“Time is white, mosquitoes bit, I’ve spent my life on nothing,” Blaze Rowan recited from the poem [What horror to awake at night]. This recitation earned Blaze Rowan the win at Washington State’s Poetry Out Loud competition.
Blaze Rowan won his class, school, regional, and now the state competition. As a reward for this, he gets 200 dollars in cash and has an all-expenses paid trip to Washington D.C. where he will represent Washington State in Nationals.
There are many reasons for his success. As Poetry Out Loud coordinator, Judy Cullen mentioned, the exposure Olympia High School gives students when it comes to Poetry Out Loud is phenomenal. Many classes take part in it, which prepares students very well.
Blaze has an undeniable natural talent that everyone enjoys watching. Cullen backs this up by saying that Blaze “didn’t try to act out the poem, he embodied the poem,” while his ELA teacher Eric Jacobs said that his talent is “natural and hard to train.” Everyone who gets to experience his performances would agree that they are all enchanting and entertaining.
At Blaze’s final destination, nationals in Washington D.C., there will be groups of semifinalists and the winner will be in the finals. All this takes place from April 30 through May 2. Blaze Rowan says “It would be amazing to be able to get to the finals, but I don’t know if that’ll happen.”
No matter the outcome everybody is proud of Blaze and his accomplishments. Wish him all the luck at nationals!
