English Department Poetry Contest
2025 This is Poetry ENGLISH DEPARTMENT POETRY CONTEST
Theme: Resistance -- All Types
Theme: "Resistance - All Types"
"I prefer not to," repeats Bartleby, the soft-spoken scrivener in Herman Melville’s classic self-titled story, establishing resistance and non-conformity as an essential aspect of the American ethos.
Resistance can pave the way to other possibilities, other forms of living, and other ways to build community and self-actualize. Saying "no" when everyone and everything demands a "yes" — please send us a poem articulating when resistance is necessary and why it is welcome.
Prizes: 1st place ($125), 2nd place ($75), 3rd place ($50) + publication on the English department website
Deadline: 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30
Submit your poem through our This Is Poetry site on Canvas. Please do not put your name on the submission itself. Instead, include your student ID number in the upper right corner of the document.
2024 This is Poetry ENGLISH DEPARTMENT POETRY CONTEST
Theme: Artificial Intelligence
Funded by the Cerritos College Foundation
Theme: Artificial Intelligence
Write a poem about artificial intelligence (AI), which is traditionally defined as computers, robots, or applications (like search engines, CAPTCHA, voice recognition, etc) that can perform human tasks. You can also expand the meaning of artificial intelligence beyond the traditional definition. Think outside the box, but please do not use AI to write your poem. Some ideas:
- love in the time of AI
- our relationship to AI
- how AI affects how we interact with each other and the world
- how we construct knowledge/our worldview using AI
- robot love
Winners
1st Place: "Take On" by Issac Cordova
2nd Place:"Betelgeuse" by Drake Mortensen
3rd Place: "The Mathematics of Consciousness" by Angel Mejia
HM:"Unknown Wonders" by Mohamad Abuhadba
2023 This is Poetry ENGLISH DEPARTMENT POETRY CONTEST
Theme: Praise
Winners
1st Place:"Ode to Depression" by Issac Cordova
2nd Place:"To the Struggler" by Angel Mejia
3rd Place:"ode to joy" by Frederick Ynclino
HM:"Ode to God" by Jatarri Webb
2022 This is Poetry ENGLISH DEPARTMENT POETRY CONTEST
Theme: Love and War
Winners
1st Place: "roots" by Miles Enriquez-Morales
2nd Place: "To the Rotten Backseat Pumpkins" by Ash Arias
3rd Place: "Illusion Died" by Michelle Godoy
HM: "Another World" by Luis Garza
2021 This is Poetry ENGLISH DEPARTMENT POETRY CONTEST
Theme: The Last Year
(Photo by Edwin Hooper)
Winners
1st Place: "The Afterlife Is Just Reliving Your Childhood" by Jessi Jarrin
2nd Place: "Upon Checking the News on a Friday" by Willie Robert Heredia
3rd Place: "The World Tastes Our Blood (In Tribute to Mahmoud Darwish)" by Adelia Gregory
Honorable Mention: "Chica Esperanza" by Ivan Hernandez
2019 This is Poetry ENGLISH DEPARTMENT POETRY CONTEST
Theme: Identity
Winners
1st Place: “P-problem in the Meadow” by Daniel Orona
2nd Place: Untitled by Marilyn Ramirez
3rd Place: “A Friend at the End of the World” by Leiza Castillo
Honorable Mention: “Dissociative” by James Shawe
2018 This is Poetry ENGLISH DEPARTMENT POETRY CONTEST
Theme: Boundaries
Winners
1st Place: "My, What Voice You Have" by Jessi Jarrin
2nd Place: "Is It Stockholm Syndrome?" by Meztli Morales
3rd Place: Untitled by Laura Rosen
Honorable Mention: "Lady of Belen" by Maria De Jesus Antunez
2017 This is Poetry ENGLISH DEPARTMENT POETRY CONTEST
Theme: Oppression
"Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence."
--Audre Lorde
WINNERS
1st Place:“Offering” by Suzan Ramirez
2nd Place: “Pumpkin Pie” by Jessi Jarrin
3rd Place: “Beautiful Girl” by Jordan Warren
Honorable Mention: "Agoraphobia" by Eric Greilach
2016 This is Poetry ENGLISH DEPARTMENT POETRY CONTEST
Theme: Food
“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”
--Emily Dickinson
Winners
1st Place: "The First Bite" by Jessi Jarrin
2nd Place: "El Posole de Abuela" by Karla Enriquez
3rd Place: "The Ice Cream Man" by Kimberly Salazar
Honorable Mention: "What Rhymes with Banana?" by Tahshae Catching
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