♪♪ [inaudible] - Please welcome our host for today's contest, the Executive Director of the Mississippi Arts Commission, Sarah Story.

- On behalf of the Mississippi Arts Commission and our partners, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, I welcome you to the 16th annual Mississippi Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest.

This year more than 200,000 students in more than 2,000 schools participated in Poetry Out Loud, a poetry education program that is offered free-of-charge to high school students and teachers across our nation.

The highlight of the program is the National Recitation Contest in which 54 contestants, one from each of the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam and the District of Columbia, recite for up to $20,000 in prize money.

19 high schools from across our state, from Meridian to Vicksburg, Oxford to Pascagoula, began the journey toward today'’s contest when they registered to participate in Mississippi'’s Poetry Out Loud program at the beginning of the academic year.

In some schools it began in the English classroom, in some the theatre classroom and, in others, with an interested teacher, librarian or club advisor, leading to an in-school Poetry Out Loud contest held before the winter holidays.

Despite COVID restrictions, distance learning and alternative school schedules, nearly 1,000 students and 50 teachers participated in Mississippi Poetry Out Loud this year.

In February, the school champions represented their schools in a Statewide Preliminary Contest and the nine top -scoring contestants will be reciting today, each looking toward the $20,000 first prize at the National Recitation Contest!

I congratulate all of the contestants on their achievement in reaching this stage of the Contest and share my personal best wishes for their success today!

It is now my privilege to introduce the MC for this Contest.

As a young child, our MC remembers pretending to be a radio personality at WJSU, where her father was General Manager.

It's no surprise, therefore, that Michelle McAdoo has worked in radio for over 20 years and is a Producer and Host with Mississippi Public Broadcasting Think Radio.

She holds a Master'’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and looks forward to starting her "“Teen Talk Show"” and mentoring program.

Please welcome Mississippi Public Broadcasting'’s own, Michelle McAdoo.

- Thank you, Sarah, and welcome!

First let me tell you how proud Mississippi Public Broadcasting is to share "“Poetry Out Loud"” with our statewide television audience.

We believe that academic contests should and do stand on the same stage as all other pursuits of excellence, and that the contestants deserve not only our attention, but our respect.

Poetry Out Loud seeks to promote the art of poetry in both the classroom and the community.

The program provides an entry point for many students to learn to love poetry and, for most, to introduce them to poems that will stay with them for a lifetime.

Scoring recitations is one of the most important, and most difficult, aspects of a Poetry Out Loud contest.

Judges are asked to evaluate very different recitations, each displaying an impressive level of excellence, and they must decide how well students represent complex poems that may lend themselves to more than one interpretation.

The integrity of Poetry Out Loud rests on the work of the judges at each and every level the contest.

Serving on today's panel of judges are writer, editor, and instructor of English at Jackson State University, C. Liegh McInnis.

Author, songwriter, singer, Mississippi Arts Commission Roster Artist and Teaching Artist, and Mississippi Humanities Council speaker, Richelle Putnam.

Poet, New York Times Bestselling author, and Professor of English at University of Mississippi, Aimee Nezhukumatathil.

Poet Laureate of Mississippi and Professor of English at the University of Mississippi, Beth Ann Fennelly.

Poet, writer, and Mississippi Arts Commission Roster Artist, Dr. Benjamin Morris.

Poetry Out Loud recitations are scored in five categories: The contestants are also scored for accuracy: They need to recite all the words of the poem, and recite them in the correct order.

It is interesting to note that Poetry Out Loud is a contest, not a competition.

If it were a competition, the contestants would all be reciting the same poems and the judges would be choosing one recitation over another.

In Poetry Out Loud, the judges evaluate each recitation independently according to the five scoring categories using a predefined six-level scoring system.

In other words, the judges do not select the finalists, the scores do.

There will be three rounds in today's contest.

Each contestant has prepared three poems and will each recite one in each round.

Their cumulative scores will be used to determine which of today's contestants will represent Mississippi in the National Recitation Contest in May.

And now we begin Round One of the 2021 Mississippi Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest.

Our first contestant is Morgan Love, a senior at the Mississippi School of the Arts.

- "“Genetics"” by Jacqueline Woodson.

My mother has a gap between her two front teeth.

So does Daddy Gunnar.

Each child in this family has the same space connecting us.

Our baby brother, Roman, was born pale as dust.

His soft brown curls and eyelashes stop people on the street.

Whose angel child is this?

they want to know.

When I say, My brother, the people wear doubt thick as a cape until we smile and the cape falls.

- The next contestant is Sadie-Kate Segers, a sophomore at Rebul Academy.

