Scroll down to see the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest winning poets and poems from each contest year, 2006-2022; click on the poem title to read the poem and see the illustrated placard.
NOTE: The link to each 2022 poem will work only after the poem has appeared on the main page.
WALK AWARDS
| Margaux Barber | Spring in Bellingham |
| Chloe N. Braunstein | Roots |
| Bliss Goldstein | Retirement Lullaby |
| Maureen Kane | Let Yourself be Weary |
| Marley Lotts | I am from taco salad and toasted O’s |
| Amanda Norenberg | Give me your hand |
| Matthew Stuckey | words from a cloud |
| Alina Tsakhniv | Snowfall |
| Leslie Wharton | After the Flood |
| Hayley Van Ness | Cats |
MERIT AWARDS
| Luther Allen | the new snow |
| Kathryn Aspinall | Pears |
| Rusty Bower | Mother |
| Linda Conroy | Good Neighbors |
| Kyle Heaton | Head in the Game |
| Blake Heuett | Enemy |
| Dylan Jacobs | Finally Peace |
| Heidi Kenyon | Insight |
| Timothy Pilgrim | Feeding poems to the garden |
| Capucine W. Rougny | Trees |
| Luci Shaw | Angels Everywhere |
| Sheila Sondik | At Tennant Lake |
| Vincent Tsan | Yee Ma and her Homey Vibe |
| Joselyn Vasquez | Next Generation |
| Flannery White | Our First Apartment |
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WALK AWARDS
| Ty Colson | untitled |
| David P. Drummond | Hunchbacks |
| Marie Eaton | Forgive me if I forget |
| Peyton Eberhardt | I Got Lost in my Book |
| Jory Mickelson | Sweeping |
| Maddie Patterson | Ode to Dodge Durango |
| Timothy Pilgrim | Virus mourning |
| Janette Lyn Rosebrook | Low Down in the Blues |
| Noa Shelsta | The Leaf |
| J.L. Wright | Spring Melody |
MERIT AWARDS
| Rylie Anderson | Where I’m From |
| Margaux Barber | Seagull |
| Barbara Bloom | On Remembering |
| Kathleen Byrd | Still Life: Geneva Pond |
| Lynn Geri | At the Edge |
| Arden Haines | Closure |
| Sophie Hall | Mudslide |
| Callum LaPlant | Winter Day |
| David M. Laws | Some Assembly Required |
| Payton Ling | Driving Around |
| Phelps S. McIlvaine | Interstate C-19 |
| Isabella Nelson | Sunset Sea |
| Robert Stern | and from another planet |
| Kami Westhoff | Osteo |
| Genevieve Whelan | Jacob |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Margaux Barber | Window |
| Robert Beck | Toia mai te waka |
| Chloe Nahani Braunstein | Silence |
| Eugene S. Fairbanks | Northwest Rivers |
| Suzanne Harris | The Bear |
| Qwill Madrone | Underwater |
| Kate Miller | My Birthmother’s Handiwork |
| Betty Scott | I Stop In The Woods |
| Katen Van Harmelen | Ocean waves |
| Hayley Van Ness | Cats, cats |
MERIT AWARDS
| Miakoda Baughman | In the Forest |
| Judy Bishop | Lake Louise Spring |
| Barbara Bloom | On Becoming Rootless |
| Randy Flowers | on the job |
| Cristian Gonzalez | Outside |
| John S. Green | The Park |
| Joshua Hilderbrand | Gone to Spokane to Watch my Last Sunrise |
| Steve Hood | Earthlings |
| Stephen Jacob Huxford | Volcanoes of Anger |
| Penelope Keep | the basket weaver |
| Alexandra M. Lucas | Leftover |
| Fjola Martinez | My Body Parts |
| Giorgiana Vignali | Spring Walk |
| Richard Widerkehr | The Possum On Irving Street After Evening Services |
| J. L. Wright | Merits |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Margaux Barber | Bones |
| Barbara Bloom | Not Yet |
| Gavin James Karney | The Clown |
| Sandra F. Lucke | At the Edge of the Shelf |
| Bella Mendoza | 2011 |
| Maddie Patterson | Hummingbird |
| Jaelyn Pitts | Sky Goes Flying |
| Luci Shaw | Unable to See Far |
| Tor | metric |
| Stephany Vogel | Hope in Late Summer |
MERIT AWARDS
| Porter Chesbrough | Going |
| Lucas Cunningham | Anthropophagi |
| Anishka Duggal | Duet in Five Haiku |
| Gaia Garza | Beautiful |
| Sally Hewitt | Raised Goat Forest |
| Karanjot Mann | high school |
| Carlos Martinez | Statement of Purpose |
| Adam McCluskey | the awful days |
| Phelps McIlvaine | Water by Salmon |
| Quinn Moore | I Bought a Pair of Earrings |
| Tom Moore | After St. Lucy’s Day, 2018 |
| Susan Cohen Raphael | Thirteen |
| Eliot Stockman | Jane |
| Cadillac Joe Wright | Hey Poetry Lovers |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Tanner Abernathy | Remembering His One Small Comfort |
| Donald Antenen | Arson |
| Alandra Barker | Cup of Tea |
| Nancy Canyon | Ringed Light on Freshwater Swamp |
| Mason Cash | Hologram |
| Felicia Clemmons | The Perfect Cover |
| Marie Eaton | Meditations on Love |
| Izetria Grace-Lind | (untitled) |
| Emma McCoy | I am Not a Quiet Girl |
| Madeleine Joyce Patterson | Woodpecker |
MERIT AWARDS
| Nora Whitley Abelite | (untitled) |
| Megan Gillikin | I’m Just a Gal |
| Roger William Gilman | I Said I’d do Anything |
| Allie Haugen | underestimated |
| Jackie Lomas | If you ask |
| Bonnita Lynne | Tsankawe |
| Grace Moore | Oranges are Orange |
| Jacob Murphy | I leapt |
| Ellie Osterloh | The Invitation |
| Stephen Palmer | Homeless |
| Emma Thario | Langston Titles |
| KJ Vande Bossche | On Mornings Like This |
| Elizabeth Vignali | The Blue Whale |
| Barbara L Weed | Menopause, the poem |
| Leslie Wharton | Fish is Plural for Fish |
.
WALK AWARDS
| Mariah Brown-Pounds | Winter Witch |
| Dee Dee Chapman | Colluvium |
| 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 | Rabbits with Wings |
| Robert Stern | untitled |
| Richard Widerkehr | At Akumal: What Have I Asked For? |
MERIT AWARDS
| Sterling C.H. Bemment | Dear Rain |
| Judy Bishop | What Salmon Know |
| Aysha Burney | Sudden Thoughts |
| Amelia Carr | The Perfect Ballerina |
| Marlene Chasson | Possession |
| Roger William Gilman | Standing on the Shore of Yellowstone Lake |
| Darian Karuza | Since You Ghosted |
| David M. Laws | Early Hike with Dog |
| Marie Marchand | Reverie |
| Mason Mills | Let them be Cars |
| Jim Milstead | Wonder |
| Sheila Nickerson | The Woman Who Feeds Raccoons |
| Maddie Patterson | The Sea |
| Ruby Thomas | Princess and Maiden |
| 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 |
The Poetry Department . . . aka The Boynton Blog 
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/. […]