Poetry Happening Now

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The Poetry Out Loud semifinals take place on Monday, April 29, 2013, from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm EDT, when 53 high school students from Eastern, Central, and Western/Pacific regions will compete in three separate semifinals.

Nine students (three from each semifinal) will advance to the National Finals on Tuesday, April 30, 2013 between 7:00 and 9:00 pm EDT to compete for the title of 2013 Poetry Out Loud National Champion!

(Sometimes when you tune in, nothing will be going on because they will be between contestants...)

Updated to add: The final nine students were from Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington. They were *all* terrific!

One of my kids took the Metro into D.C. with a friend to watch the finals in person. The rest of the family watched the webcast (mostly just the first round, as we ran out of time). My youngest felt rather strongly that the student representing the U.S. Virgin Islands was the best. I was very impressed by the students from New Jersey, Texas, and Nebraska and was sorry none of them ended up in the final three. But we were all excited that the student from my son's school finished in the top three! Congratulations, Blessed!

The 2013 Poetry Out Loud National Champion: Langston Ward from Washington!

(Langston is a big guy who plays football. Maybe "poetry and football" should be a Poetry Friday theme some day? I don't actually like football, but I force myself to feature it sometimes anyway...)