This Saturday, at the Toledo Main Public Library from 2 to 4pm, everybody is invited to the 9th annual Ode to the Zip Code Awards celebration! This annual contest, inspired by the O, Miami Poetry Festival and WLRN-Miami Herald News, is hosted as a partnership of The Fair Housing Center, Toledo City Paper, The Arts Commission, Toledo Lucas County Public Library, and Toledo Area Parent.
This year, they received nearly 250 entries from 119 people from all over the area with 125 poems competing in the Adult category, 53 competing in Young Adult (12 - 17 years old), and 24 competing in the Youth (up to 11 years old) category.
Area residents submitted five-line poems inspired by their ZIP Code, where the number of words in each line corresponds to the digit in their ZIP code.
Prizes are awarded for top winners in each category: $500 for First Place, $350 for Second Place and $150 for Third Place. But first, the finalists in each category have to perform their poems for the chance to win the prizes!
For a sneak peek at the finalists' poems (as published by Toledo City Paper):
Adult:
43608 -- Mary Brandon
I left a child
and returned grown
fireflies, bikes, grandma’s red ripe tomatoes
nothing
like the taste of Stanley’s kielbasa at Christmas
____________________________________
43609 -- Lydia Horvath
Asbestos-sided rental house
Colburn Street, 1983
neon forever flashing ICE COLD BEER
(nothing there now but a broken slab)
greasy piles of railroad ties exhaled creosote all summer
____________________________________
43528 -- Ellie Cheedie
Feeling the summer breeze,
Enjoying the trees,
Soft serve at Mr. G’s.
More, please.
More days just like this one–brain freeze!
____________________________________
43614 -- Erin Lenfestey
Full service wixey bakery
Sweet treats galore
You will find something to eat
Celebrating
Local business since 1930
____________________________________
43612 -- Heidi Strobl
Gazing beyond my porch
Library Village surrounds
Historic homes steeped in manufacturing history
Revitalized
Families thrive
____________________________________
43537 -- Molly McDonagh
graying muzzle, brittle bones
old mabel grace
she sits in the window
remembering the years
she could chase, and chase, and chase
______________________________________
43528 -- Bianca Caniglia
I imagine us sitting
side by side
honeysuckle between our teeth, outlines
glowing emerald
like the pond we swam in as girls
____________________________________
43604 -- Lydia Horvath
I’m biking Adams Street
past Handmade Toledo;
“dude calls out, “”You an artist?”””
(I nod, then he shouts -)
“””You paint grannie panties?”””
____________________________________
43607 -- Christina Shephard
Near my grandparents home
a creek flowed.
On warm days, we’d explore it
–
shrieking in glee at the sparkling minnows.
____________________________________
43613 -- Justin Longacre
Newborn mantis nymphs swarm
the lilac bush
each leaf, a tiny alien riot.
Spring
hatches my heart.
____________________________________
43620 -- Lydia Horvath
OWE winter wind storm
rants, screaming obscenities
at my Edwardian house’s wrinkled
old face
(she is not impressed)
____________________________________
43623 -- Angelina Sanders
the first fourteen years
i carved myself
out of LaGrange st, only to
find myself
right back here
____________________________________
43613 -- Justin Longacre
The racist bowling alley
suspiciously burnt down.
I bet they got insurance money.
We
got more Nothing.
____________________________________
43613 -- Justin Longacre
The sidewalk on Grantwood
gently curves around
the trunk of an old tree.
I
too must bend.
____________________________________
43623 -- Angelina Sanders
there’s a hole in
the city where
my mom has forced herself into
four blocks
from our home
Youth 12-17:
43605 -- Chloe Lard’e
4-A symbol of stability
3-Unity and connection
6-A balance between work and play
0-reasons not to stay
5-watch as our community grows
____________________________________
43560 -- Akosua Brenya
A beacon of books
Drawing you in
Like light in the dark
Providing you with a way out
*
____________________________________
43607 -- Jordyn Wright
A bright lively neighborhood
never ending noise
where playing games will always stay
0
happiness shall never die when you’re in paradise.
____________________________________
43537 -- Lydia Snyder
A quiet June night,
Sitting out front.
A mosquito is shooed away.
Peonies bloom nearby.
Kids play with sparklers, dancing among fireflies.
____________________________________
43615 -- Emerson Willingham
as I pass Yorkshire
growing pains pang
to hear the solemn sound of
youth
condensed in a cricket’s creak.
____________________________________
43623 -- Jordin Harris
Both physically and emotionally
I find myself
Between the pages of
books at
Barnes and Nobles
____________________________________
43604 -- Catherine Kerber
Dunkin’ right before school
Late to class
“Cat, do you have a pass?”
