Senior Christina Green enjoys how poetry allows her to portray a speaker unlike herself. Photo by: Matthew Libersky
By Maggie Morrow
Earlier this year, several students were featured for entering the Poetry Out Loud contest. Among these was senior Christina Green. After winning first place from PHS, Green went on to compete at the next level, earning her second place at state.
Poetry Out Loud is a poetry recitation contest where students choose poems to memorize and recite for a panel of judges. It begins locally, and then expands to the national level.
Green was given a list of many poems, from which she chose her first piece, “The Meaning of the Shovel” by Martin Espada, in November for the school competition. She decided on the piece because of its similarity to missionary work. “My church is very involved in mission trips and I have just recently learned a lot about them, so I feel a sense of longing and connection with the speaker because I hope to someday do some missionary work.”
Once she advanced to the national level, Green had to choose two more poems in addition to “The Meaning of the Shovel.” It was challenging to decide because she wanted poems that would mean something to her, and to others. “I chose ‘Their Bodies’ [by David Wagoner] because I do not condone the treatment of the deceased in our culture. We treat and view the deceased without respect, and I think this poem does a fine job of reminding people of the respect and dignity those that have passed deserve. I chose ‘Revenge’ [by Letitia Elizabeth Landon] because I was able to be menacing and angry for the recitation; the poem takes on some completely different tones than the other two poems do. It was fun to portray a speaker who is unlike myself.”
Practicing each piece three times a day, it is easy to say that Green has mastered these poems. “I think about them, I dream about them, and sometimes the lines just start scrolling through my mind,” she says. All this practice was done from the recommendation of her English teacher, Mr. Kyle Coffman, who played a large role in helping Green do so well. “Mr. Coffman told me that to master something, it has to be done 100 times,” she explains. “If there is one thing that he has taught me, though, it’s to follow my bliss,” she says of his favorite line.
“Mr. Coffman told me that I had a real chance at doing well at the competition, but I didn’t really expect to place as high as I did,” she says of her success. “I’m definitely proud of myself. I recited the poems just as I had practiced and I had a great time doing it. I’m also proud of the sheer amount of effort and time I dedicated to practicing; figuring out a plausible way to recite a poem in order to do it justice is not an easy task.”