On January 19, 2017 Naugatuck High School held its third school-wide competition for Poetry Out Loud.

Poetry Out Loud is a nationwide high school competition that brings student performers together in workshops to read and recite poetry written by other poets.

After workshopping and choosing a poem of their choice, students recite their poems in front of a panel of judges.

The workshops are supervised by Mrs.Brennan and a guest poet. This year’s guest poet Mr.John Stanizzi.

Stanizzi, who was thoroughly impressed by the NHS competitors wrote a poem commemorating the experience entitled“Poetry Teacher,” about the competing students.

The poem in its entirety is printed below .

POETRY TEACHER

By POL Visiting Artist and Poet

Mr.John Stanizzi

-for my students at Naugatuck High School

What is your name?

The young lady sitting across from me answers

Glorianese Ortiz –

her eyes, her bright smile, sympathetic and open.

Glorianese – the first line of our glorious poem.

Paz, dear Glorianese.

And to the young man sitting beside

Glorianese –

What is your name?

And he whispers his name shyly.

Christian. Christian Nanadoum.

Alssalam, Christian Nanadoum, alssalam.

You have written the second line

of this poem

And your name? I say

to the young lady who smiles

and says Yes every time I speak.

Yes, she says. I am Adiana Alejandro.

Adiana Alejandro, I say,

the third line of our poem.

Bendiciones y paz, Adiana.

And to my 4th student,

a Petite girl

with posture and poise

borne of confidence and hardship,

Your name? I ask.

I must spell it, she laughs.

They all laugh in the comfort of friendship

U. L. A D. I. S. L. A. V. A.

In the English you pronounce the “U”

kind of like a “V.”

Vladislava, I say,

tasting stucco,

the cold of early winter,

the wind across the lowlands.

Pokój i najlepsze życzenia, Vladislava, pokój.

I give you thanks for the poetry of your names,

Glorianese Ortiz,

names that speak of culture and place,

Adiana Alejandro,

Christian Nanadoum,

names, Uladaslava Kerus,

names that sound deeply

with the music of language,

the unpredictable weather of history

This year’s judges for NHS were principal, Mrs.Saam, English teacher, Mrs.Stewart, Media Specialist, Mrs.Seibert-McMorran, Art teacher, Ms.Gross, and Associate Principal, Mr.Pompei.

In order of performance on stage, the four contestants and their chosen poems were as follows:

Uladzislava Kerus, who performed “Virtuosi,” by Lisel Mueler.

Adiana Alejandro, who performed “Personal,” by Tony Hoagland.

Glorianese Ortiz, who performed “Bleeding Heart,” by Carmen.

Christain Nanadoum, who performed “Mowing,” by Robert Frost.

This year’s winner is senior, Adiana Alejandro.

Alejandro has won every single year since the program was introduced in 2015.

“It’s amazing; it’s unbelievable. There is a lot of good competition; it’s really fun. It’s unbelievable how I won that many times. It’s commitment but I’m pretty thankful for that.”

Alejandro had also given some insight on actually reciting poems.

“It’s like having no room for air,” Alejandro reflected. “When you are just reciting from memorization, there’s no room for that. It’s kind of beautiful when you think about it.”

Alejandro always had an interest in poetry before POL. What interested her in joining specifically was the recitation and memorization of poems.

She has also been writing her own poetry on her spare time posting some of her work on social media.

“I’ll just write down my opinion on everything and somehow create it into something beautiful.”

Alejandro and one other contestant, Christian  Nanadoum, expressed interest in posting for the upcoming poetry section in the Greyhound News website.