EB: What was it like to win the national championship and what’s it been like to be a national champion?
MO: Certainly, I never expected to become a national champion. I had worked very hard but I knew that so had everybody else and everybody was just at the top of their game at the national level. For me, it was a surreal moment when they counted down third place, second place and then I-- when I realized that I was national champion I just sort of stood there in shock for a moment. And then I started jumping up and down ‘cause I was so excited and it was just so amazing to be able to see how four years of hard work of memorization really worked out in the end and I just have had an incredible experience over this past four years. And now I’ve been able to go back to my school and talk about my experiences with my teachers and with younger students and that’s helped the students become more excited about the Poetry Out Loud program at my school. Yeah, they’re really excited that there is somebody from Alaska who’s able to represent the state and my school at a national level.
EB: So you’ve sort of become a poetry ambassador especially to your hometown and to the schools there. It always helps for students to see somebody who’s done it, who’s gone all the way from the classroom level to win nationwide; that’s really cool. So I understand that you went to the White House. Is that right? You were able to go as the POL national champion. Can you tell us a little bit what that experience was like and why you went?
MO: I’ve just been continually blown away by how many opportunities Poetry Out Loud has provided me with, um, so being able to go to the White House and meet the Obamas as the chairman’s personal guest was absolutely amazing. I got to meet people who I never thought I’d get to meet and see performances from people like Usher, Esperanza Spalding, Queen Latifah…that was something I definitely never thought I’d get a chance to do. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Music break
Taylor Mali: Next up, from Alaska, Maeva Ordaz.
MO: “Zacuanpapalotls”
by
BRENDA CÁRDENAS
(in memory of José Antonio Burciaga, 1947-1996)
We are chameleons. We become chameleon.
—José Antonio Burciaga
We are space between—
the black-orange blur
of a million Monarchs
on their two-generation migration
south to fir-crowned Michoacán
where tree trunks will sprout feathers,
a forest of paper-thin wings.
Our Mexica cocooned
in the membranes de la Madre Tierra
say we are reborn zacuanpapalotls,
mariposas negras y anaranjadas
in whose sweep the dead whisper.
We are between—
the flicker of a chameleon’s tail
that turns his desert-blue backbone
to jade or pink sand,
the snake-skinned fraternal twins
of solstice and equinox.
The ashen dawn, silvering dusk,
la oración as it leaves the lips,
the tug from sleep,
the glide into dreams
that husk out mestizo memory.
We are—
one life passing through the prism
of all others, gathering color and song,
cempazuchil and drum
to leave a rhythm scattered on the wind,
dust tinting the tips of fingers
as we slip into our new light.
Music fade
EB: Do you continue to read poetry today and if you do what poets do you like to read; who are you drawn to?
MO: Yes. I continue reading poetry and I actually have been writing a lot. One of my favorites is Wallace Stevens as well as Federico Garcia Lorca. And another poet who I really like is W.S. Merwin. And so those are the three poets that I enjoy reading the most.
EB: I’m curious about what you’re studying at Columbia and how any of this work with language affects that or doesn’t affect that.
MO: Right now I am most likely going to be a computer science major, which I know some people are surprised because I do a lot of writing and I do a lot of reading but for me there is a link. I think you have to have an inventive approach, an artistic approach when it comes to creating computer programs so for me there’s that link and I think it also is for me essential to have to be able to combine both of what I like, which is STEM-based subjects, math, but at the same also with literature.
EB: I’m wondering if you have any advice for current competitors. I know that students just like you said are always looking to do their best and they want to improve especially if they’re competing again so what advice would you give a POL competitor that’s out there right now getting ready for their regional finals?
MO: Find a poem that speaks to you and if you feel at some point that you’re starting to lose interest and you’re just not feeling it then certainly go with another poem because it’s really going to show in your performance and also how much dedication you’re going to put into the competition. So I know for some people they’re like “Oh, it’s just a poetry competition and you just go up there and recite the poem” but there’s so much behind it, so much work that goes into it, and a lot of times it’s just, it’s the subtle techniques that really change your performance. It’s your hand movements, where you look at the audience, where you’re standing. Those small details can have a huge impact on your performance. Definitely focus on tone and voice fluctuation. I think those are very big factors as well. But in order to do all of this and accomplish all of this I think it’s really important to have that poem that you feel you can relate to is essential in order to create a memorable performance.
Adam Kampe: That was 2015 POL National Champion, Maeva Ordaz, in conversation with POL program manager, Eleanor Billington.
“Zacuanpapalotls” by Brenda Cardenas from the collection, Boomerang, used by permission of Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingue.
Instrumental music used courtesy of the NeedleDrop Co. and used by permission of Creative Commons.
Excerpt of “Trickledown” by Podington Bear and “Perspective” by Dave Depper.
For the National Endowment for the Arts, I’m Adam Kampe.
“Zacuanpapalotls” from Boomerang. Copyright © 2009 by Brenda Cardenas. Reprinted by permission of Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe.
