Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation competition for high school students that begins in the classroom and culminates in the National Finals in Washington, DC. Drawing upon elements of spoken word, theater, and slam poetry, Poetry Out Loud cultivates an appreciation of poetry that goes beyond the page. On March 2, 2024, the Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals were held at Northern Arizona University's International Pavilion in Flagstaff. We're delighted to announce the 2024 Arizona National Finalist, Isabel Teran, as well as the second through fourth place winners: Jessica Finnie, Piper Gagliardi, and Ransom Kaul. Congratulations to the four of them as well as to all of the state finalists who competed on March 2!

The winners recited the following poems:

Isabel Teran, Sahuarita High School

• "Envy" by Mary Lamb
• "Ars Poetica" by Josè Olivarez
• "Flowers" by Cynthia Zarin

Jessica Finnie, Gary K. Herberger Young Scholars Academy

• "Meditation of a Grapefruit" by Craig Arnold
• "A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman
• "Under the Vulture-Tree" by David Bottoms

Piper Gagliardi, BASIS Scottsdale

• "Words" by Pauli Murray
• "Learning to Read" by France Ellen Watkins Harper
• "Tasting Braille" by Kathi Wolfe

Ransom Kaul, Brophy College Preparatory

• "[What horror to awake at night]" by Lorine Niedecker
• "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley
• "The Man He Killed" by Thomas Hardy

Teran will compete in the National Finals, which will be held on April 30th-May 2nd in Washington, DC.