Share:

#MiamiOH_Poem winners celebrate springtime

one-of-three-grand-prizewinnersSpringtime — opening the senses to your experiences at Miami University — was the theme of this year’s social media poetry contest during the month of April in celebration of National Poetry Month.

Students, faculty and staff were invited to post a micro-poem on Twitter or a photo of a short poem on Instagram, using the hashtag #MiamiOH_Poem. President Greg Crawford and Cathy Wagner, professor of English and director of creative writing, led the contest, which started last year with poems about diversity.

Awards were given to submissions from students. Three grand prizewinners receive a Love & Honor medal and a $40 gift certificate to select campus stores. Honorable mentions receive $18.09 credit to a store in reference to Miami’s charter year of 1809. Faculty members from Miami’s creative writing program judged the entries.

Read the entries at MiamiOH_Poem.

Grand prizewinners:

Amanda Parel

All the buds blooming/with the music in their ears//The air abuzz with/Snapchat notifications/pixelated spring flowers

Brianna Porter

Flowers struggle to bloom, leaves try to grow/The year’s ending, protests are beginning/Nature and students are yearning for change and yet I seem to be stagnant.

Megan Mary Moore

I saw the end in the sun/no bang, just snow sacrificing itself for new/for rivers’ swell, for oceans’ bloom

Honorable mentions:

Alyssa Burnett, Darcy Keenan, Rachel Reeves, Deirdre Sperry, Nick Harrist, Jacob Bruggeman, Brian Frazier

National Poetry Month  — the largest literary celebration in the world — is also celebrated on the Regionals campuses with the annual Favorite Poem Project sponsored by the department of literature, languages and writing, Rentschler Library and the MUH Student Government.

Rentschler Library holds an annual haiku contest for Miami students, faculty and staff. Read the winning haiku by Karen O’Hara and all other submissions on the contest website.