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Home , 2021 in Guam, Apollo Theater, Audie Award, Delmore Schwartz, Helen Hayes, John Leguizamo

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AND FOUNDATION PRESENT

OUT

LOUD TM 2021 NATIONAL FINALS WEBCAST AT arts.gov Poetry Out Loud is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and the state and jurisdictional arts agencies of the . The Poetry Out Loud National Finals are administered by Mid Atlantic Arts.

Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the Arts Endowment supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more.

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative partnerships, prizes, and programs.

Mid Atlantic Arts was established in 1979 to promote and support multi- state arts programming in a region that includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, , New Jersey, , Pennsylvania, the U.S. Virgin Islands, , and West Virginia. It is one of six regional arts organizations in the United States, and works in close partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and its member state and jurisdictional arts agencies. Mid Atlantic Arts distinguishes itself through its work in international cultural exchange, model programs in performing arts touring, its knowledge and presence in the field, and its support of folk and traditional arts.

Cover photos: 2018 Poetry Out Loud Champion Janae Claxton, 2016 Poetry Out Loud Champion Ahkel Togun, 2019 Poetry Out Loud Champion Isabella Callery, and 2011 Poetry Out Loud Champion Youseff Biaz. Photos by James Kegley The poet with the most In 2005, the National Endowment number of different poems recited at the National Finals 4.1 MILLION for the Arts and the Poetry since 2005 Total number of Foundation partnered on a students participating in POL since 2005 program that would help students master public speaking, build self- confidence, and learn more about literary history and contemporary 17,000 life, all through a dynamic Total number of “CAGED BIRD” BY schools participating in poetry recitation competition. POL since 2005 The most viewed poem on The program was piloted in poetryoutloud.org during the Washington, DC, and , 2020-21 season Illinois, and spread nationally EMILY during the 2005-2006 school year DICKINSON through partnerships with the state The most searched for poet on “DOVER BEACH” and jurisdictional arts agencies. poetryoutloud.org during the BY MATTHEW 2020-21 season Today, Poetry Out Loud is in all 50 ARNOLD states, DC, Puerto Rico, the U.S. The most recited poem during the Poetry Out Loud National Finals Virgin Islands, , and American since 2005 Samoa, with more than four million students participating over the past 16 years.

Want to learn more about Poetry “ There’s a poem that you will Out Loud? Free materials, including connect with and you will feel a the online anthology of poems, are really deep relationship with no all available at poetryoutloud.org matter who you are.” along with contact information for —2019 Poetry Out Loud National Champion Isabella Callery each state on how to sign up for the 2021-2022 program.

1 SEMIFINALS PROGRAM • MAY 2

Welcome and Introductions HOSTS creative thinkers. Before coming to the Lauren Miller NEA, Reed directed XM Satellite Radio’s National Endowment for the Arts book and contemporary theater channel and hosted the program Writers on Justine Haka Writing. In partnership with the NEA, Photo by DJ Corey Photography Poetry Foundation Reed also created the series The Big Felicia Curry is a Award- Read on XM. Passionate about language, 12:00 pm et SEMIFINAL ONE winning actor, singer, and performer she has interviewed writers of all in the DC area and the new host for throughout her career, including novelists, Hosted by Felicia Curry WETA Arts on PBS. She is a Resident historians, playwrights, and poets. Company Member at Everyman Theatre and Factory 449, as well as an Artistic 3:00 pm et SEMIFINAL TWO Associate at Ford’s Theatre. She can currently be seen in Studio Theatre’s Hosted by Sarah Anne Sillers streaming production of Until the Flood. Photo by AM | CO Arts & Design She was nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards in 2020 for Don’t Let the Pigeon Sarah Anne Sillers is a Helen Hayes 6:00 pm et SEMIFINAL THREE Drive the Bus and Agnes of God. In the Award-nominated actor and vocalist DC area, she has performed at the John F. Hosted by Josephine Reed based in the Washington, DC area. Sillers Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, has performed at over a dozen venues Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, throughout the region including Signature Each Semifinal will follow Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, NextStop this schedule: and at numerous other venues. Theatre Company, Monumental Theatre Company, Imagination Stage, the First Round of Recitations Music Center at Strathmore, and others. Find her on Instagram Second Round of Recitations @sarah.anne.sillers or on her website, www.sarahannesillers.com. Announcement of Photo courtesy of Josephine Reed Regional Finalists (Top eight competitors in each semifinal will Josephine Reed is the media producer recite a third poem) for the Public Affairs office at the National Third Round of Recitations Endowment for the Arts (NEA). She produces and hosts the NEA’s weekly Announcement of podcast, Art Works, a program that National Finalists features interviews with artists and (Top three competitors in each semifinal will advance to the National Finals)

