The poems in “Broken Hallelujah” are rooted in prairie life, but they are also shaped by grief — and the changing seasons of Kitchen’s life, from her mother’s death to entering her own era of becoming a grandmother.
The eighth annual “Word is Seed” event at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana highlighted the beauty of language, featuring speakers presenting their poems or songs in their own language.
Two students in rural Piatt County and one student in Champaign won a youth poetry prize hosted by Illinois Humanities.
Applications are now open for an annual Illinois poetry contest. Henry Haupt, a spokesperson for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, said those who submit their work to the 18th annual Illinois Emerging Writers Competition Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award should let their true essence shine through. “That comes across, particularly in poetry,” he said. “If