After months of preparation and practice, senior Eli Abel stood at the podium with a spotlight shining brightly on his face, finally ready to perform his hand-picked poems. Each word is the result of tireless practice and has the potential to move an entire crowd.
Advancing to states after the regional competition for Poetry Out Loud, a poetry recitation competition for high school students, Abel worked with librarian and adviser Mike Nolan to ensure his performance would be flawless.
“I did lots of practicing with Mr. Nolan the weeks before, every single day during lunch and sometimes before school,” Abel said.
He said he had to memorize three poems, and Poetry Out Loud has a database to pick them from.
“For the school competition, I had to memorize one,” he said. “Then for regionals, I had to pick a second and a third poem. You only have to perform the second and the first one that you chose for regionals.”
Abel explained the amount of competition he faced decreased as he advanced.
“At the school competition there were 10 people competing and one moved on,” Abel said. “At regionals there were seven or nine and two moved on, and at states there were nine.”
He said he didn’t expect the time commitment of practicing, but he didn’t mind it. He added he trusted Nolan and his methods.
“Mr. Nolan was devoted to it and put so much energy into it, and I really appreciated that,” he said.
He said he had the idea to do Poetry Out Loud because his brother did it at Bexley, but he didn’t pursue it until this year. Abel said his brother advanced to states twice and even received runner up his second year. Having prior knowledge about Poetry Out Loud helped him in the school competition, Abel said.
“I was kind of nervous, but I probably felt more confident than a few of the other people because I had some experience watching and knowing what things were good and what things were bad, because of my brother,” he said.
Abel’s practicing with Nolan was not only long, but also thorough, he added.
“He would ask me to go through my poems,” Abel said. “He would be scribbling throughout them and then afterwards he would discuss with me what he thought I could’ve done differently to be more effective.”
Abel added the English teachers were very helpful in this process. He said he appreciated Michelle Rogers, Jamie Hayes and Julie Horger taking their time to help him with his effectiveness.
“Hearing everyone’s different perspectives was really valuable,” he said.
Abel said although he didn’t advance past states, he was very proud of his performance.
“I was just doing it to have fun,” Abel said. “I felt very good with how I did at states, and I wasn’t regretful at all.”
Abel said his favorite part was being able to understand and really connect with one of his poems.
“A lot of times in the beginning it was just a lot about memorizing, listening and taking feedback from Mr. Nolan and all the other teachers,” he said. “But once I felt comfortable with a poem and knew all the words, I could finally think about the poem while I was saying it and connect.”
