Video: 2009 Performances

Below are selected performances from the 2009 Poetry Out Loud National Finals.

Please note: These poems were eligible at the time they were performed, but aren’t necessarily still part of the contest. Poems in the hardcover anthology and currently online are eligible for this year's national contest.

2009 National Champion, Will Farley of Virginia, reciting “Danse Russe” by William Carlos Williams

2009 2nd Place Winner, Barbara Gooding of Kentucky, reciting “Progressive Health” by Carl Dennis

2009 3rd Place Winner, Kareem Sayegh of Illinois, reciting “The Windhover” by Gerard Manley Hopkins

2009 Top 12 Finalist, Kaleena Kovach of Colorado, reciting “Somewhere to Paris” by Richard Blanco

2009 Top 12 Finalist, Stanley Jackson of Texas, reciting “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar

2009 State Champion, Tiffany Hill of Oregon, reciting “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth

Natalie Merchant performing “Spring and Fall” by Gerard Manley Hopkins at the 2009 National Finals