Poetry Out Loud

11/23/2020

Did you miss POL Teacher Training Part II? Check out our recording to hear from seasoned POL Teachers from all over Ohio.

Hear from Ohio Poetry Out Loud regional partners and Ohio educators about their POL experiences.

11/10/2020

ICYMI: Ohio Poetry Out Loud’s "sweet sixteen" will look a little different next year! State regional semifinal events and the annual Ohio State Finals will be held virtually in 2021. The POL National Finals, which are typically held in-person in Washington, D.C., will take place in the spring as a video submission-based competition.

There's still time for interested schools to apply! Learn more here: https://oac.ohio.gov/News-Events/ArtsOhio-Blog/poetry-out-loud-goes-virtual-in-2021

10/16/2020

Meet your State Coordinators and learn about hosting a Poetry Out Loud contest in your classroom!

Ohio Poetry Out Loud Coordinator Chiquita Mullins Lee is joined by Ohio POL regional coordinators to share information and advice for educators interested in...

10/07/2020

Register now for Poetry Out Loud

After the Disaster

By Abigail Deutsch

New York City, 2001
One night, not long after the disaster,
as our train was passing Astor,
the car door opened with a shudder
and a girl came flying down the aisle,
hair that looked to be all feathers
and a half-moon smile
making open air of our small car.

The crowd ignored her or they muttered
“Hey, excuse me” as they passed her
when the train had paused at Rector.
The specter crowed “Excuse me,” swiftly
turned, and ran back up the corridor,
then stopped for me.
We dove under the river.

She took my head between her fingers,
squeezing till the birds began to stir.
And then from out my eyes and ears
a flock came forth — I couldn’t think or hear
or breathe or see within that feather-world
so silently I thanked her.

Such things were common after the disaster.

The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically.

11/18/2019

Say our lives depended on describing a cathedral, or Picasso’s Guernica, or the color blue. Where do we even begin? In this column, Ohio Poet Laureate Dave Lucas explains the origins of ekphrasis and then explores how it fits into our world—emojis and all: https://oac.ohio.gov/News-Events/ArtsOhio-Blog/poetry-for-people-who-hate-poetry-column-15

10/29/2019

It's time to register for Poetry Out Loud this year! Poetry Out Loud is a free national program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, and administered in Ohio by the Ohio Arts Council, our state arts agency. Highly regarded and entering its fifteenth year, POL has a pyramid structure, beginning in the classroom and culminating in an exciting national competition with $50,000 in prize money at stake. Participating students compete by selecting poems to memorize and recite from a large online anthology. Their recitations are scored in six categories using a national rubric.

You can register at any time now until December 2019.

09/20/2018

Photos by Scotty Hall