Thursday looks to be a big day for Meridian High School poet Keith Davis.

Not only is Thursday the senior’s 18th birthday, it’s also the day he’ll represent the school at the state Poetry Out Loud competition in Jackson, where he’ll compete for a chance to go to nationals in late April.

Davis and eight other semifinalists, who were selected from three regional contests around the state, will recite two poems each before a panel of judges. The three top finalists will then recite a third poem to determine the state champion, second place and third place. The state champ will travel April 25-26 to Washington, D.C. to represent Mississippi in the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest.

The contest is more one step in Davis’ lifelong love affair with words.

“I’ve always been interested in writing and literature since first grade all the way up until now,” Davis said Friday during a few moments of downtime at MHS. “But it really kicked off my ninth grade year. We had public speaking and debate class and my teacher was really into people just speaking; she gave everybody the opportunity to get up and just say something about yourself. I thought, ‘I’m into poetry, why not get up there and do a poem?’ So I asked her; she said yes and I did my poem and since then I’ve been doing it around Meridian.”

Early in his teens, Davis started writing to express himself. With encouragement from his parents (“My dad was probably my biggest influence when it comes to poetry,” he said), Davis started documenting his thoughts and feelings.

At first, the subject matter was typical “puppy love stuff,” Davis said, but by the time he was 15, he started to dig a little deeper, by thinking about how other people experience the world.

“I started doing deeper stuff,” Davis said. “I like to talk about matters from different perspectives and viewpoints. I feel like you gain more understanding from humans just by sitting and asking them about certain things or trying to understand another person. And it humbles you to realize not everybody is the same and you’re not the center of the universe.”

Finding inspiration

During his sophomore year, Davis found inspiration by watching Def Jam poetry on HBO.

“I saw how much emotion other poets gave off, that vibe, and I could just feel everything they were going through,” Davis said. “And I was like ‘Man, these words are strong’ – the same words you use in conversation – but the way they performed it, they hit you a lot harder. So I wanted to let my voice be heard in that kind of way. I thought it was cool.”

By the time Davis started his junior year, his love of poetry led him to organize a ‘Love Jazz and Poetry Night” with two friends. The event was held at the Temple Theatre last May and again in December.

“It was an idea me and my friends Michael Barfield and Christian Kilpatrick came up with,” Davis said. “We all love jazz and poetry – Michael is a great singer, Christian is a great musician and I like to do poetry – so it’s always been a thing between us. We had a vision of doing a show.”

“The title came from our belief that the audience’s love is just as importance as the jazz or poetry,” Davis said. “Everybody in attendance had a reason to be there – either the jazz, the poetry or the love of it. If you’re not there for either of those things, you shouldn’t be there.”

“I felt when you go to an event like that you have to have that kind of mindset, mainly the love,” he said. “Which is why we put that first in the name. You don’t have to come with the jazz or the poetry, but you gotta have the love; everyone is capable of that. It’s not hard.”

Davis said the show featured original jazz music, “a few traditional things” and pop songs done in a jazz style.

“We just changed them over,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of Bill Withers, Alicia Keys.”

The trio were a little surprised, but elated, about how the show turned out. The reception was so good, Davis said, he hopes to host another event in May.

“We didn’t know how it was going to turn out – a total waste of time or an incredible event,” Davis said. “It was kind of all or nothing. But it went well; we had a really good crowd both nights.”

A deep thinker

Josh Herrington, who teaches history and social studies at MHS, said Davis is wise beyond his 17 years.

“He’s an exceptional young man, one in a million, “Herrington said. “Mainly, he’s is a deep thinker. That’s one thing I like to find and cultivate in my students. In five years of teaching, I’ve never seen someone surpass his deep thought and I love that. He is more than just a poet. (He’s) very mature for his age. I wish I had 25 of him.”

For Davis, the feeling is mutual.

“When I first got in his class, I had heard things about him being a wise teacher,” he said. “I was blown away by how deep he took me and I wanted to know more. I always wondered about a lot of stuff and he shed a light on those things… I could be in here all day as long as I get a lunch break.”

Eyes on the prize

At Poetry Out Loud, Davis will recite three poems – “God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Domestic Situation” by Ernest Hilbert and “The Bookshelf of the God of Infinite Space” by Jeffrey Skinner. Davis will be graded on accuracy and technique.

“You have to have it memorized,” he said. “You’ll get penalized if you miss a word. Everything in the poem, you have to have it down.”

While he admits he’s a bit nervous about Thursday’s contest, Davis said he’s focused on the long haul.

“At this point, the only thing going through my mind is what’s going to happen when I go to nationals,” he said. “I’m not really thinking about losing or not advancing.”

Looking ahead

Davis will graduate from MHS later this spring. He plans to study psychology at Meridian Community College, then transfer to either Mississippi State University or the University of Southern Mississippi. No matter what he majors in, however, he said he will always have a love for poetry.

“Honestly, I feel like once I graduate, I’ll have better opportunities to perform my poetry,” he said. “I’ve already done jazz and poetry nights– just imagine what I can do now. With the help of a few trusted friends, I can do so much more.”

“I want to be known for having a voice,” Davis said. “You can speak, but having a voice is totally different. It’s something way more special.”

More information

The Mississippi Poetry Out Loud State Finals Contest will be broadcast by MPB television at 9 p.m. April 14 and 2 p.m. and 11 p.m. April 16.  

Poetry Out Loud, a program created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, is for students in grades 9 through 12. Since 2005, it has helped students in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and improve their reading comprehension scores while learning about their literary heritage. In Mississippi, the program is administered by the Mississippi Arts Commission.