SPRING
Adult Winner: When the Peepers Singby Suellen Wedmore of Rockport
Youth Winner: Dandelionby Hannah O'Flynn of Ipswich
Adult Honorable Mention: Sonnet of the Dent de Leonby Violeta R. Cormier of Methuen
Youth Honorable Mention: Today Is The Day by Desire LaBranche of Haverhill
SUMMER
Adult Winner: The Ballad of Smiling Lightby Linda Sharron of Methuen
Youth Winner: Royaltyby Hannah James of Marblehead
Adult Honorable Mention: Untitledby Paul Swenbeck of Salem, Mass.
Youth Honorable Mention: The Parting by Susan Livermore of Wilmington
FALL
Adult Winner: First Frostby Dana Hartley of Rockport
Youth Winner: Falling Leavesby Sam Woolfolk of Ipswich
Adult Honorable Mention: Of Deciduous Treesby Mairead Small Staid of Claremont, Calif.
Youth Honorable Mention: Raking by Kyralyss Rodriguez of Lawrence
WINTER
Adult Winner: Night Workby January O'Neil of Beverly
Youth Winner: Looking Throughby Ella Dorval Hall of Newbury
Adult Honorable Mention: Winter's OceanBrin Stevens of Merrimac
Youth Honorable Mention: A Winter Storm by Emily Jarmolowicz of Amesbury
Linda Sharron of Methuen really wanted to win The Eagle-Tribune/Robert Frost Foundation Spring Poetry Contest since its inception in 1983.
Beginning in 1985, she entered the contest repeatedly, eventually obtaining a degree in English to help her write poetry. Finally, she took home the coveted title of winner back in 1992.
"I was obsessed, that is the only way I can describe it," said the enthusiastic poet. "I thought, 'Finally I won.' I'll never write another spring poem in my life."
Then tragedy befell her family -- in the span of a year and a half, she lost her 14-year-old son and her father to cancer and her brother to a heart attack. The losses took their toll on Sharron and sent her into a depression that drained her will to write.
But slowly, Sharron healed and rediscovered her inner poet.
In a drawer, she discovered a poem she wrote several years ago, one she put aside before she started caring for her ill family members. About that time, she read the announcement for the 25th annual Eagle Tribune/Robert Frost Foundation Spring Poetry Contest. When Sharron saw the revamped rules allowing poems about any season, she decided to enter again. And win again -- she took top honors in this year's adult division in the category of summer poems.
"I am back, after all these years," said Sharron. "I am writing."
Sharron is one of four winners in the adult division of Spring Poetry Contest, open this year to readers from all Eagle Tribune Publishing Co. daily newspapers, including The Salem News, Daily News of Newburyport and Gloucester Daily Times.
In addition to the adult winners, there were also four honorable mentions in that division, as well as four winners and honorable mentions in the children's division.
In all, more than 750 poems were submitted. We asked readers to find inspiration in the work of local poets Robert Frost, John Greenleaf Whittier, Celia Thaxter and Anne Bradstreet, as well as the four seasons. The result was an avalanche of poetry, judged by the experts at Lawrence's Robert Frost Foundation.
Sharron's poem, "The Ballad of Smiling Light," was inspired by the tale of Abigail Burgess, a 19th century heroine who kept the Matinicus Rock Lighthouse bright and her invalid mother and younger sibling safe during two notably rough storms on the Maine coast when she was a teen.
"We haven't had a whole lot of material written about heroines," said Sharron. "I identified with her, and also with Celia Thaxter. I drew inspiration from Celia Thaxter when writing this poem."
Hannah James of Marblehead drew inspiration from the poppy field outside her house for her poem, "Royalty," which won in the summer category of the youth division. Though she wrote the poem before the field emerged from its wintery hibernation, she used her imagination to recall its summertime appeal.
"I imagined it with butterflies all around it, fluttering around," said the 11-year-old. "It's so pretty when (the poppies) bloom."
Hannah wrote the poem as part of a school assignment -- she does most of her writing in school, as did Rockport resident Dana Hartley, the fall winner in the adult division. Hartley wrote her winning haiku "First Frost" in graduate school 17 years ago.
"I woke up with the poem in my head," remembers Hartley, now a biologist, who dusted the verses off for this contest.
Beverly's January O'Neil wrote her poem, "Night's Work" more recently, but found inspiration in her mother's work in a neonatal intensive care unit in Virginia more than 20 years ago.
"I was thinking about what it was like to be my mother at that time, she worked at the NICU for many years," said O'Neil. "It was her sacrifice, being away from us, having to go back to this place that is both joyful and sad."
In a similar way, Suellen Wedmore's "When the Peepers Sing" took inspiration from a variety of sources -- the renewal inherent in spring, contrasted with the harsh realities of war.
"I wrote the original when we first invaded Iraq, but then I revised it for the contest," said Wedmore, who lives in Rockport. "Which is sad that it still works, because the war has been going on so long."
Happier topics occupied 13-year-old Hannah O'Flynn of Ipswich when she wrote her poem "Dandelion," inspired by Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky."
