We are Water Poetry Contest<br />

“We Are Water” Poetry Contest

Aug. 15, 2025 — Oct. 17, 2025

Contest Guidelines

We Are Water Contest Flyer

View the Contest Flyer

The contest is open to residents of the Tri-County Area (Ingham, Clinton & Eaton counties), age 10 and older.

 

You are invited to submit poems celebrating water and/or Lansing’s Tollgate Drain Wetlands . . . or a similar natural environment that features water. Each poem should mention water in some way, i.e., fresh water—as distinct from the salt water found in oceans. (See writing advice & prompts below.)

You can submit up to 3 poems, each with no more than 25 lines, including title and lines between stanzas.

We will not accept poems that have been previously published, poems that are being simultaneously submitted to other publications, or poems that have been produced by AI.

Deadline: All poems are due by 11:59 PM, Oct. 17, 2025.

 

Prizes

Five (5) winners will each receive a $150 cash award. The winning poems will also be featured on Poetry Signs by the walking paths in the Tollgate Drain Wetlands, 1101 N. Fairview Ave., Lansing 48912.

The Great Lakes contain about 21% of the world’s surface freshwater.

In fact, it is the largest freshwater system in the world.

Facts about Fresh Water:

Fresh water accounts for only 3% of the world’s water, and just 1% of that is readily available. About 70% of the world’s fresh water reserves are frozen in Antarctica. Just 3% of it is extracted for human consumption. Agriculture uses roughly two thirds of all fresh water extracted from the environment.

Fresh water can be found in lakes, rivers, streams, creeks, swamps and wetlands, groundwater, glaciers, ice caps, precipitation (rain, snow, hail) and stormwater.

While many organisms can thrive on salt water, the great majority of plants and living creatures need fresh water to survive.

Chosen poems will be featured on the signs by the walking paths in the Tollgate Drain Wetlands

Chosen poems will be featured on new signs by the walking paths in the Tollgate Drain Wetlands

Facts about Tollgate:

The water in the Tollgate Drain Wetlands, located at 1101 North Fairview Ave., Lansing, MI 48912, is stormwater runoff from the surrounding 234-acre watershed. As the water circulates through the streams and ponds in Tollgate, pollution is removed using environmentally-safe means, and clean water is released back to the environment.

Ruelaine’s Advice to Writers

Judges will be looking for poems that resonate with visitors to the Tollgate Drain Wetlands, yet there are many ways for poems to resonate, and we want to leave room for your imagination. But here are good tips that may be of use to you:

  • Watch the Video at the top of this page titled: “Poetry Comes to Tollgate Drain”
  • Spend time at Tollgate if you can. I recommend sitting on a bench for a while. You will be amazed by how much you see happening around you.
  • Read the “Writing Prompts” below. They may point you in a fruitful direction. Or you may want to find your own path.
  • Though the oceans are magnificent, we are looking particularly for poems about freshwater.

    Writing Prompts

    Note: These prompts are designed to fire your imagination, not limit it. Use them to create a piece of writing that you find exciting and empowering; if they get in your way, discard them.

    1. Spend time walking through the Tollgate Drain Wetlands (1101 N. Fairview Ave., Lansing, MI 48912), notebook in hand, recording what you see, hear, smell, and taste in the world around you. Then spend some time with your notes: how does being around water, being in the wetlands, shape or change your language? What kind of poem can you write here that you can’t write anywhere else? Try to channel that experience of transformation and possibility in a brief poem that draws upon the language of your notebook.
      2. We Are Water Contest Article in City Pulse

      Click the image to read the City Pulse Article about the We Are Water Contest

    2. Explore the importance of clean water. What does water nourish? What does it make possible? Who benefits? Be as concrete as possible.
    3. Where does the water in Tollgate come from? Where is it going? How does the water change while it is at Tollgate? How can you describe this transformation in poetic terms? Be as specific as possible.
    4. Write a poem in which you compare your life to the water cycle. What parts of your life resemble this cycle? How does thinking about water help you see yourself and your journey more clearly?
    5. What kinds of wildlife come to Tollgate? Where do they hang out? What are they doing? Why do you think they are drawn to Tollgate?
    6. What draws you to Tollgate? What do you gain from visiting this place? What can you do/experience here that you don’t experience elsewhere in the City?
    7. Or create your own prompt! Let the water take you where you will.

      How to Submit Your Poem(s)

      • Submit each poem individually by email, by Oct. 17, 2025, to PoetryPathway71@gmail.com
      • Type your name in the Subject line, along with the title of your poem.
      • Attach 2 copies of your poem to your email (each in a Microsoft Word document). One copy should contain your full name, your age, address, phone # and email address. The other copy should not include any identifying information.

      This project has been made possible by the Academy of American Poets, the Arts Council of Greater Lansing, The Ingham County Drain Commissioner, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP), the RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU, and the Lansing Poetry Club.

      Questions??? — Email PoetryPathway71@gmail.com

       

      Photos by Ruelaine Stokes

      Tollgate Drain Wetlands