Poetry Out Loud:
2020 Kentucky State Finalists

---

 

Skye Kozloski

After three rounds of competition, Allen County-Scottsville High School junior Skye Kozloski emerged as the champion in the Kentucky Poetry Out Loud state finals, March 3, at Frankfort’s Grand Theatre.

“I was quite surprised,” Kozloski, 16, said of her win over 14 other competitors who had won their schools’ individual competitions to advance to the state finals. “I didn’t expect to be a finalist, let alone win, but I’m quite excited.”

Kozloski’s path to the championship included recitations of “Possible Answers to Prayer” by Scott Cairns and “Across the Bay” by Donald Davie in the first and second rounds, respectively. She clinched the state title with her interpretation of “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be” by John Keats.

“I liked that the poems where melancholic and they didn’t really have a specific tone,” she said. “They could be perceived in any way. I liked that I could do what I wanted with them.”

Allen County-Scottsville High School has been participating in the state Poetry Out Loud program since 2008. Kozloski is the school’s first state champion, and will represent Kentucky in the Poetry Out Loud national finals, April 27-29, in Washington, D.C.

Grace Caroline Key

State runner-up was Elizabethtown High School senior Grace Caroline Key.

Key recited "Diameter" by Michelle Y. Burke and "Flowers" by Cynthia Zarin in the first and second rounds, respectively. Upon advancing to the final round, she recited "When You Are Old" by William Butler Yeats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

Top five 2020 state finalists: