Last October, the annual Poetry Out Loud competition took place once again. This competition starts in schools all around the United States, with English students competing against each other, reciting poetry from some of the greatest poets of our age. Many kids will even write some poetry of their own, bearing their own soul in order to bring some originality to the competition.
“With original poetry, you can convey exactly the interpretation you meant the poem to have. Also, it’s your words. I feel like you can put a lot more natural emotion into it because, hey, that’s why you write the poem,” says Mary Butgeriet, Alabama state winner in the original poetry division.
After students win in their classrooms by a popular vote, they go on to battle with their entire school, followed by the regional, state, and then national competition.
Once a competitor reaches nationals, he or she enters into the ring with the top poem recitation high school students in America—fifty total, plus one for Puerto Rico.
Bob Jones High School’s very own Khadija Thompson has won her way to this prestigious national level, battling with her poems against over 50 people, not including all those that lost before getting to step into this final stage with her.
Winning state just a while ago, Thompson has waited in anticipation for Monday, April 28, when she left for Washington, D.C. There she is staying for three days, competing against the other fifty competitors to get to the semi-finals and then to the finals.
It’s a dangerous game Thompson plays, one fraught with heartbreak and perils beyond imagine, but a wise woman once said that it seems typical for those that do well in this world to be those that do what they do for fun.
“I don’t think I’d ever pursue a career in it, but I do have poems that I memorize for fun in my back pocket,” Thompson shares.
Of these are her three competition poems: “Sestina Like” by A. E. Stallings, “Numbers” by Mary Cornish, and “On an Unsociable Family” by Elizabeth Hands, all of which she is taking to nationals.
Even if she doesn’t win, Thompson has promised herself that she will get to the semi-finals, and channeling the spirit of her grandmother, she may indeed get there, but she doesn’t want to stop there.
Many students at the classroom level don’t comprehend the huge resource that this competition can be, especially for the soon-to-be college freshman.
The first place winner receives a twenty thousand dollar scholarship to any college of his or her choice. Next there is a ten thousand dollar award for second place and five thousand dollar award for third. What makes it even better is that any honorable mention receives fifteen hundred dollars cash, no scholarship, no catches. And Thompson has a huge chance.
“Khadija has a good, natural sound to her voice, and the poems she picked this year fit her perfectly… these humorous poems really set her apart from the other poetry readers,” comments Butgeriet.
Thompson is playing to win, so let’s cheer her on, Bob Jones, because we all know, it’s always a great day to be a patriot no matter where you are.
