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Speak Memory: Poetry Out Loud

Map It:  Foggy Bottom 

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GET EXCITED, Y'ALL! It's National Poetry Month! And the National Endowment for the Arts decided the best way to get kids to like poetry was to make them learn it in school. 'Cause kids always love things that are forced on them.

Anyway, through the Poetry Out Loud program, high school students memorize and recite poems by the likes of Langston Hughes, E.E. Cummings and Maya Angelou. Throughout the day on Monday you can see the finalists from every state perform, and at Tuesday's finals the winner gets crowned Top Poetry Reciter. Or something. Plus, the top three get money for college — including $20,000 for the first-place finisher.

It's actually very cool — and let's just say you won't truly appreciate T.S. Eliot's "Preludes" until you've heard it recited by a stentorian, Stanford-bound 17-year-old.

» Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St. NW; Mon., all day, free; Tue., 7 p.m., free; 202-994-6800. (Foggy Bottom)

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