Poetry aloud with flair

Some clear voice, memorization skills, and the ability to inject just the slightest flair of drama made for strong competition Wednesday night in the second annual Yuba-Sutter Poetry Out Loud Contest at the Lee Burrows Center for the Arts in Marysville.

Eight high school students — six girls and two boys — each recited a poem of their choosing before a panel of five judges. Those judges looked for knowledge/accuracy of the reciting, physical presence, voice and articulation, appropriateness of the dramatization, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding the poem, and overall performance.

Winner Ocil Herrejón, a student at Lindhurst High School, said her sister

gave her grief for continually reciting her poem by Rhina P. Espaillat, "Bilingual/Bilingüe," in front of the mirror at home as practice.

"She kept saying, 'Cut it out!'" Herrejón, 15, said with a giggle after she was announced as the winner. "It was a lot of practice. And it paid off."

Herrejón said she chose the poem, which has both English and Spanish verses, because it reminded her of her own bilingual household growing up.

The win sends Herrejón as the Yuba-Sutter area representative to the state competition March 14-15 in the Senate chambers of the Capitol in Sacramento. Winning there would send her to the national competition in Washington, D.C., in April.

Autumn Buck, a student at the Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts who recited an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem, finished second. All eight participants attend either Lindhurst High or the Academy for the Arts.

Contact Appeal reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com