Poetry Contest Winners Announced June 8
Poets Among Us Poetry Reading with Singer/Songwriters
Thursday, June 8, 2006, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
John M. Parrott Art Gallery, Belleville Public Library

The 2006 Poets Among Us Poetry Contest awarded three prizes and two honourable mentions to winning poets at the Poetry Reading held June 8 at the John M. Parrott Art Gallery in the Belleville Public Library.  Thanks to all who participated.

Janet Richards of Belleville won first prize with her poem In April.  She was presented with $100 cash and a one-year Artist Entrepreneur membership with the Quinte Arts Council.

Second prize ($50) went to Paul Brown of Belleville; third prize ($25) went to Pamela Stagg of Picton; and honourable mentions went to Stephen Stamp and Greg Smith.

Judges were Peter Jones, Andrew McLuhan and Louise O’Donnell.

The Poets Among Us Poetry Contest is presented by The Quinte Arts Council and the Belleville Public Library.  See the winning poems at www.quinteartscouncil.org.  They will also be published in upcoming issues of the QAC’s arts newspaper, Umbrella.

Winning Poems

In April

the slip of loam
cool through fingers
brings Mary back

her smile
manifest in pansy faces

fed by worm cast
wrought of last year's leaves

roots navigate
organic paths, life
the inheritance of decay

by Janet Richard
Won First Prize at Poetry Contest 2006

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otherness

silly dress-up games

clashing colours    stripes and checks

and sometimes the baggy clothes were boys’

but always a blurry little girl inside

later the mirage of adolescence

a slightly fevered life

lost at times in broken traceries of thought and impulse

askew

and

deaf at the dance to the music of her time

but overall

 casting behind

unknown to her

a lovely shadow

then the newly formed young woman

unwise to the rough male

- touch without feeling –

now a smile is not a smile

            at thirty

suited up in career

surviving satisfactorily

her practised handshake a fending off as much as touch

a deflected greeting

the soft press of otherness

by Paul Brown
Won Second Prize at Poetry Contest 2006

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MORE WINNING POEMS

THE CONTEST AND THE READING

Poetry contests are a wonderful thing.  We get submissions from people we never knew were poets and from poets we never knew lived in Quinte.  We have approximately 40 submissions and, although it’s the competition aspect that brings all this poetry out, it’s going to be a daunting task to pick just three winners.  That will be the job of our judges - Peter Jones, Andrew McLuhan and Louise O’Donnell.

Peter Jones has been writing, editing and publishing poetry for 35 years.  He is currently editor of Poets Among Us, the poetry section of the Quinte Arts Council's newspaper, Umbrella, and artistic director of the Maynooth Celtic Festival.  He has three self-published books in print and is currently suffering major blockage in the production of a fourth.

Andrew McLuhan is currently an un-poet, journalist, musician, and artist living in Prince Edward County.  He has been writing poetry for about 18 years and prefers to self-publish.  Readings include the Red Schoolhouse Poetry Primer, Blizzmax Gallery, Roz' Space, Bloomfield Gazebo, and the Ontario Science Centre.  He has performed at the Waring House, the Planet Kensington, Sneeky Dee's, and the Picton Elks Lodge.

Louise O’Donnell lives in Prince Edward County. She has had poems published in journals and anthologies across Canada and abroad.  She has several chapbooks in print, and in 2003 collaborated with photographer Wayne McNulty to present Infinite Horizons, poems inspired by Wayne’s photographs. Her most recent book of poems, Shuffling Info Place, was published in 2005.

Contest winners will be announced at the Poets Among Us Poetry Reading on June 8, 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Belleville Public Library Gallery.  Because this event is part of the QAC’s Ear Candy Music Festival, we will also be welcoming singer/songwriters.  Our host for that segment of the evening will be Jackie Findlay.

Jackie Findlay attended Queen's University, studied classical repertoire with some of Canada's most prominent vocal coaches and has toured the country with a rock band.  Currently, she is focusing on her own songwriting, re-connecting to “that innocent honesty and magic” when she first started playing the guitar.  Classical influences and her love for Billie Holiday, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Shawn Phillips, are found in her music.  After a long break from performing, Jackie feels prompted to come forth and let her voice be heard in songs of love, loss and concerns for humanity and the planet.