- "“Squirrels"” by Nate King.

Something blurred, warmed in the eye'’s corner, like woodsmoke becoming tears; but when you turned to look the stoop was still, the pumpkin and tacky mum pot wouldn'’t talk?-— just a rattle at the gutter and a sense of curtains, somewhere, pulled.

Five of them later, scarfing the oak'’s black bole, laying a dream of snakes.

Needy and reticent at once, these squirrels in charred November recall, in Virgil, what it is to feel: moods, half-moods, swarming, then darting loose; obscure hunches that refuse to speak, but still expect in some flash of luck to be revealed.

The less you try to notice them, the more they will know of you.

- Next we'’ll have Allyson Evers, a freshman at Northwest Rankin High School.

- "“What the Oracle Said"” by Shara McCallum.

You will leave your home: nothing will hold you.

You will wear dresses of gold; skins of silver, copper, and bronze.

The sky above you will shift in meaning each time you think you understand.

You will spend a lifetime chipping away layers of flesh.

The shadow of your scales will always remain.

You will be marked by sulphur and salt.

You will bathe endlessly in clear streams and fail to rid yourself of that scent.

Your feet will never be your own.

Stone will be your path.

Storms will follow in your wake, destroying all those who take you in.

You will desert your children, kill your lovers and devour their flesh.

You will love no one but the wind and ache of your bones.

Neither will love you in return.

With age, your hair will grow matted and dull, your skin will gape and hang in long folds, your eyes will cease to shine.

But nothing will be enough.

The sea will never take you back.

- Now let'’s welcome Brentaja Bardwell, a junior at Pascagoula High School.

- "“Famous"” by Naomi Shihab Nye.

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence, which knew it would inherit the earth before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close to your bosom is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth, more famous than the dress shoe, which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men who smile while crossing streets, sticky children in grocery lines, famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous, or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular, but because it never forgot what it could do.

- Next we'’ll have Belle Grace Wilkinson, a senior at the Jackson Preparatory School.

- "“Little Girl"” by Tami Haaland.

She'’s with Grandma in front of Grandma'’s house, backed by a willow tree, gladiola and roses.

Who did she ever want to please?

But Grandma seems half-pleased and annoyed.

No doubt Mother frowns behind the lens, wants to straighten this sassy face.

Maybe laughs, too.

Little girl with her mouth wide, tongue out, yelling at the camera.

See her little white purse full of treasure, her white sandals?

She has things to do, you can tell.

Places to explore beyond the frame, and these women picking flowers and taking pictures.

Why won'’t they let her go?

- Now we'’ll have Sarah Rhodes, a freshman at Clinton High School.

- "“Encounter"” by Czeslaw Milosz.

Translated by Czeslaw Milosz.

We were riding through frozen fields in a wagon at dawn.

A red wing rose in the darkness.

And suddenly a hare ran across the road.

One of us pointed to it with his hand.

That was long ago.

Today neither of them are alive, Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture.

O my love, where are they?

Where are they going?

The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles.

I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder.

- Next is Abigail Young, a sophomore at Ocean Springs High School.

- "“To Have Without Holding"” by Marge Piercy.

Learning to love differently is hard, love with the hands wide open, the doors banging on their hinges, the cupboard unlocked, the wind roaring and whimpering in the rooms rustling the sheets and snapping the blinds that thwack like rubber bands in an open palm.

It hurts to love wide open stretching the muscles that feel as if they are made of wet plaster, then of blunt knives, then of sharp knives.

It hurts to thwart the reflexes of grab, of clutch.

To love and let go again and again.

It pesters to remember the lover who is not in the bed, to hold back what is owed to the work that gutters like a candle in a cave without air, to love consciously, conscientiously, concretely, constructively.

I can'’t do it, you say it'’s killing me, but you glow, you thrive, you glow on the street like a neon raspberry, You float and sail, a helium balloon bright bachelor'’s button blue and bobbing on the cold and hot winds of our breath, as we make and unmake in passionate diastole and systole the rhythm of our unbound bonding, to have and not to hold, to love with minimized malice, hunger and anger moment by moment balanced.

- Now let'’s welcome Tomia Jones, a senior at Jefferson County High School.

- "“The Mothering Blackness"” by Maya Angelou.

She came home running.

back to the mothering blackness.

deep in the smothering blackness.

white tears icicle gold plains of her face.

She came home running.

She came down creeping here to the black arms waiting now to the warm heart waiting rime of alien dreams befrosts her rich brown face.

She came down creeping.

She came home blameless black yet as Hagar'’s daughter tall as was Sheba'’s daughter threats of northern winds die on the desert'’s face.

