As JaMara Jean ’22 finished reading the second of her two original poems at the finals of the Fresh Voices Poetry Competition on May 12, English teacher Tom Juvan knew she had won.

“‘Bloody Flight’ ends with a devastatingly powerful question,” Tom recalled. “When Mara finished, I heard an audible gasp from behind me. I knew at that moment that she had to be one of the winners.”

Tom was right. A few moments later, Mara was one of the five high school poets selected as winners of the competition by a panel of three poet judges from among 15 competitors from nine Connecticut schools. In addition to Mara, Westover was represented at the competition by a second finalist, Lexi Mays ’23.

Mara and the other four winning student poets will read their poems at Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington on Wednesday, June 23, as part of Young Poets Day, the opening event in the museum’s summer-long Sunken Garden Poetry Festival. In addition to the young poets reading their original works, the event — which will be held from 5 to 8 pm — will feature poet Chen Chen, who will be reading a selection of his poems, as well as music from songwriter and musician Sophie Spaner. Tickets for the outdoor event are limited, but may be ordered through the Hill-Stead website. The evening will also be Livestreamed. Before the event, the five student poets will also participate in a workshop with Chen.

A Different Kind Of Competition

The Fresh Voices Poetry Competition is different from many of the other writing contests in which Westover students take part because they are judged not only on their poetry but also their presentation skills.

“Knowing that the competition’s final round of judging is based on reading one’s work,” Tom said, “I was very deliberate in choosing Mara and Lexi this year because not only did they both have excellent poems to submit, but they are incredible actresses as well.”

“The poetry of both girls is well-suited to performance,” Tom explained. “Lexi takes great care with the sonic qualities of her poetry,” he added, “shot through, as it is, with alliteration, internal rhyme, and assonance, and so the musical qualities of the verse are beautifully suited to oral performance. Both of her poems, too, center on a lyric moment of feeling that Lexi wonderfully brought to passionate life.”

“Mara’s two poems share some oratorical qualities,” Tom said. “‘Sunday Service’ in particular, with its recollection of details from memory, features a kind of repetitive cadence that Mara expertly took advantage of to keep her audience enthralled.”

“I knew that they both would have the ability to translate their work effectively to performance,” Tom explained. Because of their close working relationship with Theatre Program Director Marla Truini, he added, “I knew that she would coach them effectively” in preparation for the finalist competition.

“I worked with each student individually for about 45 minutes,” Marla said. “To start off, I suggested that the students score their poems as they would a piece of dramatic text — that is, print out a copy of each poem and mark the spots where they want to breathe or pause, and underline important words.”

“From my experience working on Shakespeare every year,” Marla explained, “I know how important it is to ‘speak to the end of the thought,’ and both students knew what I meant by that. When we learn to read, we are taught to stop at the end of the sentence, and so most people read for punctuation. But if you speak to the end of the thought, the text really comes alive.”

In addition, Marla said, “Tom had shared the judges’ rubric with me, which focused on four areas: physical presence, voice and articulation, preparedness and practice, and overall performance. Both students’ actors training gave them a strong foundation for public speaking because their voice and body could be effectively engaged. It’s like having an instrument that is in tune.”

Marla noted that Mara played Titania and Lexi played Bottom in Westover’s fall production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “and I would guess the experience of mastering that text stood them in good stead for the Fresh Voices Competition.”

Both Mara and Lexi also had taken part in a monologue competition last fall; Mara was named one of the five winners in that contest as well.

Before the monologue competition, Marla noted, “I coached them to understand that acting is reacting, and that even if your scene partner is invisible to your audience, it is necessary to leave space and breath for a possible response. That is what brings the performance alive. It is the same thing in reading a poem. If you choose your ‘scene partner’ carefully, you can bring emotion and a personal connection to the reading that is quite stunning.”

“I am so proud of both Mara and Lexi,” Marla said. “They are skilled and passionate actors, poets, and songwriters, and each time they share their work the world is richer for hearing their beautiful voices.”

Although Lexi was not among the five winners, Tom said she received special encouragement after the competition. “One of the judges, who was a Fresh Voices winner herself in 2017, came up to Lexi right afterward and was full of praise for her, basically telling her she needs to come back next year.”

A Poetic Performance

Reflecting on the competition, Mara said: “The added element of performance made it a much more interesting task for me. There were probably plenty of poets who were graded much higher than I was in terms of their works, but failed to deliver as well in terms of their performance. I feel lucky to have had experience in past drama productions, as well as in slam poetry, to help make my reading as theatrical as possible.”

Mara recalls writing her first poem when she was in fifth grade for a library class. The experience, she said, instantly gave her “the desire to write my emotions and thoughts through poetry. Once I got to middle school, I finally bought a journal to draft poems in. I remember writing in it constantly, just about the way I was feeling, or if I was frustrated, or having a bad day. It became somewhat of a poetic diary for me.”

After preparing a poem for a reading presentation in seventh grade, Mara recalled, one of her teachers approached her and asked “if I would be interested in writing a poem for a slam poetry performance at the school. It was probably the most exposure I had to an element of theatrical performance at the time,” she added, “and I absolutely loved it.”

“Once I got to Westover,” Mara said, “my relationship with poetry changed. I found that Westover expected a different standard of poetry that was nothing like I had previously experienced. I was that glad that Craft of Poetry (taught by Tom Juvan) gave me more creative license.”

In writing her poems, Mara said, “I tend to write things that are very personal to me or relate in some way to my identity. Poets that I admire include Maya Angelou, Lucille Clifton, Langston Hughes, and Danez Smith.”

Although she still finds herself subject to stage fight when performing in front of an audience, Mara said that as she took part in the Fresh Voices Competition “I felt lucky to be able to perform in person with so many other incredibly talented individuals.”

Poetic Success At Westover

Eight Westover students have received poetry awards this year in three competitions.

In addition to Mara and Lexi being honored by the Fresh Voices competition, six students received recognition at the 2021 Alliance for Young Artists and Writers’ Regional Scholastic Poetry Awards — McKenna Rook ’21, a Gold Key; Madeline Abate ’21 and Lydia Clark ’22, Silver Keys; and Lexi, Grace Brown ’21, and Kiana Tan ’22, Honorable Mentions. Katy Wolff ’21 also took Second Place in Poetry at the 2021 Thornton Wilder Writing Competition.

Other Westover students also have had success in recent Fresh Voices Competitions; Joscie Norris ’16 was a winner in 2015, as was Leah Nashel ’16 in 2016. In addition, Willow Galusha ’18 was a finalist in 2018, and three students — Elizabeth Cook ’19, Liza Freeman ’19, and Emily Benoit ’20 — were finalists in 2019.

Hill-Stead Museum, which hosts the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, was originally designed by Theodate Pope Riddle, one of the first women architects in America, as her family home. Riddle also served as Westover’s designer.