Second Annual Poetry Derby

Join us to celebrate the winning poems in this year’s Second Annual Poetry Derby on Sept. 9, 6-8 p.m., for a virtual reading hosted by the Kentucky Derby Museum. This year’s theme was “The Starting Line,” and we asked writers in Louisville and beyond to compose poems engaging lines from the work of Kentucky poets Frank X Walker, Nickole Brown, Maurice Manning, Rebecca Gayle Howell, Cynthia Arrieu-King, Wendell Berry, and Kentucky transplant Ada Limón. Twelve poems were selected as winners and ranked in the Adult Race, and nine poems were selected as winners and ranked in the Youth Race.

Thanks to the following Kentucky poets who facilitated writing sessions and helped with judging: Kristina Erny, Ashley Taylor, and Ken Walker.

Winners (Adult Race):

1^st place: Tyler Curth’s “Forestral Scientafica”

2^nd place (TIE): Isiah Fish’s “Yes, I’m Really Leaving & No, I’m Not Keeping Your Things”

2^nd place (TIE): Andrew Hutto’s “(Version)”

3^rd place: Crozier Lanthrop’s “Starting with anagrams of dust and meat and ending somewhere elsewhere”

4^th place: Grace Sutphin’s “Glory”

5^th place: Olivia Hooper’s “the darkness abounds”

Honorable mention:

Rowan Little’s “Passerby II”

Finalists (in alphabetical order):

Ana-Sophia Beardsley’s “My Blood Type is Perfluorooctanoic Acid”

Josh Christian’s “After so many years”

Brittany McCarthy’s “Dad Was Born on Derby Day”

Cathy Pendleton’s “The Garden”

Brigit Truex’s “Lascaux”