(My grades will suffer for a vanilla latte)
Coffee in my hand
____________________________________
43537 -- Lydia Snyder
Facades of the river:
Sluggish murky brown,
Fast shimmering in late sun,
Full of stars,
Fresh with the first light of dawn.
____________________________________
43615 -- Jordin Harris
Getting lost in the
Toledo Botanical Garden
is like finding myself in nature.
Serenity
stands alone in the flowers.
____________________________________
43416 -- Ryan Donaldson
I have never seen
a swan at
the place they call
Swan
Creek. Funny isn’t it that name.
____________________________________
43566 -- Finn Olsen
One hill is in
the city of
Waterville, kids from 2 to
17 sled on it, not because
it’s good, there’s just one hill.
____________________________________
43617 -- Leah Komperda
Sunlight slants through leaves,
sparkling, swirling, merging
with the trickling, pure, marbled brook.
Pastimes
always spent playing in Saint James Wood
____________________________________
43604 -- Emerson Willingham
this forest of brick
whispers soft song
even the sidewalk cracks breathe music
(as I prepare to leave)
behind striding students past.
____________________________________
43623 -- Emerson Willingham
this street bleeds motherhood
one stricken face
of four generations of women roosting
that fate
has wrenched apart.
____________________________________
43607 -- Jordin Harris
We planted ourselves here,
deep under cement
and pollution, and learned to grow.
[Though we were set up to fail,]
We grew between the cracks and flourished.
Youth (up to 11)
43537 -- Lincoln Mockensturm
Classmates can be annoying,
With chatting issues,
With blaming other innocent classmates,
With angered classmates
And with lots of not necessary arguments.
____________________________________
43528 -- Ellie Cheedie
Giving Christmas cookies to
Spread Christmas cheer
Knocking on doors and singing
Christmas carols
For all to hear. A jolly Holland holiday.
____________________________________
43528 -- Ellie Cheedie
I play with my
neighbors and swing
on the swing, I go
to the
backyard to bounce and jump on the trampoline.
____________________________________
43537 -- Parker Bertsch
Inspiring to observe it
Getting pretty dark
See it setting at west
Slowly falling down
Watching our beautiful and creature filled world
____________________________________
43537 -- Lincoln Mockensturm
It is ok kid,
When something happens,
When a loved one passes,
We are here,
To cheer you up with memories together.
____________________________________
43532 -- Evelyn Thoma
Liberty Center Tiger Pride
Family, Friends, Community
Sports: Soccer, Football, Basketball, Volleyball
Dream Come True
LC Love
____________________________________
43537 -- Hudson Guy
Snow days are fun
Shoveling the driveway
Going sledding with my friends
Shoveling the sidewalk
Making a snowman with family and friends
____________________________________
43537 -- Parker Bertsch
So high and bright
Up so far
In the freezing night sky
Into the heavens
In the never ending expanding large universe
____________________________________
43528 -- Ellie Cheedie
Soccer at Homecoming Park
Fireworks after dark
Stayed up late with a
library book,
then a thunderstorm came, and the house shook.
____________________________________
43614 -- Honor Savage-Edwards
Swan Creek Park at
sunset has the
most beautiful light on the leaves
my
heart skips a beat
____________________________________
43528 -- Ellie Cheedie
The backyard birds always
sing to me
whenever they get bird seeds
while I
watch from the swing in the sycamore tree.
____________________________________
43620 -- Wiley Kelleher
There are parks here
We play on
We walk to Museum to look at
Art stuff
-OWE
____________________________________
43537 -- Jayden Santibanez
This typewriter is rusted
Also very old
And is probably forgotten too
Because of computers
But in my head it’s a classic
____________________________________
43537 -- Parker Bertsch
Walking around the woods
Finding several prey
Darkness consuming its little ears
Lost finding way
Waiting to finally meet a new owner
____________________________________
43537 -- Jayden Santibanez
Where I’ve been living
My whole life
Always been my safe space
People are right
Home really is where the heart is
Ode to the Zip Code was started as a way to get the community to explore their relationship with place, how where we live affects our outcomes, and to introduce the idea of Fair Housing.
"On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which was meant as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 1968 Act expanded on previous acts and prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap and family status. Title VIII of the Act is also known as the Fair Housing Act (of 1968)." - taken from https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/aboutfheo/history
The Fair Housing Center created an incredible documentary that helps us understand how our zip code can have more effect on our outcomes than our dna... check it out here... .