Lydia Smith Henry Hudson Regional School freshman Evelynn Knox, who will be competing once again, this time with her own poetry, after competing at the state level last month, isn’t the first student to bring honor to the high school in the Poetry Out Loud competition.
Former student Lydia Smith competed for three years from the time she was a sophomore until she graduated last year. One year competition was modified because of Covid and was conducted virtually and in person and won both the school and regional competition.
The second year she took honors and first place in the school, regional and state competitions. To finish it off, in her senior year, she once again won the school competition as she had done in each of her two previous years of competition.
While Lydia responded to questions from VeniVidiScripto concerning her experiences since winning the state championship in the Poetry Out Loud competitions while at Henry Hudson, Evelynn is preparing for yet another contest, because of her winning the Regional contest this year.
Evelynn will be competing for the 2024 National Finals for original written or oral poetry. The first and second place winners will be announced on May 2 and winning work is expected to be featured on the National Endowment for the Arts website and the Poetry Out Loud website.
At the same time, Lydia, a freshman at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, double majoring in Theater and Integrated ELA Education, still credits the Poetry Our Loud program and Hudson’s English teacher Jessica Merrigan for much of her success.
This year she was able to continue to appreciate her alma mater when she served as a guest judge for the Henry Hudson school event for the Poetry Out Loud competition.
Now a resident of Oakhurst, Lydia attended the Atlantic Highlands elementary School before going to Henry Hudson
She said she never had any intention of competing in the Poetry Out Loud competition; but with urging, from her teacher in her sophomore year she did enter, won for the school, then went for the state title and said, “I thought that it would be the end of my time in POL.”
But the next year “ Mrs. Merrigan pushed me to compete and to my surprise I kept moving forward.” It was because of her teacher’s support and urging Lydia kept competing and then realized “it was because of the peace I found in my recitations. The words I would analyze meant so much to me so I always took a deep dive into how I portrayed myself on stage and what I could make the audience feel.”
The speaker’s favorite poem for the 2023 competition was Kara Jackson’s “Anthem for my belly after eating too much” which she preferred over “April Midnight” by Arthur Symons and “Stomp” by Nikki Grimes.
While competing in the local, regional and state competitions were all fun, Lydia still admits that her own nervousness was one of the most difficult parts she faced… That and memorizing all the poems But she found her own solutions and worked through it.
“When I would get nervous before going on stage, I would start to doubt myself and get scared that I would forget my words. I worked through that by reciting my poem to myself right before going on and then not thinking about it again till the moment I had to recite. By distracting myself and thinking of other things, I wasn’t as worried about what could go wrong or how I could mess up during my performance. “
By contrast, “the easiest part was the research and rehearsal process. I loved deeply analyzing each poem and spending time with Mrs. Merrigan to practice and reflect on how each poem was recited at every level.”
And the best part of the competition? “All the friends I made along the way. So many opportunities opened up and so many connections came from the experience. With Nationals, I met people from all over the country and it was so great to get to know their stories and why they decided to participate.”
It’s obvious all the experiences taught this college freshman a level of confidence she never would have had. She admits that at one time “ putting myself onstage and not being ‘protected’ in the sense of playing another character made me fearful. I was scared of mistakes, embarrassment, and failure. But by putting myself in the right mindset and pushing to improve at every level, brought me so much peace and confidence in my ability to recite,” she explains, looking back over her high school experience…
It was the competition and the entire process leading up to it that enabled Lydia to “put myself out there,” she said. “By growing through each level and performance I did, I learned new skills and ways to enhance my recitations. That way, I was able to learn how to trust myself and be confident in my performance and what I had to give to each poem.”
Anthem for My Belly After Eating Too Much
By Kara Jackson
I look in the mirror, and all the chips I’ve eaten
this month have accumulated
like schoolwork at the bottom of my tummy,
my belly—a country I’m trying to love.
my mouth is a lover devoted to you, my belly, my belly
the birds will string a song together
with wind for you and your army
of solids, militia of grease.
Americans love excess, but we also love jeans,
and refuse to make excess comfortable in them.
I step into a fashionable prison,
my middle managed and fastened into
suffering. my gracious gut,
dutiful dome, I will wear a house for you
that you can live in, promise walls
that embrace your growing flesh,
and watch you reach toward everything possible.
