For 18-year-old Ismail Saeed, poetry feels a little bit like magic.
“I would read poems, especially in class,” he said. “And understanding it, and what the writer was trying to say — I thought it was just really cool.”
But there’s a difference between reading poems silently and presenting them to an audience. Speaking the words of a poem aloud makes you more conscious of the rhythms and patterns of language. Reciting one effectively requires the performer to truly understand and relate to the poet’s overall message.
And that’s the idea behind Poetry Out Loud.
Twenty years ago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation launched the nationwide competition to show that poetry has the power to build confidence and give students a voice.
In May, Saeed will take his voice to a national stage. Out of 157,000 students who participated in Poetry Out Loud this school year, the Wichita East High senior is one of 55 who advanced to the national finals in Washington, D.C. The winner gets $20,000.
Saeed is preparing three poems for the competition.
One is a brief but emotional 21-line poem titled “Learning to Love America” by Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, which deals with learning to love a country you were not born into.
because I have nursed my son at my breast
because he is a strong American boy
because I have seen his eyes redden when he is asked who he is
because he answers I don’t know
because to have a son is to have a country
because my son will bury me here
because countries are in our blood and we bleed them
Saeed said he felt drawn to the work immediately and felt a kinship with the writer. Saeed thought about his mother, who was born in Laos, and his dad, who is from Pakistan. He considered how Asian-American parents are often seen as relentless or overbearing – but not in this poem.
“She has an understanding of her son in a soft way, which I loved so much,” he said. “I love that it felt like almost something my own mom could write, or something that she could tell me.”
Saeed also is preparing “Shall earth no more inspire thee” by Emily Bronte, which checks off a requirement for a poem written prior to the 20th century.
“She’s pondering the relationship between inspiration and nature and God,” he said. “I like Bronte and the work she did. … It was a bit of a challenge because her language was different than mine, but I enjoyed the challenge of it all.”
The third poem he’s preparing for the national contest is “Say Grace” by Emily Jungmin Yoon.
In this country, which calls itself Christian,
what is sweeter than hearing Have mercy
on us. From those who serve different gods. O
clement, O loving, O God, O God, amidst ruins,
amidst waters, fleeing, fleeing. Deliver us from evil.
Saeed’s parents and grandparents attend all his Poetry Out Loud competitions. Because his grandparents are still learning English and had difficulty understanding some of the poems, Saeed asked a family member to translate the poems for them.
“I kind of watched something wash over my grandparents as they understood it, which was the most incredible thing,” he said.
On May 6, Saeed and other state champions will compete in the national Poetry Out Loud semifinals at George Washington University. Nine students will proceed to the finals on May 7. The competitions will be available through a one-time webcast at Arts.gov/Poetry-Out-Loud.
The timing of the competition is not great for Saeed, who as an International Baccalaureate student is required to take IB exams in early May. His teachers coordinated with the British International School in Washington, D.C., so he will take the European history exam at that school the day before the competition.
“We were all really nervous, but it worked out,” he said.
To prepare for the national contest, Saeed is reciting each poem several times a day, trying to perfect his gestures, pace and tone of voice. He wants the audience to connect to the works and to understand his passion for poetry.
“I want to make them understand that it’s not just a piece of work that’s written, but it’s my experience, and it’s something I want to tell them or express to them.”
