You might have done Poetry Out Loud in your English classes and been dazzled by your classmates’ performances; that is what junior Jaden Conley’s classmates and teachers felt. Conley won the regional Poetry Out Loud competition in February and will perform “Wherever I’m at that Land is Chicago” by José Olivarez at the state contest held on March 17 in Springfield.
Conley performed “No, I Wasn’t Meant to Love and Be Loved” by Mirza Asadullah Khan and “Respectability” by Tina Boyer Brown at the school-wide competition. Conley is part of Black Student Union (BSU) and AVID.
In his free time, he likes making music, and he is inspired by artists like Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, and Tyler the Creator. Conley is also inspired by many artists who encourage him to push social norms through the poetry he recites.
“They push norms by doing what they wanna do instead of what society normally does. And they, push what we’re already used to, and they make their own table instead of sitting at someone else’s,” Conley said.
Conley said that he only got into poetry this year, and he was encouraged to participate in Poetry Out Loud due to his knowledge of music.
“I just got interested this year, really, but I didn’t even realize because one of the teachers had told me that since I make music, I’ve been making poetry anyway. And the music and poetry are one and the same, but I still view them, like, as two separate arts, but they are one and the same,” Conley said.
Sally Graham and Sharon Swanson are the co-sponsors of Poetry Out Loud. Graham also serves on the search committee for the Illinois Poet Laureate. For each student that wins the school competition, they will work with the student to help them prepare for regional and state competitions. The main thing they do is make sure that the student has an accurate understanding of the poem.
It doesn’t happen very often that a student goes to the state competition; in the last ten years, only three students have gone.
“We’ve been doing it for at least ten years. It started as a contest. It was a pilot program in Illinois, and some of our favorite colleagues were involved in it: Paul Wack, Tamara Jaffe and Dana DesJardins. As co-sponsors, we help [students participating] interpret their poetry correctly and help present it accurately. The database has about 1,200 poems on it,” Graham said.
Swanson reflects on the strengths of Conley’s performance.
“The whole point of Poetry Out Loud is to convey the meaning, thought processes and the connection from yourself to the poem. That’s what Jaden does exceptionally well. In his three poems, he has a whole personality switch, which is totally dependent on what poem he’s doing,” Swanson said.
Jaden said that the poem that he chose relates to him, which he thinks plays a big part in him using them and being able to perform as well as he does. He describes himself as resilient, intelligent and determined. He says he sometimes gets nervous when performing, but that only encourages him to do better. He says that the teachers help him by giving constructive criticism.
Conley’s send-off to the statewide competition of Poetry Out Loud was held before school on March 14.
