Congratulations to our 2025 poetry contest winners! As usual, we had lots of great submissions this year. If you missed entering this year, keep an eye out for our 2026 contest! This year’s Teen contest was judged by Noel Kalenian, Librarian and published poet; the Adult contest was judged by Dr. Randy Phillis, professor of English at CMU, and author of the poetry collections: A Man Explains His Posture; Kismet, Colorado; and Plots We Can’t Keep Up With.
Winners received gift cards to Downtown Grand Junction, thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the Mesa County Libraries.
Adult Winners
1st Place: Linda Lester for “Metaphor of the Horseradish Leaf”
The crinkled, dried khaki-colored leaves
Of the horseradish plant
Bent toward the earth,
Flattened by the onset of harsher weather.
Unlike the deep, green, giants that tilted up to the sun just weeks ago,
Now telling of cool nights and cold ground.
Becoming dust through nature or the press of a hand.
Patterned symmetry remains, like a boxed waltz.
The leaves bring remembrance of the veins
In the back of my mother’s hands.
Both leaf and hand weathered from life.
Veins that have nourished the greater being.
Once waving youth in the breeze, bending with the storm’s droplets,
Resilient in the sunshine. Surviving the Journey.
Continually growing the prize beneath the surface
To be coveted in the Fall of Life.
The experience is held in the pungent taste
Of a root that many relish in the season.
Harvested once the veiny leaves are gone,
The root, like Wisdom is passed to those who dig
And find it Savory.
2nd Place: Patrick G Metoyer for “participation trophy”
A reply to Matthew Zapruder’s Why Poetry
smells like skunk
this rejection slip
didn’t the contest judges
hear melodious rhythms
that enchant the muse of dawn
and birth the breath of wind that
braids each lock – her scented hair
such flair entwined
through sylvan rhymes
to receive from Mars the balm
to soothe the poet’s bruise
a Bloody Mary vinaigrette
to squelch the stench of woe
to scale ol’ Sol’s ascent
his climb aboard Apollo’s steed
the way Pegasus
glides
prances
minuets the hours amid the spheres
complements the arc
of the archer’s bow and
draws the veil of dusk
a cloak of stars –
whinnies a nay:
no trophy for your mantle
Oh, Poetry – why not
3rd Place: David Fell for “Clam Digger”
Impaled on an illusion
the distortion of these times
in the blue lip cold of dawn
I rise to part the sand dunes
and look for clams at low tide.
Distracted in a dimension
of bucket and shovel
I search for dimples
spurting spheres
and gather my bounty from the sea.
Like the Ama pearl divers
the ocean provides
but my breath is short
so, I stay close to shore
squishing along in rubber boots.
The morning my Mother of pearl
in muffled mounds among the waves
I hear past thoughts through
disgruntled sea gull calls
at my violation of their turf.
Dismantled in the cacophony
interlaced in blowing sand
among the seaweed of passing creatures
convoluted testimonials
distort the distance before next flood tide.
Teen Winners
1st Place: Kristin Kim for “Where Mermaids Die”
I’ll drink in the warped vision of its wake
Unable to drown in the twist that it leaves
Swallow and hold and then breath and then take.
Hues that could only be seen as the sea
Turquoise ripples, aquamarine waves
Depths swallow what light reflected to be.
All-consumed flooding has left me behind
I used to care for bubbles and such
I still sometimes do—as a sinking sign.
I can again smell the scent of the sea
The salt as I leave the shallow once more
It’s almost as if the sky hears my poor plea.
Star-like constellations
Of pearls exist, bound low.
2nd Place: Kylie Barella for “a new dawn”
Gold dances across the blue skies clear space,
like a hazel orb gold melts in your eye,
dancing with a swans beautiful grace,
This can’t compare to what money can buy.
the sparking dew compliments her skill,
so passionate with her foundation
confident white silk bending at her will,
and she can admire the bright rotation.
left and right her sparkling pale arms sway,
as she guides flower petals in the rain,
growing the trees as if she’s using clay.
her hands glide through the crops collecting grain.
goodbye to that beautiful bright gold hue,
that will always make the world feel anew.
3rd Place: Nora Rawlings for “Blank Canvas”
Such a simple thing
Is the reason for
The tingle in your fingers
When you open the colorful tube
The sparkle in your eyes
As you look
You see
Everything it could become
No one could ever know
How amazing
This slab of material
Is to you
It is the potential
Of anything you make
Yes it is blank,
But that is what makes it so wonderful