At a recent political protest in Vergennes, Julia Alvarez took special note of the handmade signs. “I love the creativity of some of the signs,” the Weybridge writer said, “the sense of driving home a message and having some fun.”
And fitting choice words onto a cardboard scrap, she reflected, is not unlike crafting a haiku — the three-line poem traditionally written in a five-, seven-, five-syllable structure.
Alvarez would know. The author of novels including How the García Girls Lost Their Accents and a National Medal of Arts recipient under president Barack Obama, she is also co-poet laureate of Weybridge, along with author Jay Parini. Together, they conceived the Weybridge Haiku Contest, which champions the Japanese verse form and in this seventh year attracted 420 poems from 108 writers, ages 7 to 90. Judges and contest administrator George Bellerose announced the winners and honorable mentions — and highlighted other poems in four thematic categories — in early April as part of National Poetry Month.
As with signs at a protest, many of the haikus speak to turbulent modern life. “Fear is unveiling / Democracy is failing / Justice is ailing,” wrote Pam Quinn of Middlebury in a poem selected as part of the “Haikus for Our Times” collection. “Seek out those hurting / Those with desperation / Lift them with kindness,” wrote Tunbridge’s Chuck Howe, whose poem was recognized under “Best Hopeful Haikus.” Such recurrent concerns arose organically, Alvarez said.
“Some years — without even having a theme, like this year — you notice that there’s a zeitgeist, there’s a communal feeling or disquiet going around, and it’s reflected in the haikus,” she said. “That means that we’re paying attention closely to the times that we’re living in.”
Finding out that others are chewing on similar ideas is part of the community building that Alvarez appreciates about the contest. “It’s a way that we can talk to each other underneath all the vitriol and the shouting and the us-and-them-ing.”
If there has been any us-and-them-ing about the Weybridge Haiku Contest, it occurred in the early years, when organizers considered whether participating poets must reside in their tiny Addison County town. The debate was short-lived.
“We said, ‘To hell with that. Some people are Weybridge at heart,'” Alvarez recalled. “We don’t have any walls. We don’t deport anybody if they try to sneak in as a Weybridge writer. They don’t have to show us any green cards. They just have to show us their haikus.”
To that end, here are some of our favorite poems from this year’s Weybridge Haiku Contest.
Haikus for Our Times
Executive pens
can’t touch Orion — unbound,
knowing, gleaming, free
Social justice is
a bit like a kite; hold strong,
the winds are vicious.
Peter Langella, Moretown
Drifts when I was young
Were great for making tunnels;
Now there is not enough snow.
John Burbank, Bristol
Best Hopeful Haikus
“Flower and Rock”
I saw a flower
growing out of a hard stone
soft pink against grey.
Patricia Nolin, Jericho
Humanity is
not everything that exists.
Nature is magic.
All gardeners know
that what you focus on grows.
Cultivate some calm.
Maria Genovese, Burlington
Weybridge and Vermont Youth
Oral stories form
into myths, legends, and lore
the words transform worlds
Rosie Barry, Weybridge (first place)
The whoosh of the wind
The crackle of the campfire
Ah! Look out! A bat!
Emrys Metcalf, Middlebury (Honorable Mention)
Weybridge — Adults
Outpourings of books
into little libraries
sing out resistance.
T.M. Baird (first place)
Low temperatures
Skating for twenty-eight days
Old fashioned winter
Spence Putnam (Second Place)
Vermont — Adults
I grabbed a big load
Of sunrise and carried it
With me all day long.
William Graham, Stowe (first place)
An outcrop of half
written thank you notes grows
glacially on my desk.
Michaela Stickney, Huntington (Honorable Mention)
Best Haikus About Getting Older
“Turning 80”
Ninth decade begins
Curious, open…aware
Living fully now.
Karen Hein, Jacksonville
spreading forget-me-not seeds
on land I’ll leave behind
aging
Tricia Knoll, Williston
Best Haikus About Haikus
Massage and torment
box, wrestle to 5/7s
some words won’t submit
Carol Calhoun, Weybridge
five seven five five
seven five five seven five
five seven five done
Mason Singer, Calais
The original print version of this article was headlined “Spreading the Word | Weybridge Haiku Contest entrants share poems for our times”
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2025.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
