- Hello, everyone.

My name is David Toland

and I'm honored to serve

as Governor Laura Kelly's
Lieutenant Governor

for the state of Kansas.

The program you're
about to watch

features the bright young
stars of our state performing

at this year's Poetry Out
Loud state finals in Topeka.

We're excited to share
these poetry readings

with all of you, the people
of Kansas, and we're pleased

that the Kansas Creative Arts
Industries Commission is here

to partner with Poetry Out Loud

and to support a
wide variety of arts

and cultural
development programs

in communities across Kansas.

The arts enrich our
communities in so many ways.

They help us tell our story,

who we are, where we've
been, and who we want to be.

To get the program started,
it's now my pleasure

to turn it over to Kansas'
Poet Laureate Huascar Medina.

We hope you enjoy
Poetry Out Loud.

(upbeat music)

Ben and Judy Coates proudly
support KTWU and arts education.

(electronic music)

- Welcome to the 2022

Kansas Poetry Out Loud
recitation contest.

I'm your host, Huascar Medina,

the current Poet Laureate
of the state of Kansas.

And I am so grateful
that we are able

to gather in the name of poetry.

Speaking of gratitude,

I wanna take this moment
and thank our sponsors,

the Kansas Creative Arts
Industries Commission,

the Poetry Foundation,

and the National
Endowment for the Arts.

Without them, none of
this would be possible.

Poetry Out Loud is a national
arts education program

that encourages
the nation's youth

to learn about great poetry

through memorization
and performance.

Reciting great poetry connects
us to an ageless art form,

to the timelessness
of great poets,

to abstract ideas and
higher critical thinking,

and ultimately, to
deeper life experiences.

Here to explain how
the event unfolded

across the state this
year is Peter Jasso,

director of the Kansas Creative
Arts Industries Commission

and state Poetry Out Loud
coordinator, Cheryl Germann.

- Thanks, Huascar.

In 2006, the National
Endowment for the Arts,

and the Poetry
Foundation partnered

with state arts agencies
across the country

to inaugurate Poetry Out Loud,

a national recitation contest.

The Creative Arts Industries
Commission is proud

to provide the Poetry
Out Loud program

to high school
students statewide,

and is excited to partner
with KTWU for the first time

to bring poetry into the
living rooms across Kansas

and celebrate the hard
work and long road

that these students
took to get here today.

- Poetry Out Loud begins
with teachers and students

in classrooms and
schools across the state.

Each school is able to
send one representative

to their area's
regional competition.

The number of
competitors at each

of the four regional
competitions

determines how many advanced
to today's state finals.

And today, one Kansas student

will become the Kansas
Poetry Out Loud champion

and advance to the
national finals.

Thank you to Kansas
regional coordinators,

Stacy Chestnut, Cynthia
Roth, Kayla Pruitt,

and Cody Fenwick for your
work in bringing this program

to all parts of the state.

- It is now my pleasure
to introduce our panel

of distinguished judges.

Megan Kaminiski is
a poet and essayist

and the author of
three books of poetry,

"Gentlewomen,"
Noemi press, 2020,

"Deep City," and "Desiring Map."

"Prairie Divination," her
forthcoming collection of essays

and oracle deck with
artist L. Ann Wheeler,

turns to the plants, animals
and geological features

of the prairie as
guides for living

in good relation each other,

and to realigning
thinking towards kinship,

community and interdependence.

She is an Associate
Professor in English

at the University of Kansas

and leads poetry and
nature walks at nonprofits

throughout the state
through Humanities Kansas.

A seventh generation Kansan,
Erik McHenry teaches English

at Washburn University
and was the Poet Laureate

of Kansas from 2015 to 2017.

His books of poetry include
"Potscrubber Lullabies,"

which won the Kate
Tufts Discovery Award,

and "Odd Evening," a finalist
for the Poet's Prize.