She came home blameless.

- And finally, let'’s welcome Emma Teng, a senior at Oxford High School.

- "“Everybody Believes They Are the Good Guy"” by Cynthia Arrieu-King.

I was hanging with grandparents in a kindergarten and the teacher drew an accordion wall across to keep the children in antigravity class together the grandparents separately graded balloon worksheets sunlight floated in, the grandparents thoughtful about addition, mulling vacation Come here I said to the little one too little to be in class, soft as peaches I want to tell you something and you repeat it back to me next time She toddled over, put her arms up to hug me, we hugged She had stars inside her soul, was visibly celestial beneath her coat.

More human than human, got it?

I cuddled her Okay, she said, I'’m more human than a human.

- This concludes Round One of the 2021 Mississippi Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest.

We'll now proceed directly to Round Two, during which we'll hear a second recitation from each contestant.

The first recitation in Round Two is by Morgan Love.

Morgan is a writer, artist, and creative in many ways.

Morgan plans to attend college to major in Psychology with a minor in creative writing.

She hopes to become a counseling psychologist, incorporating creative writing into her practice.

- "“The Paradox"” by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

I am the mother of sorrows, I am the ender of grief; I am the bud and the blossom, I am the late-falling leaf.

I am thy priest and thy poet, I am thy serf and thy king; I cure the tears of the heartsick, When I come near they shall sing.

White are my hands as the snowdrop; Swart are my fingers as clay; Dark is my frown as the midnight, Fair is my brow as the day.

Battle and war are my minions, Doing my will as divine; I am the calmer of passions, Peace is a nursling of mine.

Speak to me gently or curse me, Seek me or fly from my sight; I am thy fool in the morning, Thou art my slave in the night.

Down to the grave will I take thee, Out from the noise of the strife; Then shalt thou see me and know me.

Death, then, no longer, but life.

Then shalt thou sing at my coming, Kiss me with passionate breath, Clasp me and smile to have thought me Aught save the foeman of Death.

Come to me, brother, when weary, Come when thy lonely heart swells; I'’ll guide thy footsteps and lead thee Down where the Dream Woman dwells.

- Next is Sadie-Kate Segers.

Satie-Kate is a creative writer who also enjoys riding horses, playing softball and painting.

She placed first in the 2020 MAIS Art Competition.

Sadie-Kate plans to attend Florida State University toward a career as a plastic surgeon.

- "“Acquainted With the Night"” by Robert Frost.

I have been one acquainted with the night.

I have walked out in rain-—and back in rain.

I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.

I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street, But not to call me back or say good-bye; And further still at an unearthly height, One luminary clock against the sky Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.

I have been one acquainted with the night.

- Now let'’s welcome Allyson Evers.

Although a dedicated academic student, Allyson's hobbies include drawing, singing and acting.

Her family plays a very large role in her life, providing her biggest support system.

Allyson is looking forward to a career in the medical field.

- "“Golden Retrievals"” by Mark Doty.

Fetch?

Balls and sticks capture my attention seconds at a time.

Catch?

I don'’t think so.

Bunny, tumbling leaf, a squirrel who'’s -— oh joy -— actually scared.

Sniff the wind, then I'’m off again: muck, pond, ditch, residue of any thrillingly dead thing.

And you?

Either you'’re sunk in the past, half our walk, thinking of something you never can bring back, or else you'’re off in some fog concerning -—tomorrow, is that what you call it?

My work: to unsnare time'’s warp (and woof!

), retrieving, my haze -headed friend, you.

This shining bark, a Zen master'’s bronzy gong, calls you here, entirely, now: bow-wow, bow-wow, bow-wow.

- Next we'’ll have Brentaja Bardwell.

Brentaja's favorite subject is English and her favorite pastimes include reading, spending time with friends and family, and volunteering at her church.

She is a member of her school'’s Key Club and participates in her school'’s theatre program.

- "“The Paradox"” by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

I am the mother of sorrows, I am the ender of grief; I am the bud and the blossom, I am the late-falling leaf.

I am thy priest and thy poet, I am thy serf and thy king; I cure the tears of the heartsick, When I come near they shall sing.

White are my hands as the snowdrop; Swart are my fingers as clay; Dark is my frown as the midnight, Fair is my brow as the day.

Battle and war are my minions, Doing my will as divine; I am the calmer of passions, Peace is a nursling of mine.

Speak to me gently or curse me, Seek me or fly from my sight; I am thy fool in the morning, Thou art my slave in the night.

Down to the grave will I take thee, Out from the noise of the strife; Then shalt thou see me and know me.

