Former self-described shy girl wins regional Poetry Out Loud competition

By her own admission, Lydia Meece is a lousy poet.

"No one wants to read my epic of 'The Life of a Middle-schooler.' I think poetry in teens inspires angst," said Meece, a senior at Jackson High School.

So what if her poems are hackneyed? Meece loves other people's poetry. And now she's the champion of the annual Poetry Out Loud Southeast Missouri Regional Competition.

The event, held last weekend at the Crisp Museum on Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus, is a poetry-reading contest. Six contestants squared off, each reciting three poems they memorized.

Meece is now bound for Jefferson City, Mo., next month, where she will be among 10 regional winners to compete for the honor of Missouri State Poetry Out Loud champion. The Missouri champion moves on to national finals in Washington, D.C., in April, for a shot at a $20,000 college scholarship.

Meece picked one of her favorites for the long poem category, a tongue-in-cheek piece by Billy Collins titled, "The Death of Allegory."

"It kind of makes fun of all these literary devices, like justice and valor, all retired, kind of like a Florida for tropes," Meece said.

For her poem in the pre-20th century category, Meece recited "Gitanjali 35," from Rabindranath Tagore, a native of Calcutta, India, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature -- the first Asian to be honored so.

Her short poem was Molly Peacock's "Altruism," a look into the nature of self.

Meece, who describes herself as a "recovering shy kid," has come a long way in her performance journey.

She got into speech and debate to break her fear of public speaking and has graduated to performance art. Last fall, Meece played the part of Emily in Jackson High School's production of "Our Town." It's her biggest role to date, and for a recovering shy kid, it was a bit on the daunting side. She said it was just another positive lesson on the virtue of the audition.

"I started trying out for plays in ninth grade. I rode the bus over to the high school. I didn't get a part," she said. "I think my just continually trying out and getting there to annoy the person enough to get a part is a defining moment for me."

So what's up next for this young poetry lover? Maybe surgery.

"Here's where it gets weird: I'm going into premed," Meece said. "But I continue to love drama and no matter where I am, I will love poetry, and I would like to minor in theater."

mkittle@semissourian.com

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