His poems have appeared
in Threepenny Review,

the New Republic,
the Yale Review,

the Times Literary Supplement
and Poetry Northwest,

from whom he received a
Theodore Roethke prize.

He also writes essays
and criticism for
the New York Times,

the American Scholar,
the Boston Globe,

and other publications.

Ronda Miller is a
life coach, poet,

and former state president

of Kansas Authors Club,
2018 through 2019.

Miller's five books of
poetry include "Going Home,"

"Poems from My
Life," "MoonStain,"

"WaterSigns," "Winds of
Time," and "I Love the Child."

Miller teaches the
importance of voice,

no matter how you
dance, in partnership

with the Johnson County
Library, College of Trades,

and Johnson County
Department of Corrections.

Mercedes Lucero, the
author of "Stereometry,"

the winner of the Langston
Hughes Creative Writing Award

for poetry and a finalist

for the Sandy Crimmins
National Prize for Poetry.

Her work has been
featured on the project

on the history of black writing

and published in places like
CutBank, New Orleans Review,

New Ohio Review, Puerto del Sol,

14 Hills, Paper Darts,

the Chicago Tribune's
Printers World Journal,

The Pinch and Heavy Feather
Review, among others.

Her poem, "Holy
Celluloid Poetic,"

most recently received
first runner-up

in the New Letters Patricia
Cleary Miller Award for Poetry.

Here's how the contest works.

Students have each
selected three poems

from the "Poetry
Out Loud Anthology."

Within their selections,
they must include a poem

that was written
before the 20th century

and a poem that is
25 lines or fewer.

In each round,
students will be called

in a randomly-determined order

to recite one of the three
poems he or she has prepared.

Before each recitation,
the student should identify

the title of the poem
and the author only.

After the student
finishes, the judges,

without conferring,
will take a moment

to individually mark
their evaluation sheets.

The evaluation sheets
will be collected

and quickly verified.

The next student
will then be called

onto the stage to
recite their poem.

During each round
of the contest,

the judges will assess each
recitation on these criteria:

physical presence and posture,

voice projection
and articulation,

appropriateness
of dramatization,

evidence of understanding,
and overall performance.

Following the second round,

the three students receiving
the highest total score

in the first two rounds
will be the finalists

competing in round three.

After round three presentations,

final scores will be tabulated.

The student with the
highest total score

following round three will win

the Kansas Poetry
Out Loud competition.

Let's get started.

Introducing our first
contestant, Jaden Huehl.

- "Broken Promises"
by David Kirby.

"I have met them in dark
alleys, limping and one-armed.

I've seen them playing cards
under a single light bulb

and tried to join in, but
they refuse me rudely,

knowing I would
only let them win.

I've seen them in the
foyers of theaters

coming back late
from the interval,

long after the others
have taken their seats,

and in deserted shopping
malls late at night,

peering at things
they can never buy.

And I have found them
wandering in a wood

where I too have wandered.

This morning, I caught one.

Small and stupid,
too slow to get away.

It was only a promise I had made

to myself once and then forgot,

but it screamed and kicked at
me and ran to join the others

who looked at me with reproach
in their long, sad faces.

When I drew near them,
they scurried away.

Even though they will
sleep in my yard tonight,

I hate them for them
for their ingratitude.

I, who have kept
countless promises

as dead now as
Shakespeare's children.

You bastards, I scream.

You have to love me.

I gave you life."

(audience applauds)

- Our second contestant
is Madeline Fritz.

- "Advice From Rock Creek
Park" by Stephanie Burt.

(breathes deeply)

"What will survive us

has already begun.

Oak galls,

two termites,

curious,
self-perpetuating bodies

letting the light
through the gaps.

They lay out their allegiances

under the roots of
an overturned tree.

Almost always better

to build than to wreck.

You can build in a wreck

under the roots of
an overturned tree.

Consider the martin

that hefts herself
over traffic cones.

Consider her shadow,

misaligned over
parking lot cement,

Saran wrap scrap in her beak.

