According to an old joke, because public speaking outranks death on the list of people’s worst fears, you are better off in a casket than delivering a eulogy.
By that reasoning, courtesy of the comedian Jerry Seinfeld, the preferred spot at last week’s 2011 Poetry Out Loud Southern Maine Regional would have been in the stands, rather than on the stage.
But don’t tell that the 22 students who competed in the event at the City Theater in Biddeford, or the dozens of other students who earlier this school year took part in local poetry competitions. Even as the audience was treated to the incandescent words of Shakespeare, Tennyson and Poe, it was the students who were clearly getting the most out of it.
“Before when I read poetry, I read it off the page,” said Griffin Carpenter, a Cape Elizabeth High School sophomore who is one of 10 regional finalists. “With this, I wasn’t satisfied until I read and understood every word of the poem. This has really helped me with understanding poetry and how to go about understanding poetry.”
It was that same feeling that led Westbrook High School freshman Nasar Zackaria to the poem “I, too” by Langston Hughes. Nerves wracked the young student before his school’s competition in December, but Zackaria became composed and theatrical on stage, wagging his finger as he spoke.
“I am the darker brother / They send me to eat in the kitchen / When company comes. / But I laugh, / And eat well / And grow strong,” the poem states. “I, too, am America.”
Clearly, there was something about these pieces that spoke to the students, and they took away from these performances a more clear understanding of poetry, and of the language in general.
But they also experienced the exuberance of discovery, and of overcoming the fear of something new and bold.
It is a reminder, first and foremost, of the importance and power of the arts, coming now as schools begin yet another difficult budget session.
And, as articulated by Joshua Bodwell of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, which helped sponsor Poetry Out Loud:
“I am so inspired by the kids. It reminds me of when I first fell in love with writing and why I am passionate about writing today. I am always humbled to be a part of this.”
We hope school officials remember this when cutting funding for the arts begins to seem like an easy way to trim the budget.
Ben Bragdon is the managing editor of Current Publishing. He can be reached at bbragdon@keepmecurrent.com or followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/benbragdon.
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