Scroll down to see the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest winning poets and poems from each contest year, 2006-2017; click on the poem name to read the poem and see the illustrated placard.
NOTE: the 2017 winning poems will be posted weekly on Sundays beginning after the awards ceremony, Thursday, May 18, 2017.
WALK AWARDS
| Mariah Brown-Pounds | poem to come… |
| Dee Dee Chapman | poem to come… |
| Kaylee Davenport | Salt Fills My Mouth |
| Julio Enriquez | Abuela |
| Virginia Ferm Herrick | In-between Places |
| Eric R. Kosarot | Slip of the Frozen Note |
| J.R. Lara | Migration Season |
| Amelia O’Connell | poem to come… |
| Robert Stern | untitled |
| Richard Widerkehr | At Akumal: What Have I Asked For? |
MERIT AWARDS
| Sterling C.H. Bemment | poem to come… |
| Judy Bishop | What Salmon Know |
| Aysha Burney | poem to come… |
| Amelia Carr | poem to come… |
| Marlene Chasson | Possession |
| Roger William Gilman | poem to come… |
| Darian Karuza | poem to come… |
| David M. Laws | Early Hike with Dog |
| Marie Marchand | Reverie |
| Mason Mills | poem to come… |
| Jim Milstead | poem to come… |
| Sheila Nickerson | poem to come… |
| Maddie Patterson | poem to come… |
| Ruby Thomas | poem to come… |
| Gary Wade | Used To Be |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Greg Beatty | Bedtime |
| Susan Chase-Foster | Shadow and Light |
| Marlene Chasson | The Spelling Bee |
| Winter Gariss | Willow Trees |
| Sydney Glover | Game Point |
| Tallie Jones | February 29 |
| Timothy Pilgrim | Wrong a lot |
| Rodolph Rowe | Breakfast |
| Sylvia Tag | Lake of the Isles |
MERIT AWARDS
| Judy Bishop | Semiahmoo |
| Jessica Bloom | Her house |
| Carla Conforto | Architecture Stolen from Animals |
| Corinne Foster | Haikus |
| Samantha Gablehouse | Brother |
| Roger William Gilman | The Following Monday |
| Jacob Hartsoch | Of the Sea |
| Rick Hermann | Rain |
| Jessica Lee | Ars Poetica |
| Joe Nolting | Mapping the World |
| Lucas Nydam | dog walking |
| Dayna Patterson | Logophilia |
| Logan Sitkin | Dreams on Montlake |
| Scott Sutherland | Black Bears |
| Leslie Wharton | Nooksack Salutation |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Thomas Boyle | To Rizzy |
| Lauren Carr | I am not a puddle |
| Cheryl A. Fear | Clothesline Epiphany |
| Jacob Hartsoch | Wanapum Remorse |
| Rick Hermann | Nooksack |
| Liam Kudijaroff | Domino |
| Jessica Lann | Little Brother |
| Annie Roth | My Brother |
| Claire Stodola | Ireland |
| Devin Zook | Mother |
MERIT AWARDS
| Luther Allen | living on the mountain |
| Téa Beaulieu | Rock Dust |
| Angela Belcaster | Weeding Goosefoot |
| Lily Danke | How Big? |
| Owen Davis-Bower | Four Squares |
| Seth Friedman | When Birds Could Talk |
| Heidi Kenyon | Delivering the Fruit |
| Hazel Lauber | What is Turquoise? |
| Paul Little | untitled |
| Eric Lochridge | At Dawn I Stare Down a Raccoon from my Back Porch |
| Natalee Markowski | That Time |
| Erica Reed | Synthesis of Happiness |
| Chloe Rhodes | Ripples |
| Karen Vande Bossche | Shoots |
| Charles Walker | A Star Vanishing Away |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Michelle Ballou | untitled |
| Amanda Chandler | The Beginning |
| Linda Conroy | Moving On |
| Thom Davis | The Mountain |
| Evan Ingalls | Physics |
| Konrád Kocsis | Women of Valor |
| Andrew Shattuck McBride | I Love My City in Snow |
| Savannah Miller | Be Fearless |
| Erica Reed | Washing |
| Judy Teresa | The Morning After |
MERIT AWARDS
| Luther Allen | untitled |
| Diane Bateman | Balance |
| Angela Belcaster | In the Dance Studio |
| Cassondra Dick | My Best Friend |
| Seren Fargo | untitled (change) |
| Seth Friedman | Upon Submitting to the Sue Boynton Poetry Contest |
| Suzanne Harris | Father |
| Bob Hicks | Fill Me |
| Brett Larkin | Cheddar and Mozzarella |
| Thomas Lewis | The Raging Storm Inside |
| Carol McMillan | Medicine Dance |
| M. Ann Miller | A Slice of the Pie |
| Cody Moser | Get Dirty |
| Donna Watson Rushing | for Keri Sherlock |
| Luci Shaw | After reading my friend’s poem |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Angela Belcaster | April Night |
| Mariah Brown-Pounds | Raspberry Rhubarb Pie |
| Susan Chase-Foster | On Being a Squirrel |
