Reading poetry is nice, HEARING poetry is the way to go!

On Tuesday I attended the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest - DC Finals. Nine young men and women came on stage one-by-one to recite poems. It was a wonderful evening!

And while there was only one winner, who will move on to represent DC in the national competition, ALL of the participants did a good job.

As host @ChriStylezBacon aptly put it, their teachers had put them "through poetry book camp," and it showed.


Some of the poems recited:

We Wear the Mask, Paul Laurence Dunbar
"Alone," Edgar Allan Poe
The Blues Don't Change, Al Young
The Bones of My Father, Etheridge Knight
Calling Him Back from Layoff, Bob Hicok
"Hope" is that thing with feathers, Emily Dickenson
The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost (with audio)
Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll