LAKEPORT >> One could call it beginner’s luck, or perhaps Phoebe Jessen had a touch of the Bard buried within her soul for a while now, yet in her first-year entry in the Poetry Out Loud (recitation) competition made her mark. She earned first place, but it is anybody’s guess whether her youthful ardor had anything to do with her championship performance.
“It’s so amazing, I did not think I’d get a win,” confided the Middletown High School Freshman. The contest focuses on the individual’s skill of presenting any artful recitation of a published author’s work and Phoebe’s polished delivery to an enthusiastic audience at the Soper Reece Theater on Saturday convinced the judges’ panel to vote her as the premier performer that afternoon. “Both my parents write poetry- and they published some things,” she recalled at the conclusion of the program. “They’re not professional writers, but they love to write poetry.” Phoebe would not say if her genes had any influence on her poised performance, but her deft interpretation elevated her to the top of the local crop of poetry enthusiasts.
Phoebe opened with her recital of “The Eagle Poem” by Joy Harjo. It reads in part: …
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear,
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
She likes a poem, depending on the author’s skill to catch her ear. “And I like Emily Dickinson- and Shakespeare,” she said. I may study poetry in college, but I’m not sure yet.”
In a second read, she chose Mariana Llanos’ “Invisible Children,” which had the following excerpt:
Invisible children fall
through the cracks of the system
like Alice in the rabbit hole.
… They won’t wake up on the lap
of a loving sister.
They’ll open their eyes on the hand
of a monster called Negligence …
And because she won the Lake County competition, Phoebe will move on to the California Poetry Out Loud heat, to be presented Sunday and Monday March 16 and 17, 2025 in Sacramento. Jordan O’Halloran has been the coordinator/tallier of the Lake County Poetry Out Loud for the prior four years. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the state and nationwide competitions she noted. Former Lake County Poet Laureate Marie Guardado, 2020-2024 enlisted O’Halloran as coordinator when Guardado decided to step down.
“I assumed the role and I love it, ” she said. “I love helping kids. O’Halloran is a novelist who has her novel, “Clean-up on Aisle Three,” a story of murder of a grocery manager, self-published on Amazon and another work she hopes will see publication soon. Although she has not delved into poetry, O’Halloran is a fan. “I’m a huge fan of emotion in such a small space. The fact poetry can have every line evoke so much emotion, it’s incredible to me.” Poetry Out Loud was created in 2006 by The National Endowment of the Arts. It was done under Chairman Dana Gioia and the Poetry Foundation, to promote the art of recitation.
Awarded second runner up was Jessie Benton, a Kelseyville High School student. Meanwhile, Valeria Duran Saldivar, a Lower Lake High School student, was the first runner up. Saldivar’s competition coach is Kristi Witt, and her teacher is Ana Duran. Benton’s coach is Mimi Whittaker, and her teacher is Alicia Brisker. Jessen’s coach is Michele Krueger and her teacher is Libby Stetson. Judges for the competition included Beulah Vega, a horror writer and political poet, Pamela Bordisso, a Kelseyville poet who loves the local poetry scene. Richard Schmidt, a former Poet Laureate of Lake County, 2018-2020, artist and teacher and Roy Arthur Blodgett of Jerusalem Valley, who has published two chapbooks of poetry, with a third full-length book of poetry forthcoming.