Nothing lasts forever.

Not even the future we want.

The president has
never owned the rain."

(audience applauds)

- Our next contestant
is Nova Hagerman.

- "April Midnight"
by Arthur Symons.

"Side by side, through
the streets at midnight,

roaming together through the
tumultuous night of London

and the miraculous
April weather,

roaming together under the
gaslight, days work over.

How the spring calls
to us here in the city,

calls to the heart from
the heart of a lover.

Cool, the wind blows
fresh in our faces,

cleansing, entrancing,

after the heat and the fumes

and the footlights
where you dance

and I watch you dancing.

Good it is to be here together.

Good to be roaming.

Even in London,
even at midnight.

Lover-like in a
lover's gloaming.

You, the dancer and I, the
dreamer, children together,

wandering lost in
the night of London

in the miraculous
April weather."

(audience applauds)

- Our next contestant
is John Gilmore.

- "The Charge of
the Light Brigade"

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

"Half a league, half a
league, half a league onward,

all in the valley of death
rode the six hundred.

'Forward the Light Brigade!

'Charge for the guns!' he said.

Into the valley of death
rode the six hundred.

'Forward the light brigade!'

Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldier
knew someone had blundered.

Theirs not to make reply,

theirs not to reason why,

theirs but to do and die.

Into the valley of death
rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
cannon to left of them,

cannon in front of them
volleyed and thundered,

stormed at with shot and shell,

boldly, they rode and well

into the jaws of death,

into the mouth of hell
rode the six hundred.

Flashed all their sabers bare,

flashed as they turned in air,

sabering the gunners there.

Charging an army,

while all the world wondered.

Plunged in the battery-smoke,

right through the
line they broke,

Cossack and Russian
reeled from saber stroke,

shattered and sundered.

Then they rode back,

but not,

not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
cannon to left of them,

cannon behind them
volleyed and thundered,

stormed at with shots and shell

while horse and hero fell.

They that had fought so well

came through the jaws of death,
back from the mouth of hell.

All that was left of
them, left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wondered.

Honor the charge they made!

Honor the Light Brigade!

Noble six hundred!"

(audience applauds)

- Our next contestant
is Allie Cloyd.

- "Say This" by Lucia Perillo.

"I live a small life,

barely bigger than a speck,

barely more than a
blip on the radar sweep

though it is not nothing.

As the garter snake
climbs the rock rose shrub

and the squirrel creeps
on bramble thorns.

Not nothing to the
crows who heckle

from the crowns of the
last light's trees,

winter stripped of green

except for the boughs that
ivy wins each hour 'round.

See, the world is busy
and the world is quick,

barely time for a spider

to suck the juice from
a hawk moth's head

so it can use the moth as a
spindle that it wraps in fiber.

While the moth constricts,

until it's thin as a stick
you might think was nothing,

a random bit caught in a web

coming loose from the
window frame in wind."

(audience applauds)

(upbeat music)

- [Huascar] While we
prepare for round two,

let's take a moment to meet
some of our contestants.

- I'm Allie Cloyd.

I am a sophomore at
Manhattan High School.

This is my first time
in Poetry Out Loud.

It's been fun so far.

It's very new, but it's
been a good experience.

- My name is Nova Hagerman.

I'm a Junior at Wichita
East High School,

and I'm from Wichita, Kansas.

It's been very welcoming.

Everybody who's working
for Poetry Out Loud

has been very
passionate about it.

I can see it in their eyes.

I'm just really excited
to perform today.

(upbeat music)

- So my first poem is "Say
This" by Lucia Perillo.

And then the next one is

"Emily Dickinson at the
Poetry Slam" by Dan Vera.

And I really enjoy
both of those poems,

especially "Emily Dickinson
at the Poetry Slam."

They're fun to
recite and perform,

and it's just a new
sort of fun challenge.

- For my first poem, I
chose "April Midnight"

by Arthur Symons because it
was very romantic and dreamy,

and I lean towards
poetry like that.

