“Beginning,” a poem by James Wright, starts with the lines, “The moon drops one or two feathers into the field. The dark wheat listens.”
These words, spoken as a hushed invitation by St. Stephen’s Academy senior Katie Lineburg, opened her performance during the Oregon Poetry Out Loud competition in March.
Lineburg was selected as the 2024 Oregon Poetry Out Loud champion and now heads to Washington, D.C. to represent the state at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals.
“I really like imagery in poems a lot and painting a story and a picture,” said Lineburg. “I think that's one of the things I liked about ‘Beginning’ was telling this story. It's painting the scene of this wheat field, and the moon and this dark night. I love that.”
Lineburg lives in Hillsboro and has attended St. Stephen’s Academy, a private Christian school with campuses in Beaverton and Lake Oswego, since she was in the seventh grade.
At the state competition, Lineburg performed three poems: “Beginning” and “The Pulley” by George Herbert in the semifinals and “A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman in the final.
“‘The Pulley’ was the first poem that I picked and honestly I was just looking — I didn't have any specific intentions to find a poem about spirituality. But it came up and I saw it and it just sounds like the Christian faith. The story has gripped my heart so much, it has gotten me through so much, it's the reason why I'm here. I saw it and I was like, ‘This is perfect.’”
Lineburg said that when she was selecting the three poems for performance, she wanted there to be a variety in tone. If every poem was too serious, too dark or even too happy, that would be boring to the audience.
“I didn’t want to have three poems that were all the same tone because that can really be a weight in what you're saying,” said Lineburg. “I would imagine, ‘How would I say this?’”
One common thread in all three of the poems that Lineburg selected is the theme of nature, or at least capturing a natural scene in the words.
“I think personally nature is a place where I feel at peace and calm,” said Lineburg. “There’s a lot of power in just getting away into nature. I think, without even realizing it, that's what drew me to a lot of these poems. Nature expresses a lot of our human experience with so many different emotions and experiences.”
Lineburg is one of 55 Poetry Out Loud National Finals student competitors traveling to D.C. in May. She said she’s looking forward to meeting the other student performers because they all share a love of poetry.
“I have never been to D.C. before, so I’m actually nervous … but also extremely excited for this experience,” said Lineburg. “I think the idea that there’s one student from every state and we’re all there for the same goal of performing, working together, sharing something that we’ve worked on, is a unique opportunity.”
While in D.C., Lineburg will tour the office and capital with U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Beaverton. Her accomplishment was also recognized by Oregon First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson in a special message.
“Poetry transforms ordinary language to an extraordinary message through the power of expression. Poetry Out Loud is an important program that empowers young people to use poetry to share their creativity and curiosities, building confidence and thoughtful understanding of a deeply impactful medium. Congratulations to Katie Lineburg for representing Oregon in the national competition. We are all rooting for you,” said Kotek Wilson by email.
The Poetry Out Loud National Finals begins Tuesday, April 30 in Washington, D.C. Lineburg’s semifinal performance will be live-streamed on YouTube on Wednesday, May 1 at 2 p.m at: https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/poetry-out-loud.
Lineburg will perform again on Thursday, May 2 if selected as one of the nine finalists.
Her final poem would once again be Walt Whitman’s “A Noiseless Patient Spider,” an evocation of a spider’s slow journey along its web, “Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.”
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