Abq. student wins state poetry contest
An Albuquerque teen named state champion in a 2018 poetry contest did it again Sunday, taking the top honor at the Poetry Out Loud state finals in Santa Fe.
Zoe Sloan Callan, a 17-year-old junior at the Native American Community Academy, was declared this year’s winner after reciting poems about fighting oppression, honoring work and maintaining hope.
Her poems were “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation” by Natalie Diaz, “To be of use” by Marge Piercy and “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” by Emily Dickinson.
Callan will represent the state in the national Poetry Out Loud competition in Washington, D.C., in late April.
After Sunday’s competition in St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art, Callan said too often poetry is “shoved down students’ throats” in school, thus turning them off to a form of expression that “allows us to be ourselves.”
“We can be the poem,” she said.
She said she started reading and writing poetry at a young age, exploring the medium with an eye toward understanding what it says about the artist and humanity in general.
Maysie Kilgore, a junior at the Public Academy for Performing Arts in Albuquerque, who took second place, said reciting poetry “gives youth the opportunity to express themselves.”
The eight students who competed Sunday recited poems and sonnets by William Shakespeare, Maya Angelou and William Frost, among others.
Each contestant recited three poems, which they picked from a master book of more than 1,000 choices, Mathis said.
The themes covered in Sunday’s contest included lost love, the acceptance of death, broken promises and the desire to have a sister.
The panel of four judges rated the teens on such measures as accuracy, their understanding of the material and their use of voice and dramatic interpretation to convey the poem’s meaning.
This was the 15th year for the annual event, which is designed to teach students about the power of poetry, said Andi Mathis of the National Endowment for the Arts, which co-sponsors the event with the Poetry Foundation.
More than 800 students from eight New Mexico schools took part in this year’s program, reciting works in competitions at the classroom, school and regional level, she told the assembly of 100-plus people who attended Sunday’s presentation.
“It’s so exciting to see students excited in the meaning they can find in the poems,” Mathis said.
As state champion, Callan won $200, while her school gets $500 to use for poetry materials. The first place winner in the national competition will receive $20,000, Mathis said.