Brayden Olsen’s arm shoots up, a sprout that bends inward at the wrist with fingers spread, mirroring desiccated stalks of grain.
His face conveys the anguish and drama of the world ending as he signs “When the saints went,” a poem by Oregon poet Samiya Bashir.
“I just wanted it to be very, very expressive and something heartfelt,” signed Olsen, speaking through an interpreter about his selection.
Olsen and classmate Traiton Kramer, both 18, are among a dozen Oregon students slated to compete Saturday in the Poetry Out Loud state finals in Salem. Both are seniors at the Oregon School for the Deaf.
The annual contest is put on by the Oregon Arts Commission. Finalists were selected from about two dozen regional competitors who previously won school contests.
High school students record themselves reciting a poem and are judged on accuracy, stage presence, understanding of the poem and articulation.
The winner goes on to a national competition.
For years, Gayle Robertson has coordinated the contest at the School for the Deaf, helping students select poems and interpret them into American Sign Language to perform.
“I think that poetry is the purest form of communication,” she said.
Reciting a poem in American Sign Language takes more than memorization. Deaf students read the poem in English, which is often their second language, and work to deeply understand the meaning so they can sign it.
“I’m not very savvy at English,” Olsen said. He seeks help from people more skilled at English. Then, “I’ll lay out the signs kind of like an artist,” he said.
Students memorize their signed performance and record a tape which they’re judged against for accuracy during the live competition. A change in facial expression — a key part of conveying meaning in sign language — can earn them deductions for accuracy.
Kramer has participated in Poetry Out Loud since his freshman year. He signed that he’s “so proud of myself” for getting to state.
“I’m a lot more confident after noticing that I’d really grown,” he said.
For Kramer, poetry is a way to express his emotions. He particularly enjoys love poems and poems conveying sadness.
He asked Robertson this year to challenge him and selected three poems to compete at state: “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns, “Song in a Minor Key” by Dorothy Parker and “The Tables Turned” by William Wordsworth. Two date back to the 1700s and are written in an older style of English.
“I was like, ‘I can do this, I need to trust myself and believe in myself,’” Kramer said.
He watched the judging of the semifinals live over video with his family. Kramer said he was anxious when one of the judges made a face during his performance, but was elated when he was named a winner.
“My whole family was cheering for me,” he said.
Oregon School for the Deaf had its first state Poetry Out Loud champion in 2009 and most recently won state last year, with junior Kari Morgan taking the top Oregon spot.
Robertson says she enjoys watching hearing members of the audience react with surprise and confusion when her students walk out and move the microphone away from center stage.
Many aren’t sure what to expect, but by the end of the signed performances, they’re rapt.
Kramer hopes to become a tattoo artist after leaving school. He said he enjoys competing and showing that deaf people can recite poetry.
“We’re not weak, we can stand up and do things. We can express how we feel,” he said.
Olsen said he doesn’t think much about how hearing people will view his performance.
“I am focused on myself and my people,” Olsen said.
The Poetry Out Loud State Contest takes place Saturday, March 9, from 1-4 p.m. in the Loucks Auditorium at Salem Public Library, 585 Liberty St. S.E. Former Oregon Poet Laureate Kim Stafford will present. The event is free and open to the public.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
