Hopkinton teen named National Student Poet, country’s highest honor for young poets

Hopkinton High School student Kevin Gu had only been writing poetry for a couple years before he was selected as National Student Poet earlier this month, a distinction known to be the country’s highest honor for young poets.

“It’s totally unbelievable. I’m honestly still in shock,” Gu, 17, told the Herald.

Gu is one of five high school poets nationwide to be selected for the prestigious award. The poets will be officially appointed during a ceremony in Washington D.C. in September, and serve as literary ambassadors for a year focusing on community engagement projects to promote writing.

Each poet also receives a $5,000 academic award.

Gu said although he only began writing poetry a couple years ago, “it was definitely incorporated into my life from a young age. As a child of immigrants I can recount numerous stories my father told me at night.”

Gu took those stories as an avenue to explore his own writing and Chinese heritage through poetry. He enjoys writing all different types of poetry, and often focuses his works on his childhood, his parents’ struggles and Chinese culture.

“When you write a poem, you can be as raw and vulnerable as you want. You can spill whatever parts of yourself you choose to onto the page and there is no judgment, there’s no pretention,” Gu said.

The National Student Poets were selected from sophomores and juniors who submitted more than 19,000 works in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and received top honors in poetry. From that pool, 40 semi-finalists were identified and five were named National Student Poet.

Gu’s poem “Red Gold,” written in English and Mandarin, was submitted for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

It reads, “Teach me how to pull the noisy 3 p.m. afternoons of the Chinese market into my grandmother’s embrace. I pray I’ll remember the ginseng perfume that loiters in my nostrils & the jade necklace that boils deep in my oolong tea.”

Gu said he often writes late at night when inspiration strikes, and usually is working on several pieces at once. He draws inspiration from poets Victoria Chang and Ocean Vuong, and credits his high school english teacher Fred Haas for supporting him and helping him grow his writing skills.

Aside from writing, Gu has been playing piano for 12 years, and enjoys traveling and making YouTube videos. A rising high school senior, he plans to pursue a degree in English in college.

“Writing is a lifelong thing for me personally — it’s not something I’m going to be giving up anytime soon,” Gu said.

For anyone looking to give writing poetry a try, Gu says, “Just start, and even if it’s bad, keep going.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3yj6Vt0