The second poem was "From
Blossoms" by Li-Young Lee

and I was just clicking the
random button on the website

and that one popped up and
I immediately fell in love.

I love that poem.

And the last one, I had two
weeks to choose and memorize.

I chose "In" by Andrew Hudgins.

There was a line in that
poem talking about voice

and it just really spoke to me,

and I felt like I was
called to do it for today.

(upbeat music)

- I've always enjoyed
poetry and spoken word,

and I enjoy it as part of
like my forensics pieces,

and it's always especially poems

with like a deeper meaning
have always been fun for me.

- When I was younger,
I always thought

that I wanted to
write longer stories,

but sophomore year,
we did a poetry unit

in my creative writing class,

and I just loved how just
small little phrases,

just with pretty words,
just matched up together

and made this huge image,

this idea, and just
called to me more.

(upbeat music)

- Yeah, I think
there's something for
everyone in poetry.

Poetry can describe
a lot of emotions

or how you're feeling

or a lot of maybe change
that you want to have made.

There's just a lot of options

and different styles of poetry,

and there really is
something for everyone.

- (sighs) I feel like people
do not take poetry seriously,

when they really should,

because it's an amazing
way to express yourself.

It's beautiful. It's passionate.

And if you have any
inkling that's telling you,

that it calls out to you or
you want to be poetic, do it.

I feel like so many people
are afraid to do it,

and you just gotta be
the person who isn't.

(upbeat music)

- We will now begin the
recitations for round two.

Our first contestant
is Jaden Huehl.

- "The Spirit is Too Blunt an
Instrument" by Anne Stevenson.

"The spirit is too
blunt an instrument

to have made this baby.

Nothing so unskillful
as human passions

could have managed the
intricate, exacting particulars,

the tiny blind bones with
their manipulating tendons,

the knee and the knuckle bones,

the resilient, fine meshing
of ganglia and vertebrae,

the chain of the
difficult spine.

Observe the distinct eyelashes

and sharp crescent fingernails,

the shell-like
complexity of the ear

with its firm
involutions concentric

in miniature to
minute ossicles .

Imagine the infinitesimal
capillaries,

the flawless connections
of the lungs,

the invisible neurofilaments

through which the completed body

already answers to the brain.

The name any passion
or sentiment possessed

of the simplest accuracy.

No, no desire or affection
could have done with practice

what habit has done perfectly,

indifferently through the
body's ignorant precision.

It is left to the vagaries
of the mind to invent love

and despair and anxiety

and their pain."

(audience applauds)

- Our next contestant
is Madeline Fritz.

- "Hope is the Thing with
Feathers" by Emily Dickinson.

(breathes deeply)

"Hope is the thing with feathers

that perches in the soul

and sings the tune
without the words

and never stops at all,

and sweetest in
the gale is heard,

and sore must be the storm

that could abash the little bird

that kept so many warm.

I've heard it in
the chillest land

and on the strangest sea,

yet never in extremity

it asked a crumb of me."

(audience applauds)

- Our next contestant
is Nova Hagerman.

- "From Blossoms"
by Li-Young Lee

"From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag

of peaches we
bought from the boy

at the bend in the road

where we turn towards
signs painted 'Peaches.'

From laden boughs, from hands,

from sweet fellowship
in the bins

comes nectar at the roadside.

Succulent peaches we
devour, dusty skin and all,

comes a familiar dust of summer.

Dust we eat.

Oh, to take what we love inside

to carry within us an orchard.

To eat not only the
skin, but the shade.

Not only the sugar, but the days

to hold the fruit in
our hands, adore it,

then bite into the round
jubilance of peach.

There are days we
live, as of death

were nowhere in the background.

From joy to joy to
joy from wing to wing,

from blossom to blossom
to impossible blossom,

to sweet, impossible blossom."

(audience applauds)

- Our next contestant
is John Gilmore.

