Over 130 poems from all over the world were submitted to the Pollinator Poetry contest this summer. After much deliberation, a jury comprised of poets, artists and bee experts selected ten winning poems to be published in the Pollinator Poetry Post, a public art project of UBC’s Public Art Pollinator Pasture Project. The chosen ten will appear in Kelowna this fall and winter and then the Post will move to Richmond BC in 2017. The first “Posting” will be at the Kelowna Art Gallery until October 2nd and then it will move to the BC Orchard Industry Museum at the Laurel Packinghouse (1304 Ellis Street).
The international collection of award-winning poems is as follows:
Paint Brush, Yvonne Blomer, Victoria, BC
Birds & Bees, Meri Culp, Tallahassee, Florida
Summer House, Morgan Downie, Perth, Scotland
Bees in Late Autumn, Tami Haaland, Billings, Montana
The Answering Machine, Lisa Huffaker, Dallas, Texas
We collide, Guillaume Loslier-Pinard, Montreal, Quebec
February Bumblebees, Christine Lowther, Tofino, BC
Wild Bees, Rhona McAdam, Victoria, BC
Inside the Garden: Bees, Wendy Morton, Victoria, BC
The Garden and the Gardener, Phoebe Reeves, Cincinnati, Ohio
Poetry Posts or “poetry boxes” are “little free libraries” that contain poems instead of books. Passersby are encouraged to read “The Poem of the Week” and take copies or leave new poems in return.
The public is invited to participate in Pollinator Poetry on Saturday October 1, 2016 at the Kelowna Art Gallery in conjunction with Culture Days Events. The Poetry Post will be there at the gallery and there will be an open-mic for one hour starting at 1:30 PM. Local poets, writers and bee-lovers are invited to come and share their pollinator poetry and take part in the Culture Days project at the Gallery: building an Insect Hotel for the Kelowna Pollinator Pasture.
The original poetry came from contributors throughout Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. 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 each as well as copies of a “pad” of their poem. More about the Public Art Pollinator Pasture Project and its umbrella project, Border Free Bees, can be found on the website borderfreebees.com
For more information contact Nancy Holmes at nancy.holmes@ubc.ca