Help us celebrate the 26th Anniversary of this local tradition! 
Welcome to Fresno County Public Library's 26th Annual Poetry Contest happening April 1st through April 30th. Poems will be judged by talented, local professionals and our winners will be celebrated at an in-person Awards Ceremony in June 2025. 

DATES
The contest runs from April 1st – April 30, 2025.

Winning poems will be announced online and in person on June 8, 2025.  

CATEGORIES
3rd-5th Grade
6th-8th Grade
9th-12th Grade
Adult (18 and up)

PRIZES
Winners in each category will receive a gift card, generously donated by the Friends of the Fresno County Public Library.
1st Place: $200
2nd Place: $100
3rd Place: $50

RULES AND GUIDELINES 
  • Submit your poem using the link on this site.
  • Participants must be residents of Fresno County.
  • One poem can be submitted per person.
  • Poems written in previous years can be submitted.
  • No previously published poems will be accepted (including but not limited to theses, academic journals, and online publications).
  • Poems can be submitted in English or Spanish. 
  • Participants will retain the copyright on their poems.
  • FCPL reserves the right to not publish poems that violate the FCPL Rules of Conduct and Comments Policy (linked below).
  • Participants are responsible for ensuring the poems submitted do not violate the guidelines for the contest and are not plagiarized or violate an existing copyright.

Remember: This contest is for all ages so please use appropriate language. The Library reserves the right to not publish or post entries. Poems that violate the FCPL Rules of Conduct and the Comments policy (linked below) or violate the rules of the FCPL Poetry Contest will not be eligible and will not be published.




Rules of Conduct
Comments Policy

Reality

I thought that I knew you, 
I thought that I loved you, 
Thought I had everything down, 

I made the confession, 
You were my obsession, 
My heart leapt so high off the ground, 

But in reality, 

I didn’t know you, 
I didn’t love you, 
Didn’t have anything down, 

I made the confession, 
I was over my obsession, 
And that’s when my heart hit the ground, 

Reality, 
Oh reality, 
You can’t run away, 
And you can’t escape, 
It’s stronger and stronger than you, 

I do want to know you,
Maybe to love you, 
Give you my heart someday, 

I’ll make the confession, 
You’ll be my obsession, 
Things will finally go a good way, 

But in reality, 

You don’t want to know me, 
Never to love me, 
You’ll break my heart again someday, 

You’ll reject my confession, 
I’m not your obsession you’ll say, 
Nothing will ever go my way, 

Reality, 
Oh reality, 
You can’t fight back, 
Can’t give it a smack, 
It’s invisible like I am too,

To you.

--Rory C., 6th-8th Grade

All Is Dream

A magician in pastel scrubs
pulls a groundhog from a hat.

His name tag reads Dr. Gillespie,
the same as the man who delivered you.

He holds it over his head, examines it
like a glass slide. Calls it by a name

which you try to catch, a name
which slips like a dream

through your reaching fingers.
& the groundhog

catches the light of the dusty chandelier
in the gloss of its eye

& sneezes. & the sneeze
shakes the warm red woolen drapes

& you catch a glimpse of the wall
& imagine a crucifix hanging

& you remember that this happened yesterday
& will happen

long after you leave the room
& forget the hymnody of its walls.

Oh! To be once again suspended
in that eternal womb of time

where everything was uncertain
& holy

& breathed.

--Matt W., Adult, Guest

Beside Candle Light

Her light can be soft, 
As if she were to be surrounded by her friends. 
She helps aids them with her light, 
As they hold her in their hands. 

Her light can be bright, 
As if she were to be ranting 
Rubbish she found so neat. 
How bright as she illuminates 
A room, yet she goes unappreciated 
By the people who occupy it. 

Her light can be dull, 
As if she were to be abandon 
By the people she still loves. 
Slowly being forgotten as 
New modern electricity begins 
To take over what she knew as the 
World. 

Her light can flicker, 
As if she were to be overwhelmed 
By people, like 
When the breeze dances 
Through the room. 
Trying to maintain a 
Stable glow. 

Her light can go out, 
As if she were to be oblivion 
By her toxic environment. 
The pollution sailing through any 
Cracks and openings. 
Making her suffocate 
With the lack of fresh air. 

She is a bedside candle light, 
Others will use her til she 
Burns up. 
Yet there are people who 
Are going to relight her flame 
Because they don't need her to see 
How bright she truly can be.

--Nabryalu F., 9th-12th Grade

Reminder

Roses are red
Violets are blue 
Keep a bad person in your life 
They'll take advantage of you

--Jayda B., 9th-12th Grade

Replace

I awake another day 
            Years by Years Day by Day I’ll be yours until I am done 

                        Wonder on the way we live change and change is all around 
I will say I love you another day 
            Why I say must it wait all I have is the love to make 

                        Give it up and move on now another wave is sure to come 
I will say Goodbye another day 
            I’ll miss you sooner if you do so why not say it soon 

                        Never yours never mine I have other on my mind 
I will say it’s over another day 
            Why so soon I have yet to believe my love can’t faded or wither away 

                        I never want it to be but I have seen what other people can be 
I can change another day 
            You say it can be done but yet not fun all I see is just a lie 

                        I say I can I do but I know I never knew you 
I’ll come back another day 
            I’ll wait I’ll sit just for that day wondering when you will stay 
            
                        I never can and I’ll never will all I wonder if they will 
I cried on this day 
            Gone you are 
            Sooner than never 
            Alone and forgotten, change and replaced 
            The love unfaded never to to wither 
            All I known was never other 
            All I been is your lover 
            But all I can say you have found another

--Christopher K., 9th-12th Grade

Foreign Countryside

The loud chirps of cicadas all around 
The nostalgic feel of the sun 
Glass-like water droplets dripping from the bright green leaves 
The calm quiet vibe this foreign sundown town brings 

Two girls riding on bikes together 
Soft golden ribbons that make them both match 
Laughing, chatting, having fun 
Creating memories that will soon turn into nostalgia 

The old run down traditional homes that cover this foreign village 
Small gardens that bloom with flowers 
The warm onsens that offer a relaxing feeling 

The sea is near this small village 
As the oceanic air gently gusts through me 
I feel a calm breeze through the air 

As the sun sets, I still hear the cicadas chirping 
The friends are far long home 
And the lights to the kominkas go dark

--Kaitlyn L., 9th-12th Grade

Tule Fog

The ghostly arms reach out from no beginning 
To no end 
Their dramatic indifference is sinister 

But like soldiers on a battlefield 
Are allowed no belief of their own 
Are there to do their job 
So, must the mist restore balance 

Within moments, with collective movement 
The seedless thompsons on beds of ancient vernal pools 
Will rustle their leaves in loneliness 
Enveloped in a deceptive solitude 

A sheer curtain of deadly silence surrounds them 
And it has already laid siege to the pavement 

The mist nourishes the weed in the crack 
Quenches the thirst of the displaced redwoods 
That stand in a silent relief after the sunny spell 

Whitewashed roads 
We hear the eerie sirens of ambulances 
And although we do not know where 
We all know the spirits who have departed 

Today was not her full day 
Having mercy and making way for the sun’s invigorating rays 
The hawk soars from the telephone pole 
The mourning doves weep in celebration 
And the noon blesses the sun-baked San Joaqui

--Gurcharan S., 9th-12th Grade