Winners Chosen For The Philly Wine & Food Fest Poetry Contest

We asked and you answered.

In just a little more than a day, we received about 30 different poems from the good, wine-loving people of Philadelphia. Poems about wine and about spring in Philadelphia. Poems about the flood, about the Schuylkill, about sitting at Parc and sitting on stoops.

As a matter of fact, we got so many good poems this time around that we went back to our corporate overlords and asked them if we might be able to go a little bit above and beyond what we’d promised as a prize for this contest. Granted, we do this a lot, but this time they said yes. So we don’t just have one winner taking home a pair of tickets to the Philadelphia Wine & Food Festival (happening on May 10 at the Simeone Automotive Museum), we have three.

Here are the three winning poems, in no particular order:

Poem #1, By Becca

As I stroll through the city, with my wine, in a can
the spring breeze blowing buds in my face,
I stop on the stoop, to shake hands with a man
who just watches the street’s busy pace.

“Just sit”, says the gent, and i do, on the stoop
As I pass him, the drink from my hand
we sit, and we sip til the day’s flown the coop
and we both simply think, “Aint’t life grand”

When the sun takes a dive and the street lights come on
Mr. Frosty, cuts the night, like a knife
he smiles and he says, “one more Philly day gone”
and we both know, that this is the life

Poem #2, by Catherine Northington

in the shadow of a bell sit all,
peals of laughter, Harry’s calls—

bravuras and buskers sound the air,
breathing evening in Washington Square.

blossoms exhale generously
to sunken stomachs on Chestnut Street

bells and buildings, a storied town:
wine warmed us then (it warms us now).

some things don’t change here, date to date:
a city happy sitting, happy to wait—

flushed and faint on the
cobblestone quaint.

Poem #3, by Tony

Pour me two fingers, to squelch my despair

Hair of the dog, whose bite doth impair

In like a lion, this urban jungle’s king

Lambs flock, as do birds – harbingers of spring

Alas, a reprieve, the dawning of May

Dalliances with Bruts, and ripe Chardonnay

Entendre in pairs, in passion and fruit

Libations impair, the senses and truth

Pedestrian voyeurs, perched outside Parc

Homage to the vintners, and vintage at heart

Indulge in the scene, and lighthearted banter

An afternoon of delight, in a crystal decanter

And those, ladies and gentlemen, are your winners. For each of them, a pair of tickets to the Philadelphia Wine & Food Festival–proof of their word-slinging prowess.

And as for the rest of you, tickets to the event are still available. You can get yours (along with all the information you need on the food, the wine and the amusements on offer) by clicking on the link below.

Philadelphia Wine & Food Festival [Official]