Death, then, no longer, but life.

Then shalt thou sing at my coming, Kiss me with passionate breath, Clasp me and smile to have thought me Aught save the foeman of Death.

Come to me, brother, when weary, Come when thy lonely heart swells; I'’ll guide thy footsteps and lead thee Down where the Dream Woman dwells.

- Next, let'’s welcome Belle Grace Wilkinson.

Belle Grace is involved in National Honor Society, National Art Honor Society and many other activities and clubs.

Belle Grace is the poetry and prose editor of her school's literary magazine.

She plans to attend Mississippi State University to major in psychology and minor in creative writing.

- "“Fate"” by Carolyn Wells.

Two shall be born the whole world wide apart, And speak in different tongues, and pay their debts In different kinds of coin; and give no heed Each to the other'’s being.

And know not That each might suit the other to a T, If they were but correctly introduced.

And these, unconsciously, shall bend their steps, Escaping Spaniards and defying war, Unerringly toward the same trysting-place, Albeit they know it not.

Until at last They enter the same door, and suddenly They meet.

And ere they'’ve seen each other'’s face They fall into each other'’s arms, upon The Broadway cable car - and this is Fate!

- Now let'’s welcome Sarah Rhodes.

Sarah is on the swim team and her favorite subject is history.

Although she may seem a bit shy when you first meet her, Sarah loves to act and enjoys learning and experiencing new things!

Her friends will tell you she's a little crazy and a lot of fun.

- "“Cloud Fishing"” by Phillis Levin.

To fish from a cloud in the sky You must find a comfortable spot, Spend a day looking down Patiently, clear-sighted.

Peer at your ceiling: Where a light dangles, hook & line Could be slipping through.

Under the hull of a boat A fish will see things this way, Looking up while swimming by?-—?

A wavering pole'’s refraction Catching its eye.

What will you catch?

With what sort of bait?

Take care or you'’ll catch yourself, A fish might say, As inescapable skeins of shadow Scatter a net Over the face of the deep.

- Now let'’s welcome Abigail Young.

A "“theatre kid"” to the core, Abigail loves to perform - on stage, at home, and just about anywhere!

Her future path might be toward aerospace engineering or it might lead her to the lights of Broadway.

But for now, though, she's focusing on her high school academic career.

- "“The End of Science Fiction"” by Lisel Mueller.

This is not fantasy, this is our life.

We are the characters who have invaded the moon, who cannot stop their computers.

We are the gods who can unmake the world in seven days.

Both hands are stopped at noon.

We are beginning to live forever, in lightweight, aluminum bodies with numbers stamped on our backs.

We dial our words like Muzak.

We hear each other through water.

The genre is dead.

Invent something new.

Invent a man and a woman naked in a garden, invent a child that will save the world, a man who carries his father out of a burning city.

Invent a spool of thread that leads a hero to safety, invent an island on which he abandons the woman who saved his life with no loss of sleep over his betrayal.

Invent us as we were before our bodies glittered and we stopped bleeding: invent a shepherd who kills a giant, a girl who grows into a tree, a woman who refuses to turn her back on the past and is changed to salt, a boy who steals his brother'’s birthright and becomes the head of a nation.

Invent real tears, hard love, slow-spoken, ancient words, difficult as a child'’s first steps across a room.

- Now let'’s welcome Tomia Jones.

Tomia is an Honors student who exemplifies leadership qualities and skills by being involved in several school clubs.

She enjoys writing poetry, reading novels, and cooking.

She plans on continuing her passion for writing by majoring in Creative Writing when she heads to college next year.

- "“BLK History Month"” by Nikki Giovanni.

If Black History Month is not viable then wind does not carry the seeds and drop them on fertile ground.

rain does not dampen the land and encourage the seeds to root.

sun does not kiss the earth and tell the seedlings plain: You'’re As Good As Anybody Else.

You'’ve Got A Place Here, Too.

- Now let'’s welcome Emma Teng.

Captain on the debate and Envirothon teams, Emma is a voracious reader who lives with two cats.

She loves creating art and sells paintings through her commission -based business.

Emma hopes to pursue a career in environmental architecture.

- "“Say Grace"” by Emily Jungmin Yoon.

In my country our shamans were women and our gods multiple until white people brought an ecstasy of rosaries and our cities today glow with crosses like graveyards.

As a child in Sunday school I was told I'’d go to hell if I didn'’t believe in God.

Our teacher was a woman whose daughters wanted to be nuns and I asked What about babies and what about Buddha, and she said They'’re in hell too and so I memorized prayers and recited them in front of women I did not believe in.

Deliver us from evil.

