Olympia Poetry Out Loud Competitors Perform With Passion, Accuracy

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Submitted by Kelly Miller, Olympia High School intern to ThurstonTalk

The top three reciters in the Poetry Out Loud competition were performed by (from left) Mackenzie Andrews, Megan Mulcahy, and Gaby Sipe.

The curtain opens, or at least the metaphorical curtains open. Certainly we have an array of metaphors on this day. Today, great writers in history are brought together in Olympia High School for the Poetry Out Loud competition.  The crowd in the OHS library hushes. Mrs. Gilman, the moderator, approaches the stage. In her hands she holds the golden ticket of poetry. The results. She begins by saying that everyone involved did an amazing job. Indeed they all did. Every participant recited their hearts out. Gilman looks down at the paper, she starts, “In third place we have…”

Weeks before this fate-deciding moment, students in Olympia English classes were preparing poems for in-class poetry readings. After winning the in-class level, the best of the best come together for the school-wide poetry competition. For those of you who are amazed but confused, Poetry Out Loud is a competition where students memorize and recite poems. They are provided a list of poems from which they choose two. One poem is recited in the first round and if the student advances, one for the second round. The participants are judged on accuracy and overall performance. The poems range from Lewis Carroll to Sylvia Plath to Steven Vincent Benét. And of course there is some Dickenson and Poe.

Olympia High School Sophomore, Julia Fleener, recites a poem during the 2013 Poetry Out Loud competition.

The stage for the school-wide Poetry Out Loud is set. At three o’clock the library is filled with competitors, parents, and judges. Nervous fingers tap on pant legs. Mrs. Gilman introduces the judges as well as the first competitor. The freshman opens with “After Working Sixty Hours for What Reason” by Bob Hicock. The crowd looks on as participants recite these amazing works.

Unfortunately there are those moments of terror as the reciter’s mind goes blank, wishing for the first word, just the first word. They speak the dreaded word, “line”. Dreams are shattered with that word.

The first round soon comes to a close with the thirtieth poem, “Love’s Philosophy” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. A short break occurs while the judges calculate the scores to determine the top ten who are moving on to the second round.

Gilman then announces the ten students going on. Looks of excitement spread across those ten faces. A ninth grader opens up the second round with “Revenge” by Letitia Elizabeth Landon. Encouraged with the hope of winning, the finals are filled with even more passion than the first. The finals are closed with “Ego” by Denise Duhamel. Again the scores are calculated to determine the winner of the final round.

OHS junior, Adora Nwankwo, recites her poem.

As Gilman walks to the stage, the library is silent with anticipation. She looks down at the paper, “In third place we have junior Mackenzie Andrews, in second we have freshman Gaby Sipe, and the winner of the 2013 Poetry Out Loud competition is junior Megan Mulcahy. She performed “Duende” by Tracy K. Smith and “A Locked House” by W.D. Snodgrass.”

Applause breaks out from everyone as people mull around congratulating all the participants. Mulcahy will move onto the state competition where she will be competing against winners from other schools around the state. Good luck Megan!

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