| Kayla Donovan | One Last Time |
| Malcolm H. Kenyon | The Goat Island Battery |
| Mike Long | A Love Song, Repurposed |
| Matt Malyon | Icarus Ashore |
| Betty Scott | My Dog Barks |
| Emily Spector-Van Zee | The World of Life |
| Liam Veitch | Skate |
MERIT AWARDS
| Luther Allen | stillness. |
| Maddy DeFreest | The Fall |
| Victoria Doerper | Great Blue |
| Deborah Lutz | The Beginning |
| Andrew Shattuck McBride | Forgetfulness |
| Jim Milstead | Collage |
| Marina Murphy | Lazy Train |
| Bassam Najib Boulos | The Square Watermelon |
| Joe Nolting | Lily of the Mohawks |
| Timothy Pilgrim | Breathing snow |
| Colleen Schwartz | Point Lobos |
| Kristin Smith | Wanderer’s Heart |
| Tom Villa-Lovoz | Waiting |
| Richard Widerkehr | Peonies |
| Margarethe Zubler-Keller | Simile |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Kari Galbraith | Indian Plum |
| Bob Hicks | The Engorged Heron |
| Peter Howard-Snyder | Ballad of Bed Head |
| William Howard-Snyder | Traveling Through the Dessert |
| David M. Laws | Miscommunication |
| Carole MacRury | An Intimate Look at a Slug |
| Sheila Nickerson | December Dusk: The Stables off Smith Road |
| Judy Orvik | Another Kind of Leaving |
| Cindi Williamson | I laid out red thread on the grass |
| Margarethe Zubler-Keller | WORDS |
MERIT AWARDS
| Finnigan Cooper | Asperger’s |
| Don Cramer | My Ladder |
| Ella Denham-Conroy | Midnight Walk in The Golden Gate City |
| Denise duMaurier | Midnight Mission |
| Carly Eathorne | Caddisfly Larvae |
| Maria Frazey | Ode to Cats |
| Jacob Hartsoch | Saving Power Creek |
| Andrew Shattuck McBride | Grace |
| Wendy McLeod | Tennant Lake Park Rules |
| Ali Morrow | Where I Am From |
| Nicola Morrow | Ode to Potato Chip |
| Jon A. Orvik | Small Things |
| Théa Rosenburg | Munchers |
| George Such | Snorkeling with My Daughter at Gili Aire |
| Elizabeth Vignali | My Mother’s Afterlife |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Richard Blake | Your Blue Shirt |
| Dakota Carson | Poor Me |
| Nina Djukic | Sinking |
| Alysa Gallant | A Day at the Lake |
| Norman L. Green | teach me reeds |
| Rachel Mehl | Bellingham |
| Timothy Pilgrim | Painting lesson |
| George Such | Veiled |
| Lucas Walker | the engineer |
| Cindi Williamson | Four Blue Heron |
MERIT AWARDS
| Caleb Barber | Pete |
| Laura Boynton | Azygous |
| McKeahan Carlton | The Trees |
| Eric Carr | SNOW |
| Linda Conroy | January View |
| Denise duMaurier | Conspiring |
| Jesse Kennemer | Vigil |
| Mary Lucas | Question |
| Sandra F. Lucke | Piano Cowboy |
| Carolyn McCarthy | Departure |
| Kevin Murphy | Books on Trees |
| Lara Niedermeyer | Stormless |
| Ruby Powers | Daylight on a Summer Branch |
| Emily Ramey | Frog? |
| Kobe Woodruff | Pencil Elves |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Conor Callaghan | Black |
| Abigail Carr | Blowing the Lake into Place |
| David P. Drummond | Guillemots |
| Evan Ingalls | Natural Communication |
| Carolyn McCarthy | Wild Orchid |
| Kevin Murphy | Falling Apart |
| Paul Piper | To a Slug in Winter |
| Taylor Rowland | Questions I Had Growing Up |
| Devan Schwartz | On Heliotrope Trail |
| Carla Shafer | Migrant |
MERIT AWARDS
| Erik Burge | Suiattle |
| Joe Cook | Samsara |
| Sierra Golden | What I really like about making bread |
| Zoie Greve | The Mist |
| Jo Ann Heydron | How to Stay |
| Bella Mallett | Happiness |
| Mitchell Morrison | we are the mole people |
| Nicola Morrow | Emma’s Kitchen |
| Sheila Nickerson | In a University Town: September |
| Luke Reinschmidt | I Remember |
| Kim Roe | After Being Called ‘Girlie’ at the Hardware Store |
| Ellie Rogers | Window Seat |
| Jose Valenzuala | King of All Erasers |
| Karee Wardrop | How to Promote Peace by Watching Birds |
| Keajn Wardrop-Peterson | Wood |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Erik Burge | Squalicum |
| Tyree Callahan | A Reefnetter’s Paean to the Sea |
| Esme Dutcher | Indian Plum |
| Tessa Haggerty | Bare Feet |
| Oksana Hanson | Awe |
| Sarah Hill | Forever Breeze |
| Katie Humes | Spin |
| Kate Berne Miller | Diminishing Returns |
| Dorothy Regal | Little Mothers |
| Gary Wade | Invitation to Jake |
MERIT AWARDS
| Alexis Austin | Mayfield Lake |