2 JUDGES collection of poetry The Heart of a Comet (Write Bloody, 2014) and has SEMIFINAL ONE received fellowships with 202Creates,

Callaloo, and DC Commission on the Photo by Bear Guerra Arts and Humanities. A National Poetry Slam Champion, he has over a decade Jake Skeets is the author of Eyes of experience in creative writing, Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers performance education, and event (Milkweed, 2019), winner of the Photo by Sharon Gottula programming. Matam has also been 2018 . From featured on various renowned platforms Vanderwagen, New Mexico, he holds Hadara Bar-Nadav’s most recent book and venues such as the NAACP, the John an MFA in poetry from the Institute of poetry is The New Nudity (Saturnalia F. Kennedy Center for the Performing of American Indian Arts. He is the Books, 2017). Her previous books include Arts, and the Apollo Theater. recipient of a 92Y Discovery Prize, a Lullaby (with Exit Sign) (Saturnalia Books, Mellon Projecting All Voices Fellowship, 2013), awarded the Saturnalia Books an American Book Award, and a 2020 Poetry Prize; The Frame Called Ruin (New Whiting Award. He is from the Navajo Issues, 2012), runner-up for the Green Nation and teaches at Diné College. Rose Prize; and A Glass of Milk to Kiss Photo courtesy of Kiki Petrosino Goodnight (Margie/Intuit House, 2007), awarded the Margie Book Prize. She is Kiki Petrosino is the author of four SEMIFINAL TWO also the co-author with Michelle Boisseau books of poetry: White Blood: A Lyric of of the best-selling textbook Writing Virginia (2020), Witch Wife (2017), Hymn Poems, 8th ed. (Pearson, 2011). Her for the Black Terrific (2013), and Fort awards include a National Endowment Red Border (2009), all from Sarabande for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship Books. She holds graduate degrees Photo by Cassidy Duhon and the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the University of Chicago and the from the Poetry Society of America. She University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Dan Brady is the author of the poetry is a professor of English and teaches in Her poems and essays have appeared collections Strange Children (Publishing the MFA program at the University of in Best , the Nation, the Genius, 2018) and Subtexts (forthcoming -Kansas City. New York Times, and Tin House, among from Publishing Genius, 2021), as well others. She is a professor of poetry at as two chapbooks. Brady is the poetry the . Petrosino is the editor of Barrelhouse, a magazine and recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a National small press based in Washington, DC. Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Previously, he served as the editor Photo by ElNatan Melaku Fellowship, and an Al Smith Individual of American Poets, the journal of the Artists Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets, and worked Pages Matam is an international Arts Council. artist, writer, event coordinator, and in the literature division at the National educator from Cameroon, Central Africa, Endowment for the Arts, where he currently residing in Washington, DC. received a Distinguished Service Award He is the author of the award-winning for his work on the NEA Big Read.

3 SEMIFINALS PROGRAM • MAY 2

for Refugee Poetics. His , poetry, and creative have appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern,

Photo by Kai Coggin Photo courtesy of Seema Reza Ploughshares, Gastronomica, Kenyon Review, Amerasia Journal, AGNI online, Roy G. Guzmán is the recipient of a Seema Reza is the author of A and Fiction International, among others. 2019 National Endowment for the Arts Constellation of Half-Lives (Write Bloody, Creative Writing Fellowship and is a 2019) and When the World Breaks 2017 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Open (Red Hen Press, 2016). Based Rosenberg Poetry Fellow. Their debut outside of Washington, DC, she is CEO collection, Catrachos, was released by of Community Building Art Works, a Photo courtesy of torrin a. greathouse Graywolf Press on May 5, 2020. They are multi-hospital arts program that also the recipient of a 2017 Minnesota encourages the use of the arts as a tool torrin a. greathouse is a transgender, State Arts Board Initiative grant and for narration, self-care, and socialization. cripple-punk, MFA candidate at the the 2016 Gesell Award for Excellence in Her writing has appeared in print University of Minnesota. Her work Poetry. Their work has been included and online in , is published in Poetry, New England in the Best New Poets 2017 anthology, McSweeney’s Entropy, Bellevue Literary Review, Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, guest-edited by Natalie Diaz, and Best Review, and the Nervous Breakdown, and Best New Poets 2020. greathouse of the Net 2017, guest-edited by Eduardo among others. She has performed across recently received a National Endowment C. Corral. Raised in , Guzmán lives the country at universities, theaters, for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, in Minneapolis. festivals, bookstores, conferences, and and they have also received fellowships one fine mattress shop. from the Effing Foundation, Zoeglossia, and the University of Poetry Center. greathouse was a special SEMIFINAL THREE mention for the 2020 Pushcart Prize,

