LAKEPORT — A group of Lake County students recited poems for the Poetry Out Loud competition Saturday at the Soper Reese Theater. The event was hosted by Lake County Arts Council in partnership with the California Arts Council.
In front of an audience of approximately 50 people, original music sounded through the theater, played on the grand piano by young composer Talza Luciani as the pre-show entertainment. It was calming music, which most likely soothed the nerves of the three competitors along with two other students who would go onstage to perform poetry.
POL is a recitation contest that was created in 2006 by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. As per Wikipedia, “The contest seeks to increase awareness in the art of performing poetry, with substantial cash prizes being awarded to schools that participate, and includes representatives from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” The contest begins in the county’s classrooms, then goes on to the school level and progresses to the state and then national.
The event’s judges included artist Diana Liebe, former POL coordinator, Shelby Posada, finalist for Lake County poet laureate, Gorgina Marie, poet, author, teacher Lourdes Thuesen. Current poet Laureate Richard Schmidt was the POL coordinator and tallier.
Students who qualified to compete by winning competitions at Lake County schools were Grace Matthies of Konocti Education Center, Oscar Quilala of Clearlake High School and Emily Maccario of Middletown High School.
Marlene Quilala, Oscar’s sister, from Clearlake HS and Brandon Blecman from Middletown HS, both recited poems that brought them from the school competitions as second and third place winners, respectively.
With his two memorized poems, Quilala won the POL competition. Emily Maccario took second place and Grace Matthies took third.
Oscar Quilala chose a poem “The Owl” by Edward Thomas, a celebrated poet writing about the First World War. In it Thomas writes about surviving the war’s front line and his guilt about those he left behind as he was sheltered and eating food that his comrades were not able to eat.
“And salted was my food, and my repose,
Salted and sobered, too, by the bird’s voice
Speaking for all who lay under the stars,
Soldiers and poor, unable to rejoice.”
When asked how he related to the guilt in the poem, Quilala said, “It’s about war. We’re blessed in America to have all the safety and luxury that others don’t have, which can make a person feel guilty.” He picked the poem ‘The Paradox’ because of the contradicting statements the black American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) makes in each stanza.
Quilala’s mother, Marlene Quilala, said of her son, and her daughter Marlene, who won second place at Clearlake HS and recited two powerful poems as the entertainment of the evening, “I can never be more proud.” Her smile was brighter than the spotlights that shown on her children. “I’m the proudest parent in Lakeport right now.”
Pamela Bradley, Clearlake High School’s English and drama teacher was the coach for both students. She said with a lot of confidence and pride in her voice, “You’ll see Marlene back here next year.”
Lourdes Thuesen, the accuracy judge, said, “The three competitors were very, very well prepared. The thing I like about the program is that it takes our young people into a whole survey of our tradition of poetry in the English language. They have 900 poems they can choose from. It covers a grand swath of our poetic history.”
Judge Georgina Marie, a poet herself said, “It was incredible. All of the contestants were really great and well spoken. It was intense because everyone did such a good job and the poems they chose were great.”
Lorna Sides, an audience member enjoyed the event. “The performances were really nice. There was a lot of variety in the poetry and it was nice to see a mix of boys and girls. Their delivery was great and there was a nice audience out here. The event was very well produced. Everything went smoothly, the stage was set up lovely, they had a young lady at the piano who was also a high school student, so all of the entertainment came from the high schools, and of course, Barbara Clark, always entertaining.”
As the enthusiastic Master of Ceremonies, Barbara Clark, the executive director of LCAC said, “I really enjoy Poetry Out Loud because it gives an opportunity for students to learn about poetry beyond the typical classroom setting. They get a chance to work with teachers and poet coaches to really learn the meaning of the poems and also learn the delivery, which is something they don’t always learn in the classroom. So this is a great opportunity for them to go beyond that and represent their school, compete with other schools at the county level, the state level and then possibly go to the national level.” She later said that she wants more students to participate.
John Tomlinson, instructor of Theater, Film and Speech at Mendocino College Lake Center, said of the evening, “I thought it was great. There are some young people here who should come out and get involved with the theater because they’re talented, with good expressive range. I was sitting in my chair thinking, ‘Come to auditions.’”
Board of Supervisor Tina Scott, who brought several of her children to watch the competition, summed up the event, saying, “There’s no better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than supporting our youth.”
