Poems For Pol­li­na­tors! Over 140 poems from around the world were sub­mit­ted in June 2016 for the Bor­der Free Bee Poet­ry Post! Ten poems were select­ed to be fea­tured in the Post from fall 2016 to 2018 and be dis­played online. The orig­i­nal poet­ry came from con­trib­u­tors through­out Cana­da, the Unit­ed States, and the U.K. 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 ten cho­sen poems were award­ed $50 (Cdn) each and are being dis­played around Kelow­na and Rich­mond, British Colum­bia, in a Poet­ry Post. 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 per­haps take copies or leave new poems in return. The Post popped up in mul­ti­ple loca­tions in Kelow­na, and cur­rent­ly resides at the Rich­mond Arts Cen­tre in Rich­mond, BC.

The win­ning poems can be read and down­loaded here:

http://blogs.ubc.ca/theecoartincubator/pollinator-poetry-post/

Judges for the con­test were poets Nan­cy Holmes and Fion­ncara MacEoin, artist/ the­o­rist Cameron Cartiere, and pol­li­na­tion sci­en­tist Dr. Eliz­a­beth Elle.

Pollinator Pasture Poetry Boxes.

Pol­li­na­tor Pas­ture Poet­ry Boxes.

Pollinator Pasture Poetry Boxes.