Expressing personal issues can be hard for anyone but add lights, a stage, and an audience. That's what nine brave students faced Wednesday evening.

Some call it an art, others call it a talent, but for High School student Abraham Thomas, it's much more then that, "To me it means that someone's listening."

Listening to the words through poetry, an outlet he uses to stay out of trouble, "It's a time to sit down and write in your notebook about how you actually feel and what things are going on in your life, in a way that you can add a rhythm, a beat to it with some sort of musical instrument inside yourself so that it can speak to others."

It's called a poetry slam, one of judges Nakila Robinson says it's more than just a competition, "The slam culture is so open, it's open to different identities, folks with no identities, people trying to find themselves in this crazy world."

For the students, they find themselves together, "If you have other peers of your age supporting you, and teachers, and staff supporting you, then you feel like you have an army behind you. As long as your doing the right path and doing the right thing, your always going to be seen as doing great."

Wednesday's poetry slam was a semi final competition, a qualifying round to represent Wisconsin on a national stage.