This April, we ran a poetry contest to celebrate National Poetry Month. We challenged you, our readers, to craft a poem using only the words that appeared in one of our newsletters (here are the original contest guidelines if you want to give it a try).
Turns out, you’re all poets and we didn’t even know it. We were beyond thrilled to read the original, creative, and awe-inspiring poems Bostonians created from our newsletter copy. Check out the poems below, including the contest winner our readers voted for.
Winner: “Look Up” by Lexi Shetty
Get on the MBTA,
start a conversation with the Bostonians to the right. While you wait for the next train, take initiative. Someone May need you to make their evening.
If we all support these roles in our community, the transit will be a fusion of spirits filled with gusto,
live like the garden by Downtown Crossing.
Do you know your community?
Looking down at Instagram, returning from work at sunset, do you see it?
Finalist: “wellness instructions” by Christine del Castillo
unsubscribe to violence. submit to comfort. begin. sunset at 7:14. a stack of books on a wooden porch swing. you are the direction. you are the exception. much like the magnolias, we are flourishing this spring. returning with style, with gusto. and tomorrow— your music on the radio.
Finalist: “Reasons to Live in the Present” by Melissa Braaten
Today appears only once,
narrow as a subway
from sunrise to evening.
Soon we’ll have had Wednesday, ten tides, and a two-year May.
If you forget your roles here, cast them on the beaches.
The pink rain is ongoing, is a bonus, is calling for tomorrow.
Today’s sunset is open to all.
