‘I definitely went molecular’: Charlemont poet named winner of 35th annual Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest

With more than 170 submissions, Bob Barba of the Friends of the Greenfield Public Library admitted that choosing a winner for the annual Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest was an extremely daunting task for the judges. However, this year the top honor went to C. Desirée Finley for her poem, “Gardening.”

The contest began 35 years ago to honor Frederick Goddard Tuckerman, a Greenfield resident from 1847 to 1873. Tuckerman often found inspiration at the base of the wooden tower, which was later renamed Poet’s Seat Tower when it was rebuilt after a fire in 1912. Barba noted that the event brings the community together to hear poems as they were meant to be experienced.

“It just adds so much depth to hear the poems in the voices of the poets,” Barba said.

Finley was in shock when her name was called, and said she was “extremely grateful” to have been selected.

“I definitely went molecular, I was like floating in the air,” Finley said.

Though she has been writing her entire life, Finley began focusing more on poetry in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, writing poetry allowed her to have a dialogue with herself and explore her thoughts and feelings. Her winning piece was inspired by her love of nature and how the beautiful view from her Charlemont home helped her process loss.

“I’m so fortunate to live in Charlemont. It’s such a beautiful town … I live in a Gothic-style home and my fourth-floor flat is all windows and light. The view of the backyard — the land kind of falls away into the river,” Finley said. “It’s so beautiful. It definitely affects me.”

Originally from New York City and previously living in California, Finley moved to Charlemont in 2018. Since then, she has immersed herself in the local writing scene, which she credits for pushing her deeper into poetry. She is a member of the Straw Dog Writers Guild, the Florence Poetry Society, the Pioneer Valley Writers Workshop and the New England Poetry Club. She also frequently attends workshops and readings at The LAVA Center.

“The poet part of me began emerging little by little,” Finley said. “It has been such solace to live here … I’m grateful to have to have grown and become more connected.”

Finley first entered the Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest in 2020, when she was named runner-up. She said she was over the moon then, and is even more thrilled to win this year. She joked that her cats were equally excited; as the winner, she gets to keep the physical “poet’s seat” in her home until next year. Her cats have already claimed it as their new favorite spot, but Finley hopes the chair might inspire her to host more literary events.

“My cats are very excited, and they immediately sat in the chair,” she said. “I live a pretty turtle-ish life. I’m pretty introverted, but maybe the chair will inspire me to host more.”

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Gardening by C. Desirée Finley

“to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow” — Audrey Hepburn

in the first year there were marigolds

planted late, oragne with bits of yellow

the petals round about each other

but somehow square like baby teeth.

The front steps looked bare,

even with ground bouquets,

and I forgot to water them.

What remained was like rust.

We planted bushes in the fall

and that was wise — perennials

stand by you in the heat

and suffer stoles of snow,

hidden inlong winters

I’m surprised by how much

they grew in just a few years.

And now, long after your leaving,

I sometimes plant geraniums

in late spring and they stay,

but I’ve gotten better at expectations

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Finley said that people can hear more of her work at an upcoming reading on May 13 at The LAVA Center, and learn more at finleywrite.com

“I feel grateful to have won, but I want to share the honor with all the poets,” Finley said. “All the poems were wonderful, especially the youth ones.”

In the adult category, Barbara Lemoine took second place for her piece “Spring, When Living a Long Time in One Place,” and Kristen Dearborn took third place for her piece “Plate Tectonics.”

In the 12-14 age bracket, the judges selected two co-winners, Jessie Yuan for “1:27” and Chenyu Wu for “What the Stone Knows.” And in the 15-18-year-old age bracket, judges awarded prizes to two co-winners: Amelia Dickson for “The World — died” and Rex Kim for “I May Never Be A Mother.”

Wu, a 13-year-old Gemini, said her piece “What the Stone Knows” began as a class assignment and was inspired by nature and circle of life.

“The stone is a silent and nonmoving piece of nature,” Wu said. “In this case I was going to start with a narrative looking at life cycles … death, it’s not a bad thing to happen. It’s built into the Earth and helps show how vibrant life can be.”

She added that she enjoys using metaphors and often draws inspiration from her interest in art painting to weave color into her writing.

Kim, 17, said he has been writing poetry for a little over a year and this was his second time competing in the contest. “I May Never Be A Mother” was inspired by a conversation during a date with his girlfriend, in which she said the titular phrase.

“[We were] coming back from a date out to Northampton after she was sick for a very long time, and it took a toll on her body,” Kim said. “A couple of weeks later, I was reminiscing on that moment and I jotted it down, went through a few revisions and then it was what it was.”

Kim plans to continue exploring the craft and intends to enter in the adult category of the contest next year, noting that the competition is an accessible way to share his work.

“I hope to keep writing. I had a big lull for a while, but it’s something I wish to pursue to some extent,” Kim said.