THEME: Starting Over
Submissions due by: April 10, 2021
How to enter:
Please include your name, address, phone number, age, and e-mail. Students: please include school and grade.
Submit poems one of two ways:
- E-mail to FriendsoftheWestRoxburyLibrary@gmail.com
- Mail to:
Poetry Contest c/o Peg Sawyer
199 Corey St.
West Roxbury, MA 02132
Virtual Awards Ceremony: May 2021
(day and time to be announced)
Award categories include grades K–8, high school, adults, and seniors.
Questions? E-mail to FriendsoftheWestRoxburyLibrary@gmail.com
Contest Sponsored by:
The Friends of the West Roxbury Branch Library
FriendsoftheWRLibrary.org
Notes to Contest Participants from Mary Pinard, Poet and Contest Judge
✍ Write and enter poems that connect to the contest theme. (Note that the theme has many facets and angles — don’t be afraid to take it in new and original directions.)
✍ Explore your own connections to the theme and consider writing a poem from your personal experience.
✍ Use your imagination! Be original and avoid clichés.
✍ Consider what will help you express your poem’s idea, story, image, or impression. Some possibilities include:
- Word choice
- Voice: who is speaking in your poem?
- Imagery: language that helps paint pictures, sensations
- Sound: including rhythm, repetition, and rhyme
- Form or type: free verse, sonnet, haiku, or something you invent
✍ Revise, and revise again: your first draft is only a beginning.