This page may contain outdated information or an application that is no longer in use. Visit www.oac.ohio.gov for the latest OAC news and resources.

Executive Message
About the Contest

Names
Poems
Schools

Names
Poems
Schools

Partners
Sponsors

2006 Poetry Out Loud Contest in Ohio

Contestant Poems

Emily Astorian � Granville High School

�Forgetfulness� by Billy Collins

�Catch a Little Rhyme� by Eve Merriam

�Advice to a Prophet� by Richard Wilbur

Jackson Hille � Columbus Alternative High School

�A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General� by Jonathan Swift

�Altruism� by Molly Peacock

�Forgetfulness� by Billy Collins

Lee Horton � Mount Gilead High School

�Eagle Poem� by Joy Harjo

�Famous� by Naomi Shihab Nye

�Ways of Talking� by Ha Jin

Robert Jones � Eastmoor Academy High School

�The Negro Speaks of Rivers� by Langston Hughes

�Broken Promises� by David Kirby

�To My Mother� by Wendell Berry

Jon Lamotte � Bishop Hartley High School

�Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening� by Robert Frost

��Hope� is the thing with feathers�� by Emily Dickinson

�Trees� by Joyce Kilmer

Casey Osman � Westland High School

�Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night� by Dylan Thomas

�We Wear the Mask� by Paul Laurence Dunbar

�Let it Be Forgotten� by Sarah Teasdale

Meredith Smith � Thomas Worthington High School

�Still I Rise� by Maya Angelou

�Beautiful Black Men� by Nikki Giovonni

�Bilingual/Bilingue� by Rhina P. Espaillat

Eagle Poem

To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can�t see, can�t hear;
Can�t know except in moments
Steadly growing, and in languages
That aren�t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.

Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo, �Eagle Poem� from In Mad Love and War. Copyright � 1990 by Joy Harjo. Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press, www.wesleyan.edu/wespress.