- "Invisible Children"
by Mariana Llanos.

"Invisible children fall through
the cracks of the system,

like Alice and the rabbit hole.

But these children won't
find an eat me cake

or a drink me bottle.

They won't wake up on the
lap of a loving sister.

They'll open their eyes on
the monster called negligence,

who will poke them
with its sharp teeth

and bait them with its
heartless laughter,

like a wild thing
in a wild rumpus.

But the children won't awake
to the smell of a warm supper,

nor will they find
a purple crown

to draw an escape
door or a window.

But

instead, they'll make a mirror

of a murky puddle
on the city street

which won't tell them
they're beautiful,

but it'll show their scars,

as invisible to others
as these children are."

(audience applauds)

- Our next contestant
is Allie Cloyd.

- "Emily Dickinson at the
Poetry Slam" by Dan Vera.

"I will tell you why she
rarely ventured from her house.

It happened like this.

One day she took
the train to Boston,

made her way to
the darkened room,

put her name down in cursive
script, and waited her turn.

When they read her name aloud,

she made her way to the stage,

straightened the
papers in her hands,

pages and envelopes, the
backs of grocery bills.

She closed her eyes
for a minute, (inhales)

took a breath, and began.

From her mouth,
perfect words exploded.

Intact formulas of
light and darkness,

she dared to rhyme with
words like cochineal

and describe the
skies like diadem.

Obscurely worded
incantations filled the room

with an alchemy that made
the very molecules quake.

The solitary words she handled

in her upstairs room
with keen precision

came rumbling out to make
the electric lights flicker.

40 members of the audience
were treated for hypertension.

20-year-old dark-haired beauties

found their heads had
turned a Moses white.

Her second poem
erased the memory

of every cell phone
in the nightclub.

And by the fourth line
of the sixth verse,

the grandmother in
the upstairs apartment

had been cured of
her rheumatism.

The papers reported
the power outages,

the area hospitals taxed
their emergency generators

and sirens were heard to
wail through the night.

Quietly, she made
her way to the exit,

walked to the terminal
and rode back to Amherst.

She never left her room again

and never read such
syllables aloud."

(audience applauds)

(upbeat music)

- [Huascar] While the
judges compile the scores

from the first two rounds,

let's meet the rest
of our contestants.

(upbeat music)

- I am Madeline
Fritz, I go by Maddie.

I am from Blue
Valley High School.

I am a senior now, so college.

And I am from
Overland Park, Kansas.

Yes, this is my
first time competing,

and it's been really fun.

I've done a lot of practicing
with coaches and stuff,

so I'm very excited for today.

- My name is John Gilmore.

I am from Girard, I go
to Girard High School.

I am a senior at Girard
High School this year.

This is my first time competing

at this level in
Poetry Out Loud.

I've had an amazing experience.

A lot of people who
I've met along the way

who are very
passionate about poetry

and it's good to see that.

- So my name is Jaden Huehl.

I go Tipton Catholic
High School.

I live outside of
Silvan Grove on a farm,

and I'm a junior this year.

Yes, it is my very first time
competing in Poetry Out Loud.

This is the first time I
was ever introduced to it

being that I went to
two other schools.

My freshman and sophomore
year of high school,

it wasn't really offered
or even talked about,

and so I was really
excited to get involved.

I loved doing speech, forensics,

debate, all that type of stuff.

So I've loved it so far

and I can't wait to
do it in the future.

(upbeat music)

- All of my poems actually
have kind of a theme,

which is like hope
and deference.

So my first poem, "Advice
From Rock Creek Park,"

is kind of this warning

about how our society
can pollute the earth

and how we don't want that,
and the wildlife is struggling.

But they are still gonna
be here when we are not.

- I chose the poem
"Invisible Children,"

that's one of the
poems I chose by,

pardon me if I butcher her
name, but Mariana Llanos,

and I love the poem

and how it speaks about the kids

that are around
the United States,

who are in like shallow
and slumped places,

and I like that, the theme
of the poem really much,

it speaks to me.

