2026 Poetry Contest Winners
Elementary School Winner: Carter Pickett
America, My Home: The Great North Woods
Birchtree
The sandy textures
Reflect in the moonlight
Pinetree
Looking below and guarding:
Tiny animals scatter on the forest floor.
Moon
Staring at the ground and glowing:
the old wise moon/
wishes for a peaceful day.
Sky
Waving with the wind and watching below:
Hoping the Northern Lights
will appear.
Middle School Winner: Talia Smith
Two Hundred Fifty Candles Burning Bright
Two hundred fifty candles burning bright,
A peaceful flicker in the night.
The land of hard-bought freedom’s flame,
Where hope and courage earned her name.
Here, brave soldiers saved the land,
And on her ground we proudly stand.
Her people bought us freedom through trials that cut deep,
Her people bought us freedom, and now it’s ours to keep.
Through vast fields and oceans, guided by devotion,
We lift up our hearts in a thankful emotion.
Through every valley and mountain we climb,
The celebrating bells proudly chime.
America is bright and free, the land of hope and liberty,
And even though we have our struggles, we still stand both strong and free.
For two hundred fifty years we cheer,
And greet tomorrow with courage clear.
Adult Third Place Winner: Laura Kenney Woods
Not Just You, Not Just Me
The land of the free, the land of the brave,
No matter the times, it’s what we crave.
Conflicts can crush us like heavy weights,
But hope is right there to open the gates.
Perspective offers beautiful days,
So let yours focus on fair and just ways.
Stop your judgment, stop all the pain:
Let love provide us with all the gain.
Open your heart and open your eyes,
Notice the sorrow in the man walking by.
Look for the good in the woman next door,
See the work ethic that’s deep in her core.
The Mexican playing his favorite guitar?
He’s much like your ancestors who came from afar.
America citizens, why can’t you see?
He’s making a home in a country that’s free!
He’s found a place where the people are brave,
Where so many fought with the lives they gave.
Remember your ancestors who traveled here too;
The journey they made was for them AND for you.
So stop all the prejudice – its hatred and sting –
And open your ears to the words that you sing!
“America, God shed his grace on thee”
Refers to us all – not just you or me!
Adult Second Place Winner: Barbara Dziura
Celebrating the American Dream (250 years old)
Young and in love, full of hopes and dreams they wed.
Birth of a son soon filled their hearts with joy.
With hope for a better life, from Romania to Poland they fled;
Adding to the family two girls and another boy.
Toiling hard but happily, ultimately it did not matter.
One fearful day, their dreams were forever shattered.
A rap on the door:
Pack your bags, you leave today.
Bare necessities and no more.
To keep them safe, they say.
Leave Poland – your home.
No option at all to stay.
Forced onto railroad cars by soldiers who didn’t care,
The family was broken apart –
Separation and hardships all hard to bear,
But all staying strong from the start.
Some joining to fight, others carted around on trains
Freedom for them all is gone – it’s very plain.
Nowhere to return to at wars end,
They again found themselves in a foreign land.
Together, after enduring years of uncertainties and strife,
England gave them refuge, and gratefully their lives restarted.
But, encouraged by grandmother, still searching for that better life,
My parents, expecting twins, reluctantly for America departed.
Sailing on the USS America, arriving in New York,
Greeted by cousins who opened their hearts and doors,
They were offered jobs, a home, and so much more.
Raise your family and stay they said,
Stay in New Hampshire –
Many opportunities lay ahead.
Becoming citizens, here they stayed,
Working hard, buying a home, making their way.
Here the foundations of our lives were laid.
A state where my aunt and grandmother eventually came.
A country of opportunity for all dreaming to live the same.
A time to celebrate freedom, our Founding Father’s original aim.
Adult First Place Winner: Jennie Pollard
The Semiquincentennial Oak
It seems the tree has always been
spreading across his north field
over pastures growing corn.
The tree was planted at the crossroads
people traveling north to south, east to west
across an early country.
The oak grew tall and then old
living long in this quiet field of corn.
Why it was there the farmer never knew and yet
he knew the tree well. He had climbed the limbs,
collected acorns, told his secrets there
growing in wisdom and strength like
the leaves emerging fresh each spring
and staying tenaciously all winter.
The oak was the heart
of the land and the man.
The farmer’s boy knows the tree well
Playing there and finding comfort there.
As the world moves in its varied directions
he finds his own direction and plants
another oak for his new son.
So now the old oak and the new
will celebrate their land and ours
as we turn two hundred and fifty
growing together in
wisdom and strength
gentleness and peace.
