The Mississippi Poetry Project is a statewide poetry initiative created by MS Poet Laureate Catherine Pierce. All K-12 students across Mississippi are invited to participate. During the fall, students will be asked to write a poem in response to the below prompt. By December 8, each participating school will select three winning poems per grade, which will be sent on to a statewide competition. All schoolwide winners will have their winning poems published in a contest anthology, and statewide winners will be invited to share their work at a reading and celebration.
During the fall, students will write poems using the following prompt:
Poems offer us a chance to go beyond the literal to describe the world and ourselves. For this year’s Mississippi Poetry Project, you’ll think about how you can describe yourself through metaphor. How are you feeling today? If you were a dog, would you be a yapping chihuahua bouncing to see out the front door, or an old hound dog lazily gnawing a bone on the couch? If you were weather, would you be a hurricane or a gentle summer breeze?
Start your poem with “I am” or with “Today I am,” and then go from there. Feel free to provide some detail about your answers, or to simply let your list stand on its own. **For more info and an example, please see the attached PDF.**
There is no minimum line length; poems should not be more than 30 lines.
By December 8, schools will select three winning poems per each grade. There is no official contest rubric, but judges (selected by each school) should consider the poem’s use of specific detail, attention to the senses, and overall creativity/originality. Each of these schoolwide winners will have their poem published in the contest anthology.
Winning poems should be emailed to mspoetryproject@gmail.com by December 8.
Requirements for submission:
- Each poem should include a title and the author’s name below the title.
- Each poem should be submitted as an individual Word doc (feel free to send multiple files in one email).
- Each poem should be saved as [Grade Number]_[School]_[Student’s Last Name]. For example: 5_South Elem_Johnson.
The winning poems from each school will be entered into the statewide poetry contest. Statewide winners will be announced by February 5, 2024.
For more information, including poetry-writing tips to share with students, a sample poem, and suggestions for ways to celebrate and share students’ work, see MS Poetry Project–Resources for Educators, 2023. Email mspoetryproject@gmail.com with any questions.