- So I've chosen
three different poems.

The first one is "Broken
Promises" by David Kirby.

When I first read this poem,
it really resonated with me,

'cause I think it's a poem
that you can really relate to

on a very personal
and deep level,

'cause we all have
those promises

that we've made to ourselves

and they come up
and they haunt you.

And I think that that's what
this poem is really about,

and trying to like
explain that feeling

of just your failures
and how that affects you.

The second one is "The Spirit
is Too Blunt an Instrument,"

and it's just talking about
how amazing our bodies are

and how amazing making a
baby is, and that process.

And it just really spoke to me

'cause when you look at a baby,

you just think of this
perfect, precious thing.

It's kind of just
appreciating that wonder

and that awe that
you really think of.

And then the final, last poem

is "On Monsieur's Departure"
by Queen Elizabeth the First,

and for this one,
she's very torn,

and I feel like I liked the
back and forth in the poem.

I liked how she was
expressing her feelings.

And I feel like that's a feeling
that a lot of people have,

whether it be, like
in her case of love,

or over something else,

it's just that
expression of being torn,

and I just like
that relatability.

(upbeat music)

- I think poetry
is very important

because it just is such a
great way to express yourself

in interpreting the
world around you

and interpreting people.

And I think it's just,

it's so fun to be
able to put together

these verses and words that
just kind of flow off the page,

and that's also why

I think I do like
reciting poetry so much.

It's just because that
feeling that you get

when you're just thinking
about what these words mean

and the impact that they have.

- I like poetry because
it's almost like seeing

into the inner souls of people.

People like to confess
what they feel,

what they think,
and these emotions

that they can't normally
confess to others.

And that's just cool to see

because maybe I'm not
alone in the things I feel.

- So I am definitely someone

who English class is
my favorite class.

And so I love looking
at deeper meanings

and I think that's the
beauty of a good poem,

is when you read it
through the first time,

you're like, that's good.

And the 15th time,
you're like that's good.

And I love how poetry,

each person takes something
different out of it.

I can read the same
poem that you read

and we're both gonna
feel different emotions,

but it's still that author
conveying that emotion to you.

And I just think it's a
very beautiful process.

(upbeat music)

- I have.

I find poetry is
just a fun pastime

to look at an object
and just kind of try

to figure it out
through rhyming verse.

I actually composed a
little homemade book

that my mom printed for our
family for Christmas one year.

So I do have an
unofficial little book out

of poems out there.

- I have not written
any poetry on my own.

We have, I guess, you can say
haikus, I've written those

and those are challenging
to convey messages,

but I like the style
of haikus, though.

- I don't really write poetry

in the sense of maybe
anyone else seeing it.

But I do think a sense

that I think everyone
writes their own poetry

in their own way, if you
ever journal or anything,

'cause the beauty about
poetry is it can be yours.

It's not a strict rubric.

And I think if you
really think about it,

everyone's written poetry,

and so anytime
you're journaling,

any time you're writing
down your thoughts,

that is your poetry.

So in a way, yes,
and in a way, no.

(upbeat music)

- Absolutely.

I would say just start thinking
about things in your life

and things that you would
like other people to know.

So you can just start
writing down random ideas

and just expressing
your thoughts.

It's not meant to be
this stuffy, constricted,

whatever, type of poetry.

It's just like
free verse poetry.

Or I personally like
rhyming schemes a whole lot.

Just do it for fun.

- I would say that it's a great
release for everyday life.

It's fun. It's creative.

And there are many great poets.

There's many great poems

and it is for the
average person.

I mean, it might have to
take a little digging,

but the themes and the
ideas behind poetry

can be very critical

in a writer's life.

- Well, one thing,

this is what I say
about reading as well,

is I think everybody
likes to read,

they just haven't found
what they like to read yet.

And so I would say the very
same thing about poetry.

