WINCHENDON — The Beals Prize for Poetry will hold its award ceremony at the Beals Memorial Library on Thursday, Sept. 25, and residents of Athol, Greenfield and Shelburne are included among the top 10 finalists.
Hillary Smith-Maddern of Greenfield, Prudence Wholey of Shelburne and Sarah Hall of Athol are among the finalists in the sixth year of the competition, which attracted submissions from 87 poets living across Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Prizes include $250 for first place, $100 for second and $50 for third, with the winners being chosen by a panel of established poets.
Hall’s piece, “Abecedarian in the Spring,” is a reflective poem capturing her personal experiences as winter turns to spring, including recovering from illness and seasonal depression.
“Spring is such a symbolic season for new growth and change,” she said. “It’s my favorite season, so I wanted to write about the parts that make me happy, such as the smell of rain and no longer having to wear a dozen layers.”
She also sought to balance hardship with hope, adding, “I wanted to write something to acknowledge my misery while being optimistic that things could get better.”
Hall, a junior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst studying communication and film, first learned the abecedarian form, where each line begins with the next letter of the alphabet, through her school’s poetry club.
“I liked the challenge of making sure the lines stayed in order and coming up with various words that fit,” she said.
Hall has enjoyed writing since middle school and refined her voice over time, focusing on vivid imagery to make her poems resonate. She hopes readers receive a simple but meaningful message from her poem.
“Go outside and get some sun in the winter … and if things start worrying you, try writing,” she said. “You never know, it could be something you really enjoy doing.”
Smith-Maddern wrote “At Banshee Bar,” inspired by a mix of real-life conversations and observations. The poem focuses on her experience at a real bar in Latvia, where the bartender shared stories about her ex-boyfriend, who had a habit of breaking things.
“Listening to her talk reminded me of so many other similar stories and inspired me to write it down as hers,” Smith-Maddern said.
She explained that the poem reflects the tension women often navigate in relationships, noting, “There is a fine line between safe and unsafe when you are attracted to cis men.”
She hopes readers take away a clear message: “Believe women. Full stop.”
Smith-Maddern has been writing on and off throughout her life and approached it more seriously in 2020. She uses her craft to process experience and emotion, saying, “Poetry also gets to be messy and a little bit ugly if it needs to be.”
She said being recognized as a finalist in the poetry contest affirms her work, and motivates her to continue pursuing publication and the release of a debut collection.
Wholey wrote “Vanished,” which recounts the histories and lives embedded in decaying farm structures. A farmer herself, she said she drew inspiration from the rural landscapes around her and from a public television program documenting old barns and farm buildings across the country.
The poem reflects on the decline of a farm, describing empty stanchions, a fallen silo and loose roof shingles, while also imagining the past farmers’ daily lives, from the clank of milking pails to cats chasing warm milk.
“Once this was really up-and-coming, a booming business, and now it’s kind of dreary and sad,” Wholey said.
She writes regularly with a group of friends, letting ideas develop over time and revisiting drafts until they feel right. “Vanished” took her a couple months to complete through this process of refining and exploring different versions before arriving at the final product.
All 10 finalists will read their poems at Thursday’s ceremony, with winners announced by three judges: 2023 Beals Prize winner Sara Letourneau, “White Doe” author Maria Williams and 2024 Beals Prize winner Cleo Rohn. The event, which will begin at 7 p.m. at the 50 Pleasant St. library, is funded in part by the Winchendon Cultural Council and the Friends of the Beals Memorial Library.