Sydney Frost recites Siren Song by Margaret Atwood with ease.
With minute hand movements and calculated inflection, her performance of the poem lasts no longer than two minutes, but the room is silent, listening expectantly.
"Shall I tell you the secret?" She says it quietly with a soft smile. Her hands flare out from her sides. And if I do," her voice rises slightly. "Will you get me out of this bird suit?!"
A serious look overcomes her, and a furrowed brow accompanies this newfound direct tone. She finishes the poem and, amid cheers from the crowd, dons a smile as she exits the Tacoma Little Theatre stage.
Hours later, the senior from Mt. Spokane High School is crowned the state champion of Poetry Out Loud, an annual poetry recitation competition. Rising to the top from a field of over 8,000 students from 37 schools across Washington, Frost landed a ticket to the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in Washington, D.C., held May 6-7.
"It was so emotional," Frost says. "It was really hard because everybody there deserves to be there. I genuinely felt like everyone who participated deserved to win that day, but I am very grateful that I won."
Frost has made it to Poetry Out Loud's statewide competition all four years she has competed. Her best finish, until this year, had been runner-up in 2024.
"I'm usually very timid and shy," she says. "Getting up in front of people makes me completely terrified."
Each student must have three poems prepared for state: two that they're guaranteed to recite in competition, and one they'll be asked to read if they advance to the final round.
Frost's poems included the aforementioned Siren Song by Margaret Atwood, There are no kings in America by Aileen Cassinetto and No, I wasn't meant to love and be loved by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, translated by Vijay Seshadri — the latter is the poem she recited to secure the 2025 state title.
No, I wasn't meant to love and be loved laments on the state of perpetually waiting on someone who will never be theirs. There are no kings in America was written in 2019 and is a commentary on immigration.
Out of the three poems performed by Poetry Out Loud contestants, one must be written prior to the 20th century and another must be 25 lines or fewer. Frost says she chose each poem with intention.
"I find a lot of value in each poem that I read," Frost says. "So I searched for a very long time. I went through almost every single poem on the Poetry Out Loud website and found ones that I relate to the most, and which I like the best and resonate with."
Reading her chosen poems is not only a cathartic experience, but one that helps Frost grow personally and creatively.
"[Poetry Out Loud] really helped me with my self-image," she says. "Just having more confidence in myself. It helps me feed my creativity."
It's pure coincidence that Sydney Frost shares a last name with prolific American poet Robert Frost, but she shares a similar love and appreciation for the craft.
"I started writing poetry in my freshman year," she says. "And then in junior year, I kind of got more into it. I was working with a lot of poetry in AP [Language Arts], and it was so interesting. Nothing is published, but I have a very long Google Doc full of poems."
Frost is set to graduate from high school in a few short months. She hopes to continue studying English as well as ballet, which she says also has aided her in preparing for the national competition.
Poetry Out Loud describes itself as a "dynamic poetry recitation," meaning that students aren't just reciting poems into a microphone while staring at a wall beyond the audience — they're animatedly performing their prepared works.
"Ballet has really helped me with the little movements in my face," Frost says. "They're crucial, even if they don't seem like it in the beginning."
As part of her preparation ahead of next week's national competition, Frost has been meeting with her three poetry coaches: Susan Best, Susan Dunfield and Izze Scourey. All three were, at one point, Frost's English teachers.
"They're the greatest," Frost says. "So sweet, supportive, encouraging and excited for me. We practice during the week together, and I just couldn't imagine having better coaches."
The four of them work on things like inflection and movement, to aid Frost in understanding the deeper meaning of the poem she's reciting.
Frost says that in order to properly incorporate her feelings into the poem, she has to dig deep and think about a lot of things while she's performing.
"I feel a lot of my emotion in my face," Frost says. "We practice putting emphasis on certain words and phrases that I feel need it depending on the way the punctuation is in the poem, or my personal interpretation."
She says one critique she heard most often from Poetry Out Loud judges in the past was that she looked nervous, but, now in her fourth year competing, she looks far from it while reciting the powerful words of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib and Aileen Cassinetto.
"I didn't know my own potential," she says. "It's given me a voice."