A lot of people shy away

'cause they had their
Shakespearean unit

or whatever it was in
high school (laughs)

and then they shied away

'cause that wasn't necessarily
their type of poetry,

but there is poetry
for everyone,

like I kind of
talked about earlier.

There is difference in
poems and everything.

That's the beauty of it.

It's different, it's
to each individual.

So I would encourage
them to find a poet

that really represents
them and how they feel,

and that's how they
really get into it.

(upbeat music)

- Based on the scores
from rounds one and two,

the top three contestants
advanced to round three

will be the following students,

Madeline Fritz,
(audience applauds)

Nova Hagerman, Allie Cloyd.

We will now begin
the final round.

Our first contestant
is Allie Cloyd.

- "The Coming Woman"
by Mary Weston Fordham,

"Just look, 'tis
quarter past six, love,

and not even the
fires are caught.

Well, you know, I
must be at the office,

but as usual, the
breakfast will be late.

Now, hurry and wake
up the children

and dress them as
fast as you can.

Poor dearies, I know
they'll be tardy.

Dear me, what a slow pokey man.

Have the tenderloin
boiled nice and juicy.

Have the toast brown
and buttered all right.

And be sure you
settle the coffee.

Be sure that the
silver is bright.

When ready, just
run up and call me,

at eight, to the office, I go

lest poverty grim
should overtake us.

'tis bread and butter, you know.

The bottom from
stocks may fall out.

My bonds may get below par.

Then surely, I seldom
could spare you

a nickel to buy a cigar.

Already, now while I am eating,

just bring up my
wheel to the door.

Then wash up the
dishes, and mind now,

have dinner promptly at four,

for tonight is our
women's convention,

and I am to speak
first, you know.

The men veto us in private,

but in public they
shout, that's so.

So bye-bye.

In case of a rap, love,

before opening the
door, you must look.

Oh, how could a civilized women
exist without a man cook?"

(audience applauds)

- Our next contestant
is Madeline Fritz.

- "There are Birds
Here" by Jamaal May.

For Detroit.

"There are birds here.

So many birds here, is
what I was trying to say.

When they said those
birds were metaphors

for what is trapped between
buildings and buildings.

No, the birds are here

to root around for bread,

the girl's hands tear
and toss like confetti.

No,

I don't mean the bread
is torn like cotton.

I said confetti,

and no, not the confetti a
tank can make of a building.

I mean the confetti a boy
can't stop smiling about.

And no, his smile isn't
much like a skeleton at all.

And no, his neighborhood
is not like a war zone.

I am trying to say

his neighborhood is as tattered

and feathered as anything else,

as shadow pierced by sun

and light parted by shadow
dance as anything else.

But they won't stop saying

how lovely the ruins,

how ruined the lovely
children must be

in that birdless city."

(audience applauds)

- Our final contestant
is Nova Hagerman.

- "In" by Andrew Hudgins.

"When we first heard,
from blocks away,

the fog truck's blustery roar,

we dropped our toys,
leapt from our meals

and scrambled out the door

into an evening briefly fuzzy

we yearned to be transformed.

Translated past confining flesh

to disembodied
spirit we swarmed,

in thick smoke

taking human form before
we blurred, turned vague,

and then invisible
in temporary heaven.

Freed of bodies by the fog,

we laughed, we sang, we shouted.

We were our voices.

Nothing else.

Voice was all we wanted.

The white clouds tumbled
down our streets,

pursued by spellbound children

who chased the most
distorting clouds,

ecstatic in the poison."

(audience applauds)

(upbeat music)

- [Huascar] This concludes
round three of our competition.

Coming up next, we'll
announce the winner

of the 2022 Kansas Poetry
Out Loud competition.

But first let's
hear from our judges

as they recite some of
their favorite poems.

(upbeat music)

(audience applauds)

- I am going to read a poem

and it's one of my own poems

and I'm a little embarrassed
to say I have not memorized it.

But yeah, hopefully,
you can forgive me.

