Students express emotion through poetry

March 19, 2009 • written by Halimo Abdulkarim, Feature Editor  
Filed under News

        The room is quiet and all eyes focus on the front of the room where senior Beatrice Hill gives her stirring performance of the poem “Conversation” by Ai. Using broad hand gestures and a snap to capture the audience, Hill performed her poem from memorization. She won the Poetry Out Loud contest that occurred in the library on Feb. 27. 

        There were eight students who participated in the contest, but only one received a chance to compete at the state competition.  At state there will be 5 judges, and 150 spectators. Each student will recite three poems from memory.

        Hill, who received second place last year at state, is hoping to improve on that this year. The student who wins also receives an all expense paid trip to Washington D.C. for nationals.

        “It will be wonderful if I get first place,” Hill said. “But there are many talented people, and anyone deserves the chance to go to the national tournament.”

        Hill chose her poem because she felt it was “really unique,” and she “liked the language of the poem.”

         Poetry is one of the ways Hill feels comfortable conveying emotion through reading.

         “I’ve been doing this for six years,” Hill said. “I think poetry is important because everyone can understand it on some level.”

         Senior Brittany Davila was in the contest and performed the poem “Next Day” by Randall Jarrell, earning second place. Davila became involved with poetry in her Fundamentals of Public Speaking class she took last semester.

        “We had a big class competition, and I won in my class so I thought I should give [Poetry Out Loud] a chance,” Davila said.

       Davila thinks more students should take interest in poetry or at least read more because there are so many different types of literature.

        “Poetry can reach and touch anybody,” Davila said. “I felt like [my poem] was something everyone would be able to relate to over time because everyone experiences old age.”