Zelle prepares for state Poetry Out Loud competition

Helen Bartlett, Staff Writer|December 4, 2017

Submitted by Mira Zelle

On March 6, Minnesota’s state Poetry Out Loud competition will feature senior Mira Zelle and junior Elise Parsons. “The hard part about choosing a poem is that it has to be the 20th century, and a lot of work starts to get rhythmic and rhyme a lot, which can be hard to read aloud,” Zelle said. 

On March 6, Minnesota’s state Poetry Out Loud competition will feature senior Mira Zelle and junior Elise Parsons. 

The competition consists of the recitation of three poems, and contestants recite a single poem per round. The poems must be fewer than 25 lines, be written in the 20th century and be quoted accurately with no mistakes. The judges have an accuracy score sheet to track the wording of the poem. Contestants are also scored based on their physical presence, tone, articulation, dramatic appropriateness, their evidence of understanding the poetry and overall performance as a whole.

The key to performing well at state is to perfect recitation, which requires lots of practice.

“For the school’s competition all the participants would meet on Tuesdays after school, and we would practice our poems, then we would help advise each other saying ‘oh you need a 4th stanza break’ and so on,” Zelle said.

Zelle first joined Poetry Out Loud because her friends were in it.

“I joined on a whim. My friend Noa did it and I had seen her perform and it looked so fun,” Zelle said.

Zelle described the friendly atmosphere of practice: “We helped each other out, and that was nice.”

Zelle continues to practice this way for state, out loud to family and friends and receiving feedback. She hopes that the level of support will continue throughout the state competition.

One great difficulty with the performance is recitation. An accuracy score sheet evaluates the smallest mistakes, such as saying ‘he’ instead of ‘she,’ and this results in a deduction of points.

“It’s a lot harder than acting in a school play because you have no ques, from the cast or music, or even the audience. It can be really nerve-racking up there,” Zelle said.

Poetry Out Loud is not simply repeating other’s work, but there is also an element of drama.

“It’s like a performance, but not a performance. You want to act out the poem as much as you can, but no overdo it and lose its sincerity,” Zelle said.

Zelle has performed in multiple school plays and feels her experience has helped her, but she still has to understand when there is too much drama. This element fits into the judgment category of dramatic appropriateness

“It’s important to remember it’s also about the poem and not just about you,” Zelle said.

One of the harder aspects of heading to state is that, unlike in SPA’s competition where students recited two poems, Zelle has to recite three.

“The hard part about choosing a poem is that it has to be the 20th century, and a lot of work starts to get rhythmic and rhyme a lot, which can be hard to read aloud,” Zelle said. 

Zelle’s previous poems had lighter and darker parts.

“[Those poems] were nice because they allowed for audience interpretation since the poem is different for everyone,” Zelle said.

The competition takes place March 6 at Target Performance Hall in Minneapolis. Zelle will be performing “An Ode to the Midwest” by Kevin Young and “Semblance: Screens” by Liz Waldner. Her third poem has not been chosen yet.