Meet Michaela Coplen who was recently appointed as one of five National Student Poets and represents the program’s Northeast Region!
Michaela, 17, attends Carlisle High School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She is the youngest child in a family that includes two Army parents, an ROTC cadet sister, and a farm full of horses. Michaela is the captain of the varsity soccer team; a member of the Model United Nations, the National Honor Society, and the Spanish Honor Society; and editor-in-chief of the literary publication Young Adult Writers and Poets (YAWP).
In an excerpt from the beginning of her poem “Cassandra Breaks the Speed Limit” she writes:
I told you what I was.
I told you I was a series of boxes.
I told you I was nine homes
that never showed me where the heart is
And seven schools that defined “love”
but never taught its application.
I told you I was a child of war who never learned to be at peace.
I told you that when they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up,
I said “gone.”
I told you I saw life through a burgundy kaleidoscope.
I told you there were things I couldn’t tell you.
I told you the truth.
Read the rest of Michaela’s poem in the the 2013 National Student Poets Program chapbook! Using her poem as a model, how would YOU describe yourself? What would your truth be? Share your thoughts in the comments below and on the National Student Poets Program Facebook!
Be sure to Like and follow the NSPP Facebook page for your region’s Student Poet highlight this week! You can also view more information on our website, and read a blog post about the appointment ceremony that took place this weekend at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.
The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers partner to present the National Student Poets Program (NSPP), the country’s highest honor for youth poets presenting original work. Five outstanding high school poets whose work exhibits exceptional creativity, dedication to craft, and promise are selected annually for a year of service as national poetry ambassadors.