Photo courtesy of Kristen Jackson and she is the youngest winner of the Poetry Foundation’s J. Howard and Kristen Jackson currently serves Barbara M. J. Wood Prize. Their debut as connectivity director for Woolly collection, Wound from the Mouth of a Mammoth Theatre Company in Wound, winner of the Ballard Spahr Prize Photo courtesy of Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis Washington, DC. She earned her MA from for Poetry, was published in 2020 by Milkweed Editions. University of Texas-Austin in performance Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis is the as public practice and a BA in theater curator of Asian Pacific American studies and English from Duke University. Studies for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific In 2016, Jackson was recognized as an American Center and founding director exceptionally talented early-career leader of the Washington, DC-based arts of color by the Theatre Communications nonprofit the Asian American Literary Photo courtesy of Darrel Alejandro Holnes Group (TCG), the national service Review. He serves as lead organizer for organization for professional theater, the Asian American Literature Festival, Darrel Alejandro Holnes is the and was selected to participate in co-hosted by the Smithsonian, Library of recipient of a National Endowment for TCG’s inaugural Rising Leaders of Congress, and Poetry Foundation, and the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship Color program. is a co-founder of the nomadic Center and the author of forthcoming titles 4 Stepmotherland (Notre Dame Press, 2022) and Migrant Psalms (Northwestern Press, 2021). His poems have appeared Poetry Ourselves in the American Poetry Review, Callaloo, Poetry Ourselves was launched in 2016 as a part of the Best American Experimental Writing, and elsewhere. Holnes is a Cave Canem and National Endowment for the Arts’ 50th anniversary CantoMundo fellow who has celebration and is another way the Arts Endowment earned scholarships to institutions encourages student creativity. Each Poetry Out Loud including the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Fine Arts Work state champion had the opportunity to submit an Center in Provincetown. He is an assistant original work of poetry in one of two categories— professor of English at written or spoken. Poet Eve L. Ewing judged this year’s College and a faculty member of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at submissions. Winning poems may be featured on . arts.gov and poetryoutloud.org. Winners and runners- up will be highlighted at the National Finals on May 27.

Photo by Fid Thompson

Gowri Koneswaran is a queer Tamil- American writer, performing artist, Photo by Mercedes Zapata teacher, and lawyer. Her advocacy has addressed animal welfare, environmental Eve L. Ewing, PhD, is a sociologist of education and a writer from protection, the rights of prisoners and the Chicago. She is the award-winning author of the poetry collections criminally accused in the U.S., and justice Electric Arches (Haymarket Books, 2017) and 1919 (Haymarket and accountability in Sri Lanka. She Books, 2019) and the nonfiction work Ghosts in the Schoolyard: is poetry coordinator at the nonprofit arts and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side (University of organization BloomBars and a fellow of Chicago Press, 2020). She is the co-author (with Nate Marshall) the Asian-American literary organization of the play No Blue Memories: The Life of . She Kundiman. Previously, she was a poetry also currently writes the Champions series for Marvel Comics events host at Busboys and Poets, senior and previously wrote the acclaimed Ironheart series, as well as poetry editor at Jaggery, and co-editor other projects. Ewing is an assistant professor at the University of of Beltway Poetry Quarterly. Koneswaran Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Her work has been has performed her poetry at Lincoln published in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, , and Center Out of Doors, the Kennedy many other venues. Her first book for young readers, Maya and the Center’s Millennium Stage, Smithsonian Robot, is forthcoming in July 2021. Folklife Festival, Capital Fringe Festival, SpokenWord Paris, and universities in the U.S. and Canada.

