Student finds voice in poetry contest

The first time Cassidy Grady recited Sylvia Plath’s poem “The Applicant” she interpreted it as dark and kind of creepy.

The poem begins:

First, are you our sort of a person?

Do you wear

A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch,

A brace or a hook,

Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch,

Yet, as she read the verses out loud over and over again, a different interpretation emerged.

“It’s also about hope,” she said. “I found a voice with it and a different take on it.”

This week the Whitefish High School junior will recite “The Applicant” at the state Poetry Out Loud competition at the Grandstreet Theater in Helena. She placed in the top seven at the Western Regional competition last month to earn her invite to state.

Grady first became interested in Poetry Out Loud as a freshman.

“I did it just for fun and qualified for regionals,” she said.

The competition faded away the next year, but Grady prodded English teacher Chris Schwaderer to bring it back this winter.

Grady uses voice inflection and carefully placed pauses to bring life to the poetry.

“The way you pause and stress certain words can give meaning,” she said. “Everyone has a different interpretation of a poem.”

Schwaderer says Grady’s hard work has paid off.

“She put in a lot of time analyzing the poems in an effort to accurately capture the poem’s tones,” he said. “I think Cassidy’s ability to convey her understanding of the poem’s meaning is what helped her get to the next level.”

Grady says reading poetry isn’t too different from acting on stage.

“When you recite a poem you step into a role,” she said. “You can be a completely different person than you are.”

Along with “The Applicant” she will read Henry David Thoreau’s “The moon now rises to her absolute rule” at the state competition.

Grady isn’t sure what path she’ll take after high school but isn’t ruling out a career in English.

“I do enjoy writing and reading,” she said.