McKenna Beery
Staff Writer
Line by line, syllable by syllable, stanza by stanza, Mira Costa sophomore Miriam Sachs served up eloquent poetic justice at the annual Poetry Out Loud competition on Jan. 17.
Sachs won Mira Costa’s schoolwide Poetry Out Loud competition and advanced to the county level on Feb. 4, but she did not advance after competing in the county competition.
“Miriam Sachs gave impeccable performances at both our school competition and the county-level competition,” English teacher Diana Sieker said. “She did a phenomenal job and was a fantastic representative of our school.”
Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation contest in which contestants memorize and recite two canonical poems from the Poetry Out Loud online anthology. High schools across the country hold the first round of the competition, and winners move to their allotted county.
After county, winners move to the state level and, finally, the national level. One high school student is crowned winner of Poetry Out Loud at the national competition and is awarded a scholarship as a prize.
“I think Poetry Out Loud is a very good opportunity for me and other students to show their creativity and personality,” Sachs said. “Having the opportunity to experience all of the levels of the competition would be life changing and a lot of fun.”
After competitors choose two poems, they recite them in front of the judges. The maximum score a student can receive is 47 points. The four judges score students on physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, level of complexity, evidence of understanding and overall performance. Eight points are docked every time a student mispronounces a line or deviates from the original words of the poem.
“It was a great experience, and I really got out of my comfort zone and tried something new,” senior participant Kirk La said. “Miriam was extremely passionate in her efforts, and I think she really deserved to win.”
According to Sieker, it is essential to pick poems that mean something to the competitor. It can be helpful to recite a set of lines that the orator is passionate about because it can add true feelings that can be visible to the judges.
In both contests, at the high school and county level, Sachs recited the poems
“Ecology” by Jack Column and “Request for Toy Piano” by Tony Hoagland.
“When I looked on the websites for the poems, there was a section where you can search by the poetry author,” Sachs said. “I did that, and it had the pictures of the poems, and I chose the happiest looking pictures that were there.”
Sachs began writing poetry as soon as she could hold a pencil, and it continues to mean more to her everytime she writes. She says writing creative poetry really helps clear her mind and can even uplift her mood.
“From the day I started writing, poetry has always been the best way to express what I am feeling without having to tell anyone else what is going on in my mind.” Sachs said.
According to Sachs, poetry is a free form of artistic expression that can consist of music, lyrics to a song or even a story, and that is why she absolutely adores it and likes to write. She sees poetry as a multitude of feelings with many sounds included.
When Miriam writes, she usually jots down all of her ideas on paper, then she edits it and adds or removes some lines that she feels are necessary.
“Writing poetry takes me however long I want it to take me, I could write for five minutes or 30 minutes; there is no limitation whatsoever, and I love that,” Sachs said.
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