Ideas of poems for my upcoming speech competition? Any favorites or ideas?

Hi, Carla,

It sounds like you have quite a challenge ahead of you! I would definitely suggest reading some poetry to get started and decide what you like and what you don't like. Keep in mind that when you're reciting poems, you need to choose pieces that are accessible -- meaning people will be able to understand them as you read them instead of having to think about it for a couple of hours after you're done speaking! For fun poems, you should check out Roald Dahl's children's books, including his take on Little Red Riding Hood. It's hilarious.

Also, you definitely need to find out for sure what the time requirement is! In speech and debate competitions (like for the National Forensics League and National Catholic Forensics League), you have to talk for at least eight minutes!

Here's some information from ForensicsCommunity.com about choosing poems for a speech competition:

"Poetry, to me, has always been the most difficult event in the speech and debate arena. One of the event's greatest challenges is to find a poem long enough – or, alternatively, enough poems – to fill the time requirement.

The best options competitors have are using one long poem (which I’d only recommend to a poetry recitation expert) and using a collection of poems that are related in some way. The latter is my preference as a judge, since it adds variety and enables the audience to see many sides of a competitor.

Here are a few examples of subjects I’ve seen in competition:

Men (“Hollow Men,” ”Men” by Maya Angelou)

Women (”Phenomenal Woman,” “I Stop Writing The Poem,”)

Teachers (”Schoolsville” is great; ”What Teachers Make” is a classic)

Poems by one author (Shel Silverstein, Langston Hughes, and I see a lot of Dr. Seuss for some reason).

Another option is to find a ton of poems with one random word in them – like “popcorn” or “wildebeest.” After you’ve arranged them to your liking, simply title your collection “Popcorn Poetry” or (if you’re brave) “Wildebeest Poetry.” You may need to do a bit of research to be able to find several pieces with such an unlikely subject for poetry, but doing so will help you to emerge victorious from a round full of dragging epics."

Here's the rest of the post: http://www.forensicscommunity.com/poetry/choosing-...

Hope this helps. Good luck!

-ForensicsFriend

Poems For Speech And Debate

hiya! i'm 13 too :) Horses: Galloping. Sweeping up dirt. Wind whipping my hair. He leaps. secure, no concerns. We the two have faith in one yet another. right here comes yet another bounce. do we make it? sure! We did it! jointly, Horse and that i, we are a set. that's from the horses viewpoint: working, in the time of the meadows. Floating in the time of the grass. A wild animal-under no circumstances tamed. quickly and unfastened-flying with the wind. everywhere it is going to take me. i'm going to continually be risk-free. The wind is with me now. continually keeps to be subsequent to me. Ruffling my mane. Cooling me off. The wind is a chum. that's approximately dropping somebody: I pass over you. Do you pass over me? You have been continually there. till that sometime,. The angels took you, and flew away. I had a feeling, which you does no longer come again. i became precise; did no longer observed you returned. All I had have been thoughts. -They began fading. each now and then, i think of of you. i know i'm going to satisfy with you returned. besides the incontrovertible fact that it is going to take years. we can ought to reunite. I pass over you. Do you pass over me? And doing some thing no one concept you ought to: I did it,. I confirmed all of them. HA! They appeared me precise interior the attention and suggested i could under no circumstances make it. yet I did...did no longer I? Now all of them keep in mind me. faux to correctly known me, my acquaintances. HA! they do no longer seem to be. All staggering actors are printed once I accomplish my purpose. yet what if it became a failure? the excellent actors could nonetheless be printed. in basic terms, they could say they continually knew i wouldn't in any respect make it. of path! it is life! It has continually been this form! HA! i'm in basic terms 13--no longer the terrific poet ever... i'm hoping I Helped. yet once you google some matters, a set of poems will arise. Then, you may substitute some strains and words, so it should not be plagiarism. :)

Vladimir Nabokov's "The Ballad of Longwood Glen" is a nice size (I'm guessing it takes maybe two minutes to read), and is clever and very funny.

try to get information from any one who has participated in this before that will give you much more clear idea than others