By Kim Kalliber and Jeannie Briones, Tulalip News Staff
Eighteen year-old Tulalip tribal member Braulio Ramos took an unexpected journey into self-discovery during his senior year at high school. What did he learn? That he’s pretty darn good at public speaking, and reciting poetry.
With no real interest in learning poetry, Braulio, a student at the Bio Academy at Maryville’s Getchell High School campus, joined the Poetry Out Loud nationwide recital contest. His natural charisma, topped with mad memorization skills, won him first place in the high school level competition in December 2012.
That win landed him in Burlington, Washington where he took part in the regional poetry recital competition on January 30th.
Over 50 audience members, including four judges, filled the Burlington Library to watch 13 contestants from high schools around the northwest, do their thing. Each contestant had to recite two poems of their choosing from the Poetry Out Loud pre-approved list of poetry. Their performance is judged on physical presence, voice articulation, dramatic appropriateness, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding, and overall performance.
Braulio spent hours rehearsing lines to ‘Bilingual/Bilingue’ by Rhina P. Espaillat and ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll.
“The first one [I read], I was kind of scared, for the second one I was more confident and playful,” said Braulio.
Though Braulio did not place in the regional competition, he’s confident that he put on a good performance.
Numerous audience members thanked Braulio for his performance, praising his strong voice, and the originality and flare that he lent to his poems.
“I felt like a superstar,” said Braulio.