watch the linguistic artists share their poems. One attendee, Chase Finney, said she thought the performance was "awesome," adding, "listening to the youth is what moves me the most -- to see the way their minds are working."

The performances offered a first-hand look for students curious to see poetry in a new form from their peers. More information about Youth Speaks can be found online at www.youthspeaks.org and future events held at Modern Times Bookstore can found at their website, www.moderntimesbookstore.com.