5 NATIONAL FINALS PROGRAM • MAY 27

Welcome HOST JUDGES Shaun Taylor-Corbett

Roll Call of State Champions

Introduction of Nine Finalists Photo by Ashley Garrett Photo by Jess X. Snow was in the Cathy Linh Che is the author of Split National Endowment for the Shaun Taylor-Corbett original production of In the Heights on (Alice James Books, 2014), winner of the Arts Remarks Broadway and closed the show in the role Norma Farber First Book Award from the Ann Eilers, Acting Chairman of Sonny. He played Frankie Valli in the Poetry Society of America, and the Best 2nd National Tour of Jersey Boys, Juan in Poetry Book Award from the Association First Round of Recitations Altar Boyz Off-Broadway, and Usnavi and of Asian American Studies. Her work Sonny from In the Heights on the First has been published in , Poetry Foundation Remarks National Tour as well as in the Broadway McSweeney’s, and Poetry. She has Michelle T. Boone, President company. He performed in Bedlam received awards from MacDowell, Poets Theatre Company’s acclaimed production & Writers, and the Asian American Second Round of Recitations of The Crucible, as well as playing the role Literary Review, among others. She is of Slender/Duke of Burgundy/Bassanio working on a poetry manuscript and a in Bedlam: the Series. His original Native creative nonfiction manuscript on her National Assembly of State American musical, Distant Thunder, will parents’ experiences as refugees who Arts Agencies Remarks receive its first production in 2022 at played extras in Apocalypse Now. She Pam Breaux, Executive Director Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma in Oklahoma serves as executive director at Kundiman, City. The show is based on Taylor- a national nonprofit dedicated to Announcement of Corbett’s deep connection with the nurturing writers and readers of Asian- Three Finalists Blackfeet community in Browning, MT. He American literature. is a proud company member of Native Final Round of Recitations Voices at the Autry, and performed with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for Announcement three seasons. Taylor-Corbett co-narrated There There by Tommy Orange which Photo by Matt Valentine of Poetry Out Loud was nominated for an in National Champion 2019, and recently narrated The Only Eduardo C. Corral is the author Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, of Guillotine (Graywolf Press, 2020), also nominated for an Audie this year. longlisted for the 2020 National Book Other TV and film credits include Hi-5, Awards, and Slow Lightning (Yale Series Discovery Kids, Supremacy, Gamer’s of Younger Poets, 2012), selected by Carl Guide, and All My Children. Phillips as the winner of the 2011 Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition. He is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award, a 92Y Discovery Prize, a National

6 Endowment for the Arts Creative was recently named a 2021 United States Writing Fellowship, and a Hodder Artist Fellow. In addition to Can I Kick Fellowship from . It?, he’s had several publications from A CantoMundo fellow, he teaches in the Haymarket Books including Inauguration Photo courtesy of Branden Wellington MFA program in creative writing at North co-written with Nico Wilkinson, Human Carolina State University. Highlight: Ode To Dominique Wilkins, Branden Wellington is an actor best and the play This Is Modern Art. He has known for his work on Orange Is the New appeared on Nickelodeon, HBO Def Black, When It All Falls Down, Gotham, Poetry, , NPR, BBC Radio, Younger, and Blue Bloods. He has written and the Discovery Channel. His plays and starred in several spoken-word Photo courtesy of Gabriel Cortez include And In This Corner Cassius Clay, poetry projects for the NBA, and he How We Got On, Hype Man, and Jacked! won a non- program Emmy Gabriel Cortez is a Black biracial poet, Award for writing TV Dreams in a World educator, and organizer of Panamanian of Sports – Kids Day Open. He also served descent. His work has appeared in the as the New York Mets’ in-game host New York Times, National Public Radio, for five seasons and a sideline reporter Huffington Post, and more. He is a Photo by Rose Lincoln for the NBA G-League. When he is not National Association of Latino Arts and acting, Wellington enjoys playing and Cultures grant recipient and winner of Elisa New is the director and host of watching basketball and spending time the Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Poetry in America, director of Verse with his . In 2007, Wellington Prize. Cortez is a member of the artist Video Education, and Powell M. Cabot placed second at the Poetry Out Loud collective Ghostlines and co-founder of Professor of American Literature at National Finals. the Root Slam, an award-winning poetry . New created Poetry venue dedicated to inclusivity, justice, in America, a public television series, to and artistic growth, as well as Write bring poetry into living rooms and onto Home, a project working to challenge screens of all kinds. The show can be public perceptions of houselessness and seen on public television and streaming shift critical resources to houseless Bay platforms, in schools and libraries, and on Area youth through spoken word poetry. airlines. Guests have included Shaquille Cortez currently works as director of O’Neal, , Herbie Hancock, Sonia programs at Youth Speaks. Sanchez, Li-Young Lee, Couric, and President Joe Biden. Along with the series, New produces educational materials on American poetry for all ages—from middle school students and