"Under Tree Canopy."

By oakleaf hydrangea,
sipping creek side,

watching fat bumblebees
drunk and stumbling.

In shade, in shelter,

our smallness grows
into something strong,

no longer afraid
to take up space

or yield to powdery blossom.

Peonies, dogwood, and
shining blue star,

gentle teachers of sweetness,

of stopping to breathe
and soft touch.

Maybe it's true that we
are all alone together,

able to imagine a variety of
sadnesses other than our own,

and in that, seeing our chance
to open, to face the sun.

Young robins chatter incessant

and willow leaves
curl waxy green

and fingers providing
company and counsel.

How to fall over again
and again, and keep going.

How easy to linger
in the wayside,

sit by the water

and allow each verdant brush

to transform seed
into wily seedling,

bud to pink flower.

How to realize each expectant
whisper in our own heart?"

Thank you.

(audience applauds)

- I am a farm girl from just
west of the Arikaree Breaks,

so this is a poem
called "MoonStain,"

which is the title poem
from my book, "MoonStain."

"Barn door's pushed shut

in indication something worth
investigating was within.

I tried with all my strength
to open, close again,

new birth and pungent
urgency led me

to the stillborn
calf, quite warm.

I nestled in the hay beside it,

placed my arms around its neck.

I knew what death was.

Had heard whispers of my
mother's not long before,

and I could hear the
mother cow's loud bawling

from outside the back barn door.

I felt the spirit
of the calf lift,

swirl around me, disappear.

It grew cold.

I felt damp fear.

I sat in the caliginous
stall until my sister came,

took my hand, ran with me

past my grandmother's
blood moonlit garden

of hollyhocks, iris,

rhubarb, strawberries.

Past the spot where a
rattler soaked up water

from a sprinkler one August day.

Past the rotted elm,
where winged fire
ants swarmed in balls

until they tumbled
to the ground.

We opened the rusted screen
door and tiptoed to bed

where I lay crying because
it felt so wondrous,

because it felt so good

until the moon stain no longer
spread across the floor."

Thank you.

(audience applauds)

- So my name is Huascar Medina.

This poem is about
when I moved to Kansas

and missed San Antonio,
where I was from before

and it's called
"Surrogate City."

"Mama, etsoy bien.

Mother KC has adopted me.

She, too, wears iron garments
of concrete and glass.

Winks at me to
cross the streets.

Reminds me I am cared for
through sirens in the air.

She hums a highway lullaby
of old Paseo Puente,

so I may pass the nights,

skylines don't resemble
mi vieja san ciudad in peace.

She embraces your son,
the son, el sol, my soul.

Mother KC has been good to me."

Thank you.

(audience applauds)

(upbeat music)

As the 2022 Kansas Poetry
Out Loud champion,

the state champion
will receive $200

and the opportunity to compete

in the national Poetry
Out Loud contest.

This student's school
also receives $500

to purchase poetry resources
for their school library.

Should the Kansas state winner
be unable to participate

at the national Poetry
Out Loud finals,

the runner-up will
represent Kansas

at the national competition.

The runner-up will
also receive $100

and her school will also receive
$200 for poetry materials.

The person receiving third place

in the 2022 Kansas

Poetry Out Loud competition is

Madeline Fritz.

(audience applauds)

The second place runner-up

for 2022 Kansas
Poetry Out Loud is

Nova Hagerman.

(audience applauds)

Which means the 2022 Kansas
Poetry Out Loud champion

is Allie Cloyd.

(audience applauds)

(upbeat music)

Congratulations and thanks
to all students, judges,

regional coordinators,
parents and teachers,

and our special guests

for attending the Kansas
Poetry Out Loud state finals.

Remember that you can
watch our state champion

represent Kansas at the
national semi-finals

at arts.gov on Sunday, May 1st.

(audience applauds)
(upbeat music)

Ben and Judy Coates proudly
support KTWU and arts education.