The Friends’ annual Poetry Contest is a community-wide event held each spring for more than 35 years. Once the year’s theme is announced, local poets of all ages may enter their work into the competition. Winners are then invited to a ceremony at the West Roxbury Branch Library where each winning poem is read aloud.
The Annual Poetry Awards Ceremony will be held on Monday April 27 at 6:30 p.m.
The Winners’ Circle
Primary grades K1-K2-Gr.1
First place – “I wonder” Sylvia Brown (K1)
Honorable Mentions:
“Beyond the Dark Room Door!” – Enzo Louis (K1)
“My Living Room” – Avalee Tejada (K1)
Grades 2-5
First Place – I AM Home – Elliot Laser (Grade 2)
Honorable Mentions:
What’s Beyond – Annabel O’Shea (Grade 5)
What Lies Beyond the Door – Henry Almeida (Grade 4)
Grade 6
First Place –
“Beyond You”- Maggie Anderson
Honorable Mentions:
“Beyond the Door” – Olivia Diaz
“Beyond the Door of Childhood” – Natalie Annemarie Adkins
Grade 8
First Place – “Beyond Stockbridge’s Door” – Michael Connolly
Honorable Mentions:
“Beyond Baker Street” – Arthur Da Silva
“Beyond the Back Door” – Grant Connors
High School
First Place – “Working the Farm on Hard Days” – Camille Brenner
Honorable Mentions:
“Terminal A: Gate 10” – Esther Zhang
“Get Ready” – Mia Brillantes
Adult
First Place – “Beyond the Threshold” – Keun Young Kim
Honorable Mentions:
“Boston” – Maya Bailey-Clark
“Through the Keyhole” – Meg Winikates
Senior
First Place – “Beyond the Door” – Phyllis Iva Meserlian
Honorable Mentions:
“Winter Tempest” – A Haiku – Patricia Glidden
“Beyond the Door, My Ars Poetica” – Alice Sullivan
Meet Our Judge
We are pleased and honored to have Anne Elezabeth Pluto take on the role of selecting award winners for all ages of the annual poetry contest.
Anne is Professor of Literature and Theatre at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. She is an alumna of Shakespeare & Company and was a member of the Worcester Shakespeare Company 2011 – 2016. She was a member of the Boston small press scene in the late 1980s and is one of the founders and editors at Nixes Mate Review and Nixes Mate Books. She has two full-length collections: The Deepest Part of Dark, Unlikely Stories Press, NOLA (2020), and How Many Miles to Babylon?, Lily Books, (2023).
Below are excerpts from several winning poems for the 2024 theme of “WONDER.”
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