Photo by Mercedes Zapata K-12 teachers through lifelong learners— distributed by Harvard University, Amplify Idris Goodwin is an award-winning Education, and Arizona State University. scriptwriter, breakbeat poet, educator, and director of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. He

7 Alabama Georgia Soojin Park Karma Hudnall Auburn High School DeKalb School for the Arts

Alaska Guam Asya Gipson Tristha Garcia OUT West Anchorage High School St. Paul Christian School American Samoa Hawaii LOUD TM Audrey-Rose Sevaaetasi Taylor Cozloff Samoana High School Kamehameha Schools Kapālama

Arizona Idaho Aliyah Chutkan True Leavitt Xavier College Preparatory Xavier Charter School

Arkansas Illinois Katelyn Grace Doyne Catherine Herrera 2021 Wilbur D. Mills University Studies William Howard Taft High School High School Indiana STATE Lucia Walker Delali Bruce Bloomington High School South CHAMPIONS Live Oak Academy Iowa Colorado Elijah M. Thiessen Aidyn Reid Marshalltown High School These are the 2021 Fountain Valley School of Colorado Poetry Out Loud Kansas Connecticut Garrett McLaughlin State and Jurisdictional Shermya Sly-ann Shawnee Mission West High School Dover-John Champions. The Ethel Walker School Kentucky Congratulations to all! Emma Robison Delaware Allen County Scottsville High School Rebecca Wisniewski Milford Senior High School Jacob Simmons District of Columbia Covington High School Saquoya E. Gorham School for the Arts Maine Emily Paruk Florida Gorham High School Flavia Nunez School for Advanced Studies - North

8 Maryland New Mexico South Dakota Kate Maerten Zoe Sloan Callan Rahele Megosha Gerstell Academy Native American Community Academy Washington High School

Massachusetts New York Rose E. Hansen Zaida Rio Polanco Kendall Grimes Norwell High School White Plains High School Battle Ground Academy

Michigan Texas Madison Ganzak Meziah Smith Samuel Eluemunoh Roosevelt High School Knightdale High School St. Mark’s School of Texas

Minnesota North Dakota U.S. Virgin Islands Sophie Kuether Kylie Howatt Kaden A. Hughes Columbia Heights High School Northern Cass High School Antilles School

Mississippi Ohio Utah Morgan Love Monserrat Tlahuel-Flores Brynne Burgess Mississippi School of the Arts St. Francis DeSales High School Legacy Preparatory Academy

Missouri Oklahoma Vermont Mattie Mills Stephanie Thanscheidt Irén Hangen Vázquez Notre Dame de Sion Bethany High School Burr and Burton Academy

Montana Oregon Virginia Brady L. Drummond Tabarjah Neal Azhane Pollard Belt High School Oregon Charter Academy Hopewell High School

Nebraska Pennsylvania Washington Alexandra Rose Zaleski Taha Vahanvaty Lucy Shainin Skutt Catholic High School Stroudsburg High School Anacortes High School

Nevada Puerto Rico West Virginia Eakjot Kaur Sekhon Matías Coss Hernández Ben Long Robert McQueen High School University High School Notre Dame High School

New Hampshire Rhode Island Wisconsin Lilla Bozek Virginia Keister Lauren Broman Newmarket High School Chariho Regional High School Wrightstown High School

New Jersey South Carolina Wyoming Lilian Myers Emily Allison Ray Jones Cinnaminson High School South Carolina Children’s Theatre Natrona County High School

9 Maryland Kate Maerten “Once the World Was Perfect” by SEMIFINAL “No, I wasn’t meant to love and be loved” ONE by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib New Jersey Lilian Myers May 2 • 12:00 pm et “Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud” by John Donne “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

North Carolina Meziah Smith “American Smooth” by “The Song of the Feet” by

Maine Emily Paruk “Fairy-tale Logic” by A.E. Stallings “Once the World Was Perfect” by Joy Harjo