O sweet Virgin Mary, amen.

O sweet.

O sweet.

In this country, 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.

O sweet, O sweet.

In this country, point at the moon, at the stars, point at the way the lake lies, with a hand full of feathers, and they will look at the feathers.

And kill you for it.

If a word for religion they don'’t believe in is magic so be it, let us have magic.

Let us have our own mothers and scarves, our spirits, our shamans and our sacred books.

Let us keep our stars to ourselves and we shall pray to no one.

Let us eat what makes us holy.

- This concludes Round Two.

Congratulations, contestants, for all you've achieved.

And a special thank you to your teachers, coaches and parents.

You've all done amazing work!

The scores from the first and second rounds have been tabulated and the three highest-scoring contestants will now each recite a third poem.

The scores they earn in this round will be added to their standing scores and will be used to select Mississippi's representative to the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest in May.

The three finalists who will now recite a third poem are, in alphabetical order, Morgan Love, Emma Teng and Belle Grace Wilkinson.

To begin the final round of the 2021 Mississippi Poetry Out Loud State Finals Contest is Morgan Love.

- "“I Am Learning to Abandon the World"” by Linda Pastan.

I am learning to abandon the world before it can abandon me.

Already I have given up the moon and snow, closing my shades against the claims of white.

And the world has taken my father, my friends.

I have given up melodic lines of hills, moving to a flat, tuneless landscape.

And every night I give my body up limb by limb, working upwards across bone, towards the heart.

But morning comes with small reprieves of coffee and birdsong.

A tree outside the window which was simply shadow moments ago takes back its branches twig by leafy twig.

And as I take my body back the sun lays its warm muzzle on my lap as if to make amends.

- Next is Emma Teng.

- "“The Light of Stars"” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The night is come, but not too soon; And sinking silently, All silently, the little moon Drops down behind the sky.

There is no light in earth or heaven But the cold light of stars; And the first watch of night is given To the red planet Mars.

Is it the tender star of love?

The star of love and dreams?

O no!

from that blue tent above, A hero's armor gleams.

And earnest thoughts within me rise, When I behold afar, Suspended in the evening skies, The shield of that red star.

O star of strength!

I see thee stand And smile upon my pain; Thou beckonest with thy mailèd hand, And I am strong again.

Within my breast there is no light But the cold light of stars; I give the first watch of the night To the red planet Mars.

The star of the unconquered will, He rises in my breast, Serene, and resolute, and still, And calm, and self-possessed.

And thou, too, whosoe'er thou art, That readest this brief psalm, As one by one thy hopes depart, Be resolute and calm.

O fear not in a world like this, And thou shalt know erelong, Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong.

- And, finally, Belle Grace Wilkinson.

- "“When I am Asked"” by Lisel Mueller.

When I am asked how I began writing poems, I talk about the indifference of nature.

It was soon after my mother died, a brilliant June day, everything blooming.

I sat on a gray stone bench in a lovingly planted garden, but the day lilies were as deaf as the ears of drunken sleepers and the roses curved inward.

Nothing was black or broken and not a leaf fell and the sun blared endless commercials for summer holidays.

I sat on a gray stone bench ringed with the ingenue faces of pink and white impatiens and placed my grief in the mouth of language, the only thing that would grieve with me.

- And now, the announcement we've all been waiting to hear: the naming of our third and second place finalists, and of our 2021 state champion.

Presenting this year's awards is Sarah Story, Executive Director of the Mississippi Arts Commission.

- Thank you, Michelle McAdoo.

It is my privilege to present this year's Mississippi Poetry Out Loud State Finals Contest awards for Third Place, Second Place and State Champion.

The 2021 Mississippi Poetry Out Loud third-place finalist is Emma Teng.

The 2021 Mississippi Poetry Out Loud second-place finalist and recipient of a $100 award and a $200 grant for her school library is Belle Grace Wilkinson.

And the 2021 Mississippi Poetry Out Loud state champion and recipient of a $200 award and a $500 grant for her school library is Morgan Love.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of Poetry Out Loud: the teachers, students, coaches, parents, clinicians, volunteers, and judges, to the schools and organizations that partnered with the Mississippi Arts Commission to bring the program to the students of our state and especially to our long-standing Poetry Out Loud partner, Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

Registration for the 2022 Mississippi Poetry Out Loud program opens on Monday, May 24th.

Any and all schools and homeschool organizations that teach students in grades 9 through 12 are encouraged to visit the Mississippi Arts Commission website at www.arts.ms.gov for more information.

This concludes the 2021 Mississippi Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest.

I look forward to seeing you all in person next year.