In a digitized age focused on artificial intelligence and social media feeds, poetry has become a lost language, seemingly obsolete. However, in communities of writers, such as Cleveland’s very own Versalandia Club, it remains a strong art form.
“With poetry, there’s a sense of abstractness. You can say things that don’t make sense. You can just say things, and they don’t even have to make sense to you, but someone is going to understand it or even take it in a completely different way. It’s beautiful and there’s just so much freedom about it,” said Alida Shi Lyons.
For young poetry enthusiasts, competitions such as Versalandia and Poetry Out Loud have offered opportunities for students to express themselves creatively and practice public speaking. Shi Lyons, a senior at Cleveland High School, recently has made it through the regional Poetry Out Loud Competition, and will be competing at the state contest this spring, on March 7.
Shi Lyons decided to enter this competition after the school librarian, Heather Hornor, came into the theater classes at Cleveland to recommend different contests. She was reluctant at first because the schoolwide Poetry Out Loud Competition was during finals week, but as she competed and went on to regionals, she became more invested.
“In some ways it’s easier to memorize someone else’s poem because it’s already been written for you. You just need to figure out how you’re going to say it, what to stress, and what to do, rather than writing a poem, where you need an idea and a concept,” said Shi Lyons.
Poetry Out Loud is an unconventional poetry contest, where contestants are given a list of poems, and they choose one to memorize and recite. It is judged on memory, articulation, and ability to bring life to a poem.
Shi Lyons chose “Never May the Fruit be Picked” by Edna St. Vincent Millay for the school contest, and “The Aim was Song” by Robert Frost for regionals.
“They didn’t have the widest selections of poems, mainly older stuff. I prefer more modern poems, but there were some interesting options,” she said.
Currently, she is working on memorizing her third poem for the state contest, “The Fish” by Marianne Moore.
Although this was Shi Lyon’s first time competing in the Poetry Out Loud Competition, she previously had participated in the Verslandia competition, placing second for Cleveland and top 10 citywide.Verslandia is a different style of competition, where participants write their own slam poems to recite.
“Both competitions are different in their own way, but with reading your own writing outloud, you can kind of change things in the moment and you know what you want to get across,” she explained.
Shi Lyons has been writing poetry since sophomore year. She and her best friend, Owl Matthews, founded Cleveland’s Versalandia Club during their junior year. This club has been significant in helping her, as well as others, prepare for poetry competitions.
“We prepare for the citywide Versalandia competition, and meet once a week to write a lot of poetry and read poetry, it’s been a lot of fun,” Shi Lyons said.
Shi Lyons’ favorite poets include Richard Siken, Ocean Voung, and Beth May. She is currently committed to Vassar College in New York, and hopes to keep writing in her free time.
“I would still say poetry is really relevant, and I think we need these moments of peace and like stillness, even for a second,” Shi Lyons said.
