Kansas Poetry Out Loud, And The Winner Is...

Poetry Out Loud

And The Winner Is…

By Karilea Rilling Jungel

On March 1, 2015 in the Sunflower Theater at the Salina Community Theater there was a gathering of some 75 students, parents, observers; judges, tallying clerks, directors and assistants. All were in attendance for the first State Regional Poetry Out Loud Competition to be held in Salina, Kansas. Although this was the 10^th anniversary of the POL National Scholarship event, the previous state regional competitions had been held in the eastern part of the state. From the seven regions, this year’s line-up and poems chosen to be read included:

Hannah Parks, reciting “Sonnet 18…”

Photo by Aaron Anders

REGION 1 - Hannah Parks, Baldwin HS

“What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

“Sonnet 18--Shall I Compare  . . .” by William Shakespeare
“Duende” by Tracy K. Smith

Hannah Janzen, reciting “I Wandered…”

Photo by Aaron Anders

REGION 2 - Hannah Janzen, Salina Central HS

“I Wandered Lonely as A Cloud” by William Wordsworth

“Baudelaire” by Delmore Schwartz

“Their Bodies” by David Wagoner

Ashley Miller, reciting “Let the Light Enter”

Photo by Aaron Anders

REGION 3 - Ashley Miller, Quinter High School

“Let the Light Enter” by Frances Ellen Watkins

“The Ocean” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth

Addisohn Jones, reciting “The Table’s Turned”

Photo by Aaron Anders

REGION 4 - Addisohn Jones, Ft. Scott HS

“A Fit of Rhyme Against Rhyme” by Ben Jonson

“The Table’s Turned” by William Wordsworth

“I’m Learning to Abandon the World” by Linda Pastan

Scarlet Green, reciting “A Certain Kind…”

Photo by Aaron Anders

REGION 5 - Scarlet Green, Northeast Magnet High School

“Before the Birth of One of Her Children” by Anne Bradstreet

“A Celebration of Charis: I. His Excuse for Loving” by Ben Jonson

“A Certain Kind of Eden” by Kay Ryan

Jessica Fabin, reciting “Ode to the….”

Photo by Aaron Anders

REGION 6 - Jessica Fabin, Garden City High School

“The Arrow and the Song” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Ode to the Midwest” by Kevin Young

“On the Existence of the Soul” by Pattiann Rogers

Leanne Chun, reciting “The Good Morrow”

Photo by Aaron Anders

REGION 7 - Leanne Chun, Olathe South HS

“The Good Morrow” by John Donne

“For the Young Who Want to” by Marge Piercy

“And Soul” by Eavan Boland

Google the above poems to understand the poems’ various complexities the students had to study, comprehend and convey.

Peter Jasso, giving introductions

Photo by Aaron Anders

For the festivities, those present included Peter Jasso, Director of the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission; Justine Haka, Program Associate for the Poetry Foundation; Senator Tom Arpke, Brad Anderson of the Salina Arts and Humanities and members of Friends of the Library, and Deb Kohn, Kansas State Poetry Out Loud Coordinator. Emceeing the event was cashhollistah.

The four judges for the State Competition who were in attendance were: Wyatt Townley, current Kansas Poet Laureate; Andy Anderson, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Johnson County Community College; Suzanne E. Myers-Ortel, Kansas State Dept. of Education Literary Consultant; and Ruth Moritz, KSU-Salina, Salina Public Library Spring Poetry Series Director.

L-R Ruth Moritz, Tina Akers, Suzanne Myers,

Andy Anderson, Wyatt Townley & Justine Haka

The Judges were required to evaluate on physical presence; voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness as to the voice of the poem; level of difficulty, evidence of understanding and overall performance. In all of these categories, there are six levels ranging from Very weak to Outstanding. The Accuracy Judge is critical: Tina Akers was assigned to keep the poet’s language intact and mark where there were missteps. There is also an assigned prompter; this year, Katrina Paradis fulfilled that role.

Ignoring their personal jitters and nerves, all of the students gave admirable recitations. While the ballots were tallied and finalized, Cash Hollistah gave his presentation of “Fresh Air”, a very upbeat, positive hip-hop piece of his written work.

cash hollistah, reciting

“Fresh Air” with the requisite “fist pump”

Photo by Aaron Anders

Scarlet Green (center) 2^nd Place

Photo by Aaron Anders

Kansas State Second Place runner up is Scarlet Green, Northeast Magnet High School, who commented “The winner was amazing! I’m a sophomore this year, so I’m definitely looking forward to trying this again. Being in (The Salina Community Theater’s) black box theater was a very intimate and awesome experience!”

Leanne Chun, 1^st Place

Photo by Aaron Anders

Kansas state champion is Leanne Chun. Her school, Olathe South, will receive $500 to purchase poetry resources for their school library. Leanne received $200 and will also receive an all-expense paid trip for herself and a chaperone to Washington, D.C. to attend the Nationals Finals and compete for the grand title of National Champion on April 27-29, 2015.

Leanne summed up her experience well: “It was all so fantastic; it’s hard for me to decide the best part of it, but I think it is that we were all rooting for one another; everyone is being very amiable and (those who are not seniors) are looking forward to next year.”

Back row:

Ruth Moritz, Tina Akers, Suzanne Myers, Andy Anderson

Wyatt Townley, Justine Haka and Emcee cash Hollistah

Front row:

Leanne Chun, Hannah Parks, Hannah Janzen, Addisohn Jones,

Ashley Miller, Scarlet Green and Jessica Fabin

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