enlarge Courtesy of PCA Great Performances

The Mayhem Poets, from left: Kyle Sutton, Mason Granger and Scott Tarazevits. One motivating factor for Sutton becoming involved with the Mayhem Poets, he said, was that, “Personally I felt in school there was not a lot of artist programing growing up … that spoke to where I was or that got me excited.”

Aside from the lovers of the written word, English teachers and PBS supporters, that's one of the first things that comes to mind when talking about poets.

That's especially the case when you're in high school. When you sit down in English class to read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow or Lord Byron, it can be hard to relate to someone writing about the human condition more than a century ago, no matter how much passion they leave on the page.

Maybe that's why young people connect with "the hip-hop music."

When a fan of hip-hop says she loves the music because it speaks to her, maybe it's because rappers talk about their lives, losing friends, relationships and trying to get by, in terms she understands. (Granted, some also spend time talking about all the things their new money can buy.)

So is that poetry? Do Nas and KRS-One have anything in common with Walt Whitman and John Keats?

"There's a generation gap between cultural things going on now and what was going on in the era of poetry," said Kyle Sutton.

Sutton is a member of the Mayhem Poets, a three-person performance poetry troupe that combines spoken word and hip- hop with a touch of theatrical flair.

The Mayhem Poets will perform on Saturday at John Ford Auditorium at Portland High School as part of the PCA Great Performances Family Series.

The performance begins at 7 p.m. and tickets are available for $10 through PortTix and at Merrill Auditorium.

The poets will hold a workshop for high school students at 4 p.m. Friday at One Longfellow Square, hosted by Add Verb Productions.

Aimee Petrin, executive director of PCA Great Performances, said this is the first time an event in the family series has been aimed at high school students.

In bringing the Mayhem Poets to Portland PCA Great Performances wanted to reach out to community groups that work with young people, such as The Telling Room, the workshop for young writers; and Say It Loud, the spoken-word ensemble for young women.

Petrin said she hopes the event will show the connects between poetry and hip-hop as parts of a broader art culture.

It's no secret that arts education is drying up in schools around the country. Even the smartest kids, the ones who excel in math or science, need the outlet that art provides, Sutton said.

"Personally I felt in school there was not a lot of artist programing growing up that spoke to where I was or that got me excited," Sutton said.

What did excite him was hip-hop music, and he saw it as an outlet. Sutton said one of his earliest efforts was writing about a girl he had crush on. It didn't go well.

But it did motivate him to keep trying.

Sutton, Scott Tarazevits and Mason Granger met at Rutgers University, where the Mayhem Poets were born. The name is a nod to "Fight Club" and Tyler Durden's "Project Mayhem."

Hip-hop and slam poetry have a language and style that is relatable and comfortable to young people, but too often that language is criticized to the point that it can obscure the messages, Sutton said.

Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, executive director of The Telling Room, said one of the best ways to encourage kids to write is by giving them models.

Over the last several weeks The Telling Room has been holding workshops on poetry and spoken word, listening to hip-hop while reading some of the classics.

They've also been encouraging students to practice their own performance pieces, he said.

By making those connections, they're able to find what speaks to them, he said.

Fay-LeBlanc said helping kids find their voices gives them confidence to continue to write and better appreciate the art.

Even now, despite his success, Sutton says there is a part of him that still feels hesitant to tell people he makes his living as a poet.

"To say I want to be a poet when I grow up, there's not a huge percentage of families that would support...