Aidyn Lorin Jai Reid is not a poet. Or so she thought.
She never thought of poetry as her thing. While attending Fountain Valley High School in Colorado Springs, her things were soccer, photography, public speaking and performing.
As a junior in high school, she decided to add to list of things. Reid joined Poetry Out Loud, a national arts education program that “encourages the study of great poetry,” according to its website.
“I had never had a special interest in poetry as a medium,” she said. “I found that the intersection of public speaking and the expressive style of prose was really magical.”
She ended up being pretty good at reading poetry, as Reid proved by earning the title of Colorado’s Poetry Out Loud Champion in 2021 and 2022. This month, she snagged the second-place slot in the program’s national competition. It’s a big enough honor to be recognized by the governor.
“Colorado’s talented young artists are the bright future of our vibrant and thriving arts and culture scene,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement. “I am thrilled to congratulate Aidyn Lorin Jai Reid as she represents Colorado on the national stage.”
She also gained praise from Michael Henry, executive director of Lighthouse Writers Workshop, who said, “As a poet myself, I’m inspired and buoyed by the incredibly talented, smart, and thoughtful high school students who take part in Poetry Out Loud.”
Reid also ended up finding a love for poetry.
While competing, she recited poems such as “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman and “This Is Not a Small Voice” by Sonia Sanchez.
“I choose poems by two criteria,” she said. “Is it consistently strong word choice and imagery throughout the whole poem? Does it make me feel and think? If a poem excels in the two, then I would rather do nothing more than to bring it to life through performance.”
Reid plans to attend Columbia University in New York and will pursue fashion, media and business.
She says she’ll carry a love of poetry with her. She says it in her own words, which sort of sound like poetry.
“I say it a lot, maybe redundantly and exasperatingly so, but poetry is everyday,” she said. “There is something poetic in the tired hole-punched eyes of the people on the subway at 6 a.m., there is something poetic in the pile of discarded cigarettes that litter an unsuspecting sidewalk, there is really something poetic in everything that we do.”
