This Friday, I will be serving as one of the judges for the regional Poetry Out Loud competition in Montgomery. Poetry Out Loud is a “national recitation contest” that begins on the classroom level then moves each winner forward into school, regional, state, and national contests. The students who emerge from this round on Friday will move on to the state-level competition. Then, if they do well again, it’s on to nationals in Washington, DC.

Having been a high school teacher who led my students to participate in years past, I’m looking forward to being involved again, albeit on the other side of the equation. Poetry Out Loud offers students, who truly engage with the program, an opportunity to experience poetry in a way they typically wouldn’t otherwise. Students choose published poems from the anthology or write their own, then memorize and recite them. For the student who moves forward, he or she will learn and rehearse a poem, hear its nuances and interpret them, share it with others, and continue that process for weeks, even months. Getting to know a poem so well can means having it as part of your life for a long time.