Love Poetry Contest Winners + links to the Love Poetry Celebration
poetlaure...@gmail.com
Becky Bishop White (our redoubtable submissions coordinator) and I thank all who sent poems to this year’s contest and all who took part in the Love Poetry Celebration. Becky and I had the chance to read all the poems submitted, and were impressed and moved by the variety and depth of the expressions of love.
Our judges this year were noted poets Tony Aldarondo, Polina Barskova, and Anara Guard. Each judge received a packet of printed poems with no indication of the identity of the author. Working on their own, each judge chose their “top thirteen.” A Zoom call brought the judges together to review and discuss their top choices. Spanning their diversity of esthetics and cultural backgrounds, they reached consensus on the awards. The prize-winning poems are listed below and may be read at https://benicialibrary.org/poet/lovepoetry
The link to the video of the Celebration, including the reading of the prize-winning poems and the love poems read at the open mic is found at Love Poetry Celebration 2023 Recording.
The words of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, from her poem “Dead Stars,” set the context for this year’s contest,
“Look, we are not unspectacular things.
We’ve come this far, survived this much. What
would happen if we decided to survive more? To love harder?”
The poems submitted to the contest and read at the celebration definitely rose to that challenge.
Benicia Love Poetry Contest
Winning Poems, 2023
First Prize “Fifty Years and Counting” Louise Kantro
Second Prize “A Woman Tells a Story” Valerie Sopher
Third Prize “My Constant Wife” Dan Williams
Honorable Mentions:
“Blocks, Blueberries and Muddy Hands” Louise Moises
“Love Haiku” Juanita Martin
“Ode to Joye” Teresa Van Woy
“One Day After Your Visit” Deborah Silverman
“Voice in Past Perfect Tense” Ellaraine Lockie
Mary Susan Gast
Benicia Poet Laureate