Poetry Out Loud competition finds Maine student near top

By BOB KEYES, Staff Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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Riva Dumont, a senior at Erskine Academy in China, made it to the final round of the Poetry Out Loud National Finals, held a week ago in Washington, D.C.

Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, the competition included three rounds of semifinals, from which 12 finalists advanced. It began in January among schools in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

For the finals, Dumont presented three poems, "La Belle Dame sans Merci" by John Keats and "Beauty" by Tony Hoagland.

Dumont, an 18-year-old from China, won a $1,000 scholarship, and her school received $500 to purchase poetry books.

Berit Freeling, her teacher and speech coach, accompanied Dumont on the trip.

We caught up with her during study hall earlier this week.

Q.: What is your interest in poetry?

A.: I enjoy the way the words flow, and the emotions and thoughts that can be expressed. It's fun for me to read them. I'm on my school speech team, so I have done poetry and competition before.

Q.: Why did you choose the poems to recite?

A.: They were challenging, and I enjoyed them. I wanted to show a different range. The Keats' poem is a ballad, it's traditional poetry. "Beauty" is modern poetry. Each one took about two minutes.

Q.: What makes a poem appeal to you?

A.: The emotion and the story. I like ballads and poems like the first one that I did because there is a storyline. There is a lot of emotion that passes through the characters in the poem.

Q.: Do you write poetry?

A.: I do. It's OK. Finding the right words to express what you are thinking is really hard, especially if you are trying to make it rhyme.

Q.: What was the most rewarding part of the competition?

A.: I think meeting all those talented people. I really got to know the top 12. Everybody was so talented. I really enjoyed meeting them and talking to them about poetry. I got to learn so much more about poetry and how everybody feels about it.

Q.: What are your college plans?

A.: I am going to be attending Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., and I will be majoring in public relations. Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at: bkeyes@pressherald.com

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