The Mississippi Poetry Project is a statewide poetry initiative created by Mississippi 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 Dec. 10, 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 be invited to attend the Mississippi Young Writers Poetry Festival in April, and statewide winners will be invited to share their work at the festival.
- During the fall, students will write poems using the following prompt:
Poems offer us a chance to express ourselves—to share who we are, where we’re from, and what we think. Sometimes poems also help us to figure out some important things, and that’s what this year’s Mississippi Poetry Project is about. For this year’s poem prompt, you’ll think about your dreams and wishes. What do you hope your future will look like? What do you dream for the world, or for Mississippi, or for your own backyard?
In the poem you write, be as specific as you can. For example, instead of saying “I want to be happy,” you might write, “Someday I want to own three Great Danes and a pink house on the Gulf.” Instead of writing, “I want to be successful,” you might write, “I want to be a marine biologist” (or a chicken farmer, a brain surgeon, a YouTuber, etc.). In other words: think about YOUR dreams (which might be very different from someone else’s). Your poem should be mainly made up of declarative statements (“I want” or “I wish” or “I hope,” etc.), but feel free to include some other details or ideas, too. **For more info and an example, please see the PDF MS Poetry Project, 2024-25–Resources for Educators.**
There is no minimum line length; poems should not be more than 30 lines.
- By Dec. 10, 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 Dec. 10.
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 7, 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 the attached PDF. Email mspoetryproject@gmail.com with any questions.