New Hampshire Lilla Bozek “Where the Wild Things Go” by D. Gilson “No, I wasn’t meant to love and be loved” by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib

West Virginia Ben Long “Istanbul 1983” by Sheila Black “An Autumn Sunset” by

Connecticut Shermya Sly-ann Dover-John “Eagle Plain” by Robert Francis “The Ocean” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Massachusetts Rose E. Hansen “ at the Poetry Slam” by Dan Vera “Barter” by Sara Teasdale

Delaware Rebecca Wisniewski “Domestic Situation” by Ernest Hilbert “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, (340)” by Emily Dickinson

10 U.S. Virgin Islands Kaden A. Hughes “Cartoon Physics, part 1” by Nick Flynn “I Am the People, the Mob” by

Virginia Azhane Pollard “Black Boys Play the Classics” by Toi Derricotte “Enough” by Suzanne Buffam

Vermont Irén Hangen Vázquez “Caminitos” by Carmen Tafolla “[‘Often rebuked, yet always back returning’]” by Emily Brontë

Ohio Monserrat Tlahuel-Flores “The True-Blue American” by Delmore Schwartz “The Only Mexican” by David Tomas Martinez

District of Columbia Saquoya E. Gorham “Ebb” by Edna St. Vincent Millay “A Celebration of Charis: I. His Excuse for Loving” by Ben Jonson

South Carolina Emily Allison “I Know, I Remember, But How Can I Help You?” by Hayden Carruth “Fate” by Carolyn Wells

Pennsylvania Taha Vahanvaty “Brother, I’ve seen some” by Kabir “If They Should Come for Us” by Fatimah Asghar

Rhode Island Virginia Keister “Always Something More Beautiful” by “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth

New York Zaida Rio Polanco “El Olvido” by Judith Ortiz Cofer “No, I wasn’t meant to love and be loved” by Mirza Asadulla Khan Ghalib

11 Michigan Madison Ganzak “Violins” by Rowan Ricardo Phillips SEMIFINAL “Tarantulas on the Lifebuoy” by Thomas Lux

TWO Tennessee Kendall Grimes “America, I Sing You Back” May 2 • 3:00 pm et by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne

Oklahoma Stephanie Thanscheidt “Famous” by Naomi Shihab Nye “The Poem You’ve Been Waiting For” by Tarfia Faizullah

Louisiana Jacob Simmons “End of Days Advice from an Ex-zombie” by Michael Derrick Hudson “The Conqueror Worm” by

Puerto Rico Matías Coss Hernández “Infelix” by Adah Isaacs Menken “We Are of a Tribe” by Alberto Ríos

Florida Flavia Nunez “At the city pound” by Vincent O’Sullivan “A Country Boy in Winter” by Sarah Orne Jewett

Indiana Lucia Walker “The Art Room” by Shara McCallum “Ah! Why, Because the Dazzling Sun” by Emily Brontë

Alabama Soojin Park “Mingus at the Showplace” by William Matthews “Say Grace” by Emily Jungmin Yoon

Georgia Karma Hudnall “That’s My Heart Right There” by Willie Perdomo “I am Trying to Break Your Heart” by

12 Mississippi Morgan Love “genetics” by “The Paradox” by

Wisconsin Lauren Broman “At the city pound” by Vincent O’Sullivan “When You Are Old” by William Butler Yeats

Kentucky Emma Robison “Immortal Sails” by Alfred Noyes “The Children’s Hour” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Nebraska Alexandra Rose Zaleski “In Memoriam: Martin Luther King, Jr.” by June Jordan “On An Unsociable Family” by Elizabeth Hands

Illinois Catherine Herrera “The Collar” by George Herbert “Bright Copper Kettles” by

Arkansas Katelyn Grace Doyne “The Song of the ” by W.E.B. Du Bois “I look at the world” by

Kansas Garrett McLaughlin “Sonnet 19: When I consider how my light is spent” by John Milton “Emily Dickinson at the Poetry Slam” by Dan Vera

Iowa Elijah M. Thiessen “Beautiful Wreckage” by W.D. Ehrhart “Rondeau” by Leigh Hunt

Missouri Mattie Mills “Pity the Beautiful” by Dana Gioia “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick

