Pollinator Poetry Posted!

Over one hundred and thirty poems from all over the world were submitted to the Pollinator Poetry contest in June 2016. A  jury decided on the ten winning poems. The chosen ten then appeared in the specially made Poetry Post throughout Kelowna from the fall of 2016 to the spring of 2017. Poetry Posts or “poetry boxes” are “little free libraries” that contain poems instead of books.  The Pollinator Poetry Post appeared at the Kelowna Art Gallery, the  Laurel Packinghouse museum, the EECO Centre, the Kelowna Farmer’s Market, Seedy Saturday and at many events of Border Free Bees, including the Pollinator Picnic at Summerhill Organic Winery.  The Poetry Post is now in Richmond BC!

The winning poems are as follows:

Paint Brush, Yvonne Blomer, Victoria, BC
Read here: yvonne_blomer

Birds & Bees, Meri Culp, Tallahassee, Florida
Read here: meri_culp

Summer House, Morgan Downie, Perth, Scotland
Read here: morgan_downie

Bees in Late Autumn, Tami Haaland, Billings, Montana
Read here: tami_haaland

The Answering Machine, Lisa Huffaker, Dallas, Texas
Read here: lisa_huffaker

We collide, Guillaume Loslier-Pinard, Montreal, Quebec
Read here: guillaume_losier_pinard

February Bumblebees, Christine Lowther, Tofino, BC
Read here: christine_lowther

Wild Bees, Rhona McAdam, Victoria, BC
Read here: rhona_mcadam

Inside the Garden: Bees, Wendy Morton, Victoria, BC
Read here: wendy_morton

The Garden and the Gardener, Phoebe Reeves, Cincinnati, Ohio
Read here: poebe_reeves

The original poetry came from contributors throughout Canada, the United States and the U.K.  Poets responded with passion, beauty, humour and sadness to the topic of pollinators, our relationship to wild pollinators as well as honey bees and the plight of pollinators in the world.  The winners received $50 (Cdn) each.

Judges for the contest were poets Nancy Holmes and Fionncara MacEoin, artist/ theorist Cameron Cartiere, and pollination scientist Dr. Elizabeth Elle.