“Do what you must, be wise, cut your vines/And forget about hope. Time goes running, even/As we talk. Take the present, the future’s no one’s affair.”
Reciting these final lines from Horace’s “Ode I. 1 1,” Ada Gerard (‘28) secured first place in the 2025 Oyster River High School (ORHS) Poetry Out Loud (POL) recitation contest. Her exceptional performance earned her a spot in the regional competition, while Nora Muh (‘28) was named the alternate.
But POL is more than just a competition—it’s a unique opportunity for high school students to bring the past into the present. By performing great works, students don’t just recite words—they inhabit them, discovering new meanings and personal connections. The experience transforms poetry from dust-covered books into living moments, proving that spoken-word poetry connects past and present, bridging time, emotion, and audience.
“It’s one thing to write something, but then to read someone else’s poem and to interpret it differently and to be able to act it out is an experience worth taking the time to do,” says the ORHS POL champion, who also performed “Fishing” by A.E. Stallings.
Gerard’s path to victory began at the class level, where freshmen selected and memorized poems from the POL website. After a series of recitations, Essentials of English teachers selected five students as finalists based on their classroom performance. The 2025 finalists were Gerard, Muh, Peighton Curran (’28), Devin More (’28), and Lucien Young (’28).
About thirty attendees, including parents, students, and faculty, gathered in the ORHS library to watch the finalists recite their poems. Each performer took the stage under the scrutiny of judges: writing tutor Jake Baver, librarian Lisa Harling, English teachers Corey Blais and Alex Eustace, and Assistant Principal Kristen Perron. After each recitation, the judges leaned in, marking their scoresheets with precision.
For every participant, this was a first-time experience—but their reflections revealed a newfound appreciation for the art.
“Sharing poetry is such a beautiful thing,” says Curran, who also performed “That’s My Heart Right There” by Willie Perdomo. “It’s a way to let people in and know how you feel.”
Muh, who performed “Long Island Sound” by Emma Lazarus and “Love (III)” by George Herbert, reflected on how another’s words can feel deeply personal. She explains that reciting your own poetry isn’t that different from someone else’s poetry, saying, “If you choose a poem that really connects with you, then it’s almost like you’re reciting your own poem.”
For Young, who performed “Football” by Louis Jenkins and “The Arrow and the Song” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the experience of recitation transformed from a mere assignment to something almost mystical. He says, “[At first], I just wanted a good midterm grade. But when I heard about the competition, I thought ‘If anyone can do it, I can.’” That shift in perspective deepened his connection to poetry. “If you read [a poem] a couple more times, it feels like it knows what you’re talking about,” says Young.
The ORHS POL competition has transformed over the years. Originally it was held in the auditorium, but as English teacher Kara Sullivan explains, “[The space] felt too large for the crowd, so we moved the competition to the Durham Public Library’s upstairs room for a more intimate setting.” She also explained that since the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve held it in the ORHS library.
As the 2025 competition concluded, the finalists reflected on the challenge of bringing poetry to life—not just through memorization but through interpretation and expression. The POL competition was an opportunity to embody the emotions, rhythms, and meanings of words written long before their time.
As Gerard prepares for regionals at the Rochester Opera House on February 18th, she carries the voices of the past into the present—where, as Horace reminds us, the future is uncertain, but the moment is now.
—Ulysses Smith MOR
Mouth of the River 
Leave a Reply