13 Idaho True Leavitt “Dyed Carnations” by Robyn Schiff SEMIFINAL “Emily Dickinson at the Poetry Slam” by Dan Vera

THREE Eakjot Kaur Sekhon May 2 • 6:00 pm et “Love Song” by Dorothy Parker “No, I wasn’t meant to love and be loved” by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib

South Dakota Rahele Megosha “I Am Learning to Abandon the World” by Linda Pastan “Fairy Tale with Laryngitis and Resignation Letter” by Jehanne Dubrow

Alaska Asya Gipson “What Women Are Made Of” by Bianca Lynne Spriggs “Say Grace” by Emily Jungmin Yoon

Washington Lucy Shainin “Fairy Tale with Laryngitis and Resignation Letter” by Jehanne Dubrow “American Solitude” by

Minnesota Sophie Kuether “I think I should have loved you presently” by Edna St. Vincent Millay “To have without holding” by Marge Piercy

American Samoa Audrey-Rose Sevaaetasi “Dyed Carnations” by Robyn Schiff “An Apology For Her Poetry” by Duchess of Newcastle Margaret Cavendish

California Delali Bruce “Negative” by Kevin Young “The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died I was very young” by William Blake

Utah Brynne Burgess “The Pull Toy” by A.E. Stallings “Invictus” by

14 Arizona Aliyah Chutkan “Advice to a Prophet” by Richard Wilbur “Cartoon Physics, part 1” by Nick Flynn

Montana Brady L. Drummond “The Children’s Hour” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Heart Butte, Montana” by M.L. Smoker

Oregon Tabarjah Neal “Carnival” by Rebecca Lindenberg “Y2K” by Therese Lloyd

Guam Tristha Garcia “Ebb” by Edna St. Vincent Millay “Propositions” by Stephen Dunn

Colorado Aidyn Reid “The Days Gone By” by James Whitcomb Riley “Tomorrow” by Dennis O’Driscoll

North Dakota Kylie Howatt “The Barnacle” by A.E. Stallings “Dawn” by Ella Higginson

Wyoming Ray Jones “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes “Bereavement” by William Lisle Bowles

Hawaii Taylor Cozloff “Kindness” by “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas

Texas Samuel Eluemunoh “American Sonnet For My Past and Future Assassin [‘Inside me is a black-eyed animal’]” by Terrance Hayes “I Am Offering this Poem” by Jimmy Santiago Baca

New Mexico Zoe Sloan Callan “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation” by Natalie Diaz “To be of use” by Marge Piercy 15 PRODUCTION

DIRECTOR

Michael Baron is the Producing Artistic include – ZACH Theatre: Peter and the in Theatre Arts, ; Director of Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma. Starcatcher, Spring Awakening; Signature MFA in Directing, Trinity Repertory At Lyric, he directed Titanic, Singin’ in Theatre: The Little Dog Laughed, Songs Conservatory. Michael served as the the Rain, Bright Star, When We’re Gone for a New World starring Tony-winner Associate Director of Signature Theatre (world premiere), Freaky Friday, Fun Alice Ripley, Tony-nominee Brian in Arlington, Virginia—winner of the 2009 Home, Disney’s When You Wish, James D’Arcy James, Emmy-nominee Titus Regional Theatre Tony Award. Michael and the Giant Peach, I Am My Own Wife, Burgess, and music direction by Jason received the 2012 Helen Hayes Award Assassins, , , Robert Brown; Adventure Theatre: for Outstanding Direction of a Resident Mann…And Wife (world premiere), Huck Finn’s Big River (world premiere), Musical in Washington, DC for Adventure Bernice Bobs Her Hair (world premiere), James and the Giant Peach (2017 Helen Theatre’s production of A Year with Frog Big Fish with David Elder and Tony- Hayes nomination for Outstanding and Toad, the 2016 Oklahoma Governor’s nominee Emily Skinner, Oklahoma!, An Direction), the world premiere musical Arts Award, and a special award from Inspector Calls, A Little Night Music with Big Nate; : Meet Oklahoma City Mayor’s Committee Tony-nominee Dee Hoty, Les Misérables, John Doe; Trinity Repertory Company: on Disabilities Concerns. He also was Triangle, Big River, Tarzan, The Glass The School for Scandal; La Mama: The recognized by the Stage Directors and Menagerie, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Whore of Sheridan Square (wrote and Choreographers Society as a 2016-2017 Call Me Madam with Tony-winner Beth directed, published in anthology Plays Top Ten “Standout Moment” by the Leavel, Spring Awakening, Ragtime, and Playwrights 2006). NEA: 2010-2021 Diversity and Inclusion Committee for his Oliver!, Boeing Boeing, Always…Patsy Poetry Out Loud National Competition ASL-integrated production of Fiddler on Cline, December Divas, The Rocky Horror Finals with hosts , Kerry the Roof. His 2020 outdoor production Show and the annual production of Washington, and . of Lyric’s at the Harn Lyric’s A Christmas Carol (also adapted). Teaching: American University, Brown Homestead was featured in the New He has directed over 95 productions at University, Holy Cross College, and York Times and by BBC radio. He is an theaters across the country including Rhode Island College. Michael has been emeritus board member for the National the current production of A Christmas a theatre grant panelist for the National Alliance for . Carol at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, Endowment for the Arts and the National DC. Other regional directing highlights Alliance for Musical Theatre. Training: B.A.

