I throw a book
when a poem undoes me. I underline
Clifton: today we are possible. I start
from image. I begin with Phillis Wheatley.
I begin with Phillis Wheatley. I begin
with Phillis Wheatley reaching for coal.
I start with a napkin, receipt, or my hand.
I muscle memory. I stutter the page. I fail.
Hit delete — scratch out one more line. I sonnet,
then break form. I make tea, use two bags.
Rooibos again.
YOHANNA ENDASHAW from NILES WEST HIGH SCHOOL in SKOKIE recited these words from Tiana Clark’s “My Therapist Wants to Know about My Relationship to Work” as part of the Poetry Out Loud Illinois State Contest.
Endashaw’s other recitations were “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood and “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus. She advances to May’s national competition in Washington, D.C.
In Illinois this year, 42 high schools were part of Poetry Out Loud. 175 teachers. Almost 8,000 students! Sixteen students representing Illinois’s eight regions competed at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in downtown Springfield on Monday, March 13, 2023.
THAD BERGSCHNEIDER from FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL in FRANKLIN placed second in the competition that featured recitations by winning students from each of eight state regions: Central, Chicago-City, Chicago-Metro, Eastern, Northern, South-central, Southern, and Western.
Here are names, high schools, and hometowns of those regional winners:
Sidney Bester (finalist) – Homewood Flossmoor, Flossmoor
Sara Carter – Thomas Jefferson, Rockford
Eliza Denham – Eureka, Eureka
Vanali Desai – Stephen T. Mather, Chicago
Rebecca Drake – Massac County, Metropolis
Leo Dunahee – Nashville Community, Nashville
Brooklynn Haars – Orion, Orion
Veda Kommineni – Edwardsville Community, Edwardsville
Adeleah Reynoso (finalist) – Taft, Chicago
Mikira Rogers –Thomas Jefferson, Rockford
Kate Roth (finalist) – Champaign Central, Champaign
Wade Schacht – Champaign Central, Champaign
Alex Walker –Edwardsville Community, Edwardsville
Eleanor Wilbur – Orion, Orion
State program manager was Susan Dickson of the Illinois Arts Council Agency. The contest coordinator was Sheila Walk, executive director of the Springfield Area Arts Council. Recitation judges were Mariah Brooks (Springfield), Ashley Mallick (Carbondale), Jacob Saenz (Chicago), and Ted Williams III (Chicago); accuracy judge was Théa Chesley (Springfield).
Poetry Out Loud in Illinois is a collaborative project of the Illinois Arts Council Agency and seven arts agencies who host regional contests. As a national program, Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through analysis, memorization, performance, and competition. The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, in conjunction with state arts agencies, support this nation-wide program with participants from all fifty states plus Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico.
More information is available at www.poetryoutloud.org or from the Springfield Area Arts Council.
Photographs of Endashaw and Bergschneider (taken by William Richards)