Woodstock High School Recognizes Poetry Out Loud Winners

From Cherokee County School District: Woodstock High School recently held a Poetry Out Loud student competition, with published poets serving as judges.

Poetry Out Loud is a poetry recitation competition that occurs across the country for high school students, with the goal of teaching students about poetry and inspiring them to pursue a new creative outlet.

Senior Josh Roberson won the school’s competition, with his recitation of “The Song of the Smoke” by W.E.B. Du Bois. Sophomore Deonna Francois was named runner-up for her rendition of “Hip-Hop Ghazal” by Patricia Smith.

In addition to Woodstock HS teacher Jillian Zaski, published poets Sally Stewart Mohney and Patricia Percival served as judges. Foxtale Book Shoppe assisted the school with coordinating the poets’ participation as judges.

Ms. Mohney’s poetry collection, “Low Country, High Water,” won the Southern Poetry Anthology Prize: North Carolina, and her chapbooks include “A Piece of Calm” (Finishing Line Press, 2014) and “pale blue mercy” (Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2013). Her writing has appeared in publications including Cortland Review, San Pedro River Review, Verse Daily and “Stone, River Sky: An Anthology of Georgia Poems,” and she is the recipient of the Georgia Poetry Society’s First Prize Award in Excellence and the Jesse Rehder Writing Prize from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; in January, she was nominated for Georgia Author of the Year in Poetry. Ms. Percival is the author of the chapbook, “Bargain with the Speed of Light” (Kattywompus Press, 2015), and her writing has appeared in publications including The Southern Poetry Anthology, “Stone, River Sky: An Anthology of Georgia Poems,” Town Creek Poetry and Stonepile Writer's Anthology.

Photos courtesy of Cherokee County School District:

(Image 1) Winner Josh Roberson and runner-up Deonna Francois.

(Image 2) Winners and judges are pictured together, from left to right, front row: judges poet Patricia Percival, poet Sally Stewart Mohney and teacher Jillan Zaski; back row: winner Josh Roberson and runner-up Deonna Francois.

(Image 3) Josh Roberson recites ‘The Song of the Smoke’ by W.E.B. Du Bois during the competition.