When it came to composing the concert program for A Poetic Portrait, the Austin Singers had no problem finding masters of verse to include. Robert Louis Stevenson, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Lewis Carroll, Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh, and, of course, old Will Shakespeare all had texts set to music they were happy to sing. But the 50-voice chorus wasn’t content just honoring poets of the past; it wanted poets of the future in the mix. So it invited area high school students to submit their own verse and promised to read the best of them, as determined by a panel of experts, aloud at the concert. Well, the submissions are in, and the judges (Jena Gessaman, Rod Machen, and Linda Miller Raff) have made their selections. So, in conjunction with the Austin Singers concert this weekend, here are the first- and second-place winners.
Ode to the Three Muses
There are three muses
To whom the female universe
Grovels in dutiful homage, namely
Mary Kay, Merle and Maybelline;
And each wakening morn
They pluck, paint and preen
To coat blemishes and with
beauty adorn,
But never betray these faces pristine
Insecurity, their self-perceptions
are torn
Though each one rivals
Michelangelo’s Sistine
With the natural grace with which
they were born.
– Camille Peoples
Hyde Park Baptist High School, 12th grade
Moment Lost
It was so fast –
Your nose was touching my nose.
I felt your heat upon my face.
Your eyelashes tickled my cheek.
My stomach dropped.
– It was then I knew
it would be torture.
– Emily Glickman
McCallum High School, 12th grade
Austin Singers will present A Poetic Portrait Friday and Saturday, Nov. 21-22, 8pm, at University Presbyterian Church, 2203 San Antonio. For more information, visit www.austinsingers.org.
This article appears in November 20 • 2009.