But before the poem made its way to the contest -- and won the youth division's spring category -- O'Flynn won her English teacher's contest at Ipswich Middle School. As in many classrooms around North of Boston, O'Flynn's teacher challenged the students to compete there first to determine which poems from the class would be entered in the Spring Poetry Contest.
"That's really great, I am just honored," Hannah said about winning the newspapers' contest.
Ella Dorval Hall of Newbury had to win a similar contest at her school in Newburyport before her poem was entered. She found inspiration by reflecting on her everyday surroundings.
"I was just looking out my window," said Ella. "It's something I don't do very often."
All of the Spring Poetry Contest winners and honorable mentions will be invited to read their winning works at the Super Hoot organized by the Robert Frost Foundation on Saturday, May 12. Past winners and other amateur poets are also invited to read their work and that of others at the open mike.
Congratulations to all our winners.
Lifestyle
April 27, 2007
Top honors given in 25th annual Eagle-Tribune/Robert Frost Foundation Spring Poetry Contest
- Lifestyle
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TRIVIAL pursuit
Salem CyberSpace is holding a trivia contest Tuesday at the Hawthorne Hotel to raise money for its programs.
But there's nothing trivial about the nonprofit's mission or impact on low-income kids.
"We're the only comprehensive academic center that takes kids from middle school through college graduation," said director Linda Saris, who founded the organization 10 years ago. -
From dragonflies to owls, Audubon fest explores nature
For anyone who loves wildlife, a trip to the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield on Sunday could be as good as a trip to the zoo. Maybe better.
A broad range of creatures that crawl, swim or fly in Essex County will not only be displayed, but can be examined in their native habitats at the sanctuary's 15th Audubon Nature Festival. -
Good cause
Wine tasting to benefit animals
Wine and dine in support of the Friends of Beverly Animals on Wednesday, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Henry's Wine Cellar, 588 Cabot St., Beverly. The wine-tasting event f - Dear Abby: Marriage isn't in the cards for widower and girlfriend Dear Abby: I am a 70-year-old widower with three grown children. My girlfriend is 53. We dated for several months before she moved in with me. I thought maybe with her living here I might fall in love with her. It has not, and will not, happen.
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The reader's eye
Name: Kathryn Hardwick
Hometown: Beverly
Description: "I took this photo after a week of rain early in the morning, of purple columbine in my garden that are just starting to bloom.
"As much as I love gardening, I also enjoy photographing the stages of blooms in my gardens." -
North Shore Entertainment Calendar
Good causes
CELEBRITY BARTENDING EVENT. Thursday, May 31, 5 to 7 p.m., Vic's Boathouse, Victoria Station, Pickering Wharf, Salem. Features Billy Costa, A.J. Burnett, Mayor Kim Driscoll, Rep. John Keenan, Tim Clarke, Bruce "Elvis" Whear, Frank "ASAP" Campbell and Don Kelly. Celebrities will serve signature drinks, beer and wine. All drink sales and tips go directly to the Salem Rotary Club. Red Sox tickets raffled off. Also, stay for dinner and Salem Rotary receives 10 percent of dinner sales. - Woman wants to come clean about online dating subterfuge Dear Abby: I do online dating. For safety, I use an alias. I look much younger than my 43 years, so I went out with a 29-year-old who thinks I'm 33. I have horrible luck with relationships and didn't think this one would be any different. Boy, was I wrong! We have been dating three weeks now.
- Dear Abby: Bullied boy's injuries should trigger police involvement Dear Abby: I am a retired New York City police officer and a resource officer at two high schools in Brooklyn. I must comment on the letter you printed from "Worried About My Boy in Tulsa" (March 29), whose 7-year-old is bullied. If a child hits another child so hard that medical attention is required, it is an assault. The police should have been notified and appropriate law enforcement action taken.
- North Shore religion news in brief The Gordon College Department of Political Science and Christians in Political Science will host the Christians in Political Science Conference (CPS) on Thursday, May 31, through Saturday, June 2, on the college's campus, 255 Grapevine Road, Wenham. The CPS conference, themed "Power and Justice: Perspectives on Political Order," provides Christian political scientists with a unique forum to explore how faith impacts teaching and scholarship. Events include a keynote address on Friday, June 1, 7 p.m. by college president D. Michael Lindsay titled "Higher Power? How Christians Use Power to Shape the World Around Us"; and founder and director of Yale Center for Faith and Culture Miroslav Volfe, and Henry B. Wright, professor of theology at Yale University Divinity School will deliver the annual Kuyper Lecture on "A Public Faith: A Christian Alternative to Secular and Religious Political Exclusivism" on June 2, 7 p.m. Keynote lectures are free and open to the public. For details and a complete conference schedule, visit http://www.gordon.edu/cps.
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North Shore religion calendar
Saturday, May 26
Pentecost Eve Annual Conference, beginning at 9 a.m., Christ the Redeemer Church, 188 Elliott St., Danvers. "One in Spirit: Overcoming Barriers to Unity," a conference featuring a day of worship and teaching by guest speakers and several local pastors representing different North Shore congregations. Closing Eucharist at 5 p.m., followed by dinner. This is the closing event of 10 Days of Prayer, in which daily worship services were hosted by various local congregations. Join in preparation for Pentecost. www.10DaysNorthshore.com. - More Lifestyle Headlines
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