| Brenda Beehler | I Build You a House of Whale Bones |
| Angela Belcaster | Rain Words |
| Madeline Bowler | The Moon |
| Kai Bretherton | In the Blast Zone (Mt. St. Helens, 28 years after) |
| Julie Dunaway | Bellingham trains |
| Stephanee Henderson | You can’t have it all . . . |
| Christine M. Kendall | Watching the Storm |
| Taylor Knutson | Heart Song |
| Bob Markey | A Growing Family |
| Andrew Shattuck McBride | Boulevard Park |
| Niel Pfundt | Wife of a Fisherman |
| Kim Roe | Desire |
| Colleen Schwartz | Migration |
| Dale Wallace | Waiting for our ship – 1935 |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Rachel Ballard | New Year’s Day at Whatcom Creek, Far from the War |
| Angela Belcaster | Spring Cleaning |
| Linda Conroy | Organization |
| Ryler Dustin | Your Heart Was Once a Hill |
| J. I. Kleinberg | Pedestrian’s Lament |
| David M. Laws | january foot |
| Hunter Mumm | Lightning and Thunder |
| Stephen A. Peters | (untitled) |
| Abby Sussman | Magnetic North |
| Johnathan Zavalza | Baby |
MERIT AWARDS
| Patricia Alesse | Ode to the Grandview Signal Light |
| Jazlyn Atwood | Home |
| Misun Bishop | Kivulana |
| Jason Darling | Life as an adolescent boar |
| M. Elaine Eastman | Of Mist and Keramos |
| Kristi Felbinger | Love — |
| Emilie Elizabeth Friske | Terrorist, I am not |
| Skyler Jones | The Sweet, Sweet Smell of Success |
| Elani Koogle | to the poet |
| Rob Macdonald | The Storm |
| Zachary Masterson | Moon |
| Nelle McClenahan | Our Twenty-Sixth Winter |
| Bryan Middlebrook | Love Notes from 3 a.m. |
| Jim Milstead | Following Robert Froth |
| Madison Pheifer | Too Little |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Luther Allen | Under and Above |
| Angela Belcaster | That Fragile Helix |
| Skye Burn | Uncommon Courtesy |
| Nancy Lou Canyon | Dreaming Beneath a Big Sky |
| Julia Hobart | The Best Recipe |
| Jeffrey Klausman | On Fire |
| Bob Markey | Next Time |
| Carla Shafer | East of Point Francis |
MERIT AWARDS
| Miranda Myers Barker | The Dissipating Property of Sand |
| Cece Briggs | Chemistry |
| Claire Cancilla | Three People |
| Paige Kulm | For What Was |
| Elise Murphy | You see lemons |
| Mary Peebles | I’m Fine, Thank You |
| Jim Schmotzer | August Evening |
| Devan Schwartz | The Futaleufu River |
| Bernie Thomas | Our Human Spirit |
| Diane Barrera Turner | From the same flour |
| Annie Wilce | The Dessert Case |
| Menko Ypma | Never Repeated |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Luther Allen | Lummi Island |
| Alex Check | Survive |
| Barbara Davis-Pyles | In This Place |
| Bliss Goldstein | The Bellingham Blues |
| Johanna Landis | Sehome, dusk |
| Danika Lauderdale | People Watching |
| Kate Miller | Owl Song |
| Lorna Murphy | Dandelions on North Garden Street |
| Edwina Norton | Northwest Nightlife |
| Tom O’Brien | Friends |
| Kelly G. Ramer | Song with grey shapes |
| Sergio Rangel | I Am From |
| Matthew Campbell Roberts | Hay |
| Kim Roe | South Fork Valley |
| Scott Stodola | Railroad Avenue |
| Scott Stodola | Place Value |
| Kayla Townley | Untitled |
| Jeremy Voigt | My Neighbor Knocking |
| Jeanne Yeasting | November in the Northwest |
| Jeanne Yeasting | Distance |
MERIT AWARDS
| Chelsea Applegate | You |
| Dylan Bruce | A Community |
| Brickell Dotson | Community |
| Kiana Gray | A School is Like an Aquarium |
| Kaiya Hammond | Community of Friends |
| Greg Hoffenbacker | Last Will and Testament |
| Johanna Landis | Spring Fall |
| Lorna Murphy | Retirement in Bellingham |
| Stephen A. Peters | Untitled |
| Rena Priest | Meridian Traffic |
| Kelly G. Ramer | Celebratory Gowns |
| James R. Regier | New |
| Jeremy Voigt | Rotting Wood |
| Ashlyn Wade | Friends |
June 8, 2017 at 11:54 am
[…] So I’m pleased and astonished to announce that “In-between places” was published in the Sue C. Boynton 2017 chapbook, and also will be posted for a year on the Poetry Walk outside the Bellingham Public Library, illustrated by a local artist. Poems from the contest will be posted inside WTA buses. The poem also can now be read on the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest website, under the Winners tab, https://thepoetrydepartment.wordpress.com/winners/. […]