Hana Kebede's Poetic Prose Wins Colorado's Poetry Out Loud Competition

"Honestly, it felt really empowering, like I could do this, you know? And I'm telling these people something new that maybe they haven't heard before," says Overland High School student Hana Kebede as she looks back on her performance at Colorado's Poetry Out Loud competition on March 1. Kebede won the state competition and will be jetting to Washington, D.C., in May, when she will compete at the national level.

Poetry Out Loud is a program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation in partnership with Colorado Creative Industries and Lighthouse Writers Workshop. Participants memorize works of classic and contemporary poetry and perform them in front of a panel of judges and a live audience, advancing through three different rounds.

"One of the most important things is choosing a poem to perform," Kebede explains. "You have to feel your poem — like, understand and truly resonate with it. Because at the end of the day, the goal is to get your audience to feel and understand that poem with you when you perform it."

Kebede's selection of poems included "What the Oracle Said," by Shara McCallum, "On an Unsociable Family," by Elizabeth Hands, and "Truth Serum," by Naomi Shihab Nye.
Kebede found each piece while skimming the masses of poetry online, their words jumping out of the sea of options. "What the Oracle Said" gave Kebede the impression of eerie mermaids, reminiscent of The Little Mermaid. Her second poem, "On An Unsociable Family," is about partially estranged family members who are not as close as they seem. Meanwhile, Truth Serum introduced a calmer mood to her performance, offsetting the darker, contemplative energy of the first two poems, giving a sense of completion to her story progression.

A true performer, Kebede describes how she captures the energy of each piece through facial expressions, small movements and tone changes. "For my first poem, since it was very dark and eerie, I made sure to show it through my face," she says. "I'll make my words sharp, and I'll make my movements sharp in order to enunciate a little bit." For her second poem, Kebede adopted a lighter, more introspective tone, even employing bits of sarcasm.

Surprisingly, this year was Kebede's first time competing. "I first got interested in the Poetry Out Loud competition through my speech and debate coach," she says. "I had been looking for different ways to just go out, get out of my comfort zone and just experiment with public speaking, because I wanted to gain leadership skills I didn't have before." Kebede says she was "super shy" the previous school year, but pushed herself to develop public speaking skills through extracurriculars.

Her quest for self-improvement has worked, and she credits her growth to Poetry Out Loud as well as speech and debate. "I won't say that I'm not nervous going up on a stage, speaking in front of a bunch of people, but I don't let that stop me anymore," Kebede says. "I'm definitely way more confident in my skills than I was before."
Although Kebede's interest in poetry is newfound, her love for literature spans years. She is an avid reader and often loses herself in the glimmering worlds of fantasy and young-adult books. She believes her draw to creative outlets allows her to grow as a person, sharing her journey with others through her various passion-fueled hobbies.

But Kebede's interests are well-rounded and extend beyond her obvious artistic talents. "I've always admired structure, as well, which is why I think I've been drawn to STEM majors, more specifically engineering," Kebede says. "I feel like there is creativity [and] art in everything we do, including building, engineering, math, science; there are different styles of art everywhere, and I think you just have to look hard enough to find them."

Kebede is understandably excited about her upcoming trip to the national competition, not only to perform, but to connect with other poetry lovers from around the country. She emphasizes how pivotal the support of her teachers, school and fellow peers was in making this reality possible. "Our school is really small, and it is not very big compared to the other schools, but I feel like we have done a great job," Kebede says. "I'm just super proud of all of my teachers and all my different classmates."

The 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Finals will be held May 8-10 in Washington, D.C.