ASL INTERPRETERS Semifinals and Finals Mia Engle and Steve Phan

16 Poetry Out Loud is managed at the state level by Alabama State Council on the Arts Montana Arts Council OUT Alaska State Council on the Arts Nebraska Arts Council American Samoa Council on Arts, Culture, Nevada Arts Council LOUD TM and the Humanities New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Arizona Commission on the Arts New Jersey State Council on the Arts Arkansas Arts Council New Mexico Arts Prizes California Arts Council New York State Council on the Arts NATIONAL FINALS Colorado Creative Industries North Carolina Arts Council Connecticut Office of the Arts 1ST PLACE North Dakota Council on the Arts $20,000 award DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Ohio Arts Council Delaware Division of the Arts 2ND PLACE Oklahoma Arts Council $10,000 award Florida Division of Cultural Affairs Oregon Arts Commission Georgia Council for the Arts 3RD PLACE Pennsylvania Council on the Arts $5,000 award Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña Agency 4TH–9TH PLACES Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Hawaii State Foundation on Culture $1,000 award and the Arts South Carolina Arts Commission Idaho Commission on the Arts South Dakota Arts Council The schools or organizations of the top nine Illinois Arts Council Agency Tennessee Arts Commission finalists will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry materials. Indiana Arts Commission Texas Commission on the Arts The fourth-place student in each semifinal Iowa Arts Council Utah Division of Arts & Museums competition will receive an honorable Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission Vermont Arts Council mention award of $1,000, with $500 to their Kentucky Arts Council Virgin Islands Council on the Arts school or organization for the purchase of Louisiana Division of the Arts Virginia Commission for the Arts poetry materials. Maine Arts Commission Washington State Arts Commission: Arts WA Maryland State Arts Council West Virginia Division of Culture and History STATE FINALS Massachusetts Cultural Council Wisconsin Arts Board More than $50,000 in monetary prizes were awarded at state final competitions. Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs Wyoming Arts Council Minnesota State Arts Board and many incredible partners The Poetry Foundation provides and administers all Mississippi Arts Commission aspects of the monetary prizes awarded in Poetry Out Loud. Missouri Arts Council Awards will be made in the form of lump sum cash payouts, reportable to the IRS. Tax liabilities are the sole responsibility of the winners and their . POETRY OUT LOUD NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

2019 Isabella Callery (Minnesota) 2018 Janae Claxton (South Carolina) 2017 Samara Elán Huggins (Georgia) 2016 Ahkei Togun (Virginia) 2015 Maeva Ordaz (Alaska) 2014 Anita Norman (Tennessee) 2013 Langston Ward (Washington) 2012 Kristen Dupard (Mississippi) 2011 Youssef Biaz (Alabama) 2010 Amber Rose Johnson (Rhode Island) 2009 William Farley (Virginia) 2008 Shawntay Henry (U.S. Virgin Islands) 2007 Amanda Fernandez (District of Columbia) 2006 Jackson Hille (Ohio) 2005 Stephanie Oparaugo (Washington, DC) and Devin Kenny (Chicago, Illinois) (Pilot Year)

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Photos: 2013 Poetry Out Loud Champion Langston Ward, 2015 Poetry Out Loud Champion Maeva Ordaz, 2017 Poetry Out Loud National Champion Samara Elán Huggins, and 2006 Poetry Out Loud National Champion Jackson Hille. Photos by James Kegley