Milwaukee Public Library celebrates
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

       Photo Contest | Poetry Contest | Tea Cake Contest

Photo Contest
Enjoy a Powerpoint presentation of the entries received for the Big Read Photo Contest. Photos will be on display at the Big Read Reception on Saturday, March 15 from 2 to 4 p.m. in Central Library's Centennial Hall, 733 N. Eighth St. The public is invited to this free event that will include music from the Banjo Barons, a poetry reading of winning poems from the Poetry Contest and the Tea Cake Contest.
Winners of the photo contest are:
First Place: Reading on the Ferry to Washington Island by Jeanette Cassidy
Second Place: Reading Big by Vicki Chiger
Third Place: Classic Story Time by David Henderson.
Photos were judged by two photography professors from UWM and the Dean of Fine Arts at MIAD.

Poetry Contest
Winners have been selected in the Big Read poetry contest. Their entries will be posted here following the Big Read Reception at which they will present their poems. The reception will be held Saturday, March 15 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Central Library's Centennial Hall, 733 N. Eighth St. The public is invited to this free event that will include music from the Banjo Barons, a display of the winning photos from the Photo Contest, and the judging of the Tea Cake Contest.

Adult Category
First Place: All Significant Behavior Has Choices by Denise D. Wooten

Nanny knew and momma did too
That Janie was like me and you
Stars in her eyes and passion in her girl
Praying so much to know this world

First marriage to Logan she would soon detest
A hunger named adventure might suit her best
When along came Jody fine as he could be
His ambition convinced her leaving was key

Husband number two with progress on his mind
Soon the common life felt miles behind
He’s mayor, the postmaster, the shopkeeper too
A wife full of purpose but with nothing to do

Not one thing was simple it seemed too high rent
Starks wore her and bragged of his Christmas ornament
Eventually all pain becomes too much to bear
Her only retaliation was to cut off her hair

Insults not expected after twenty long years
Kept her tongue silent as she swallowed back tears
He exited this world leaving her well off and free
Till Vergible came along…spouse number three

It was all she had wanted for such a long time
A man who could laugh this was a good sign
Did she care about robbing some old cradle?
He was her Teacake willing and able

Love and sassafras in the wet Everglades
Harvest a plenty and summers ablaze
A joy so sweet it made them swoon
That laughter boiled inside their room

Gale winds and a foaming bite set love on fire
Out of his mind he screamed, “You’re a liar!”
Fear churned and chewed on her fragile soul
No comfort, no prayer, no where to go.

Pheoby listened to how much it had cost
To find true love and know it is lost
But for that time all was Janie’s to have
Believing that eyes on God is the balm in Gilead.

Second Place: Flood by JoAnn Chang

She was not Noah.
She had saved nothing from the flood,
the raging waters
that had drowned her world,
nothing
but the memory of love.
Even now
when the night fell,
the moon rose,
and her body slept,
she could see the glow of his smile
illuminating her darkness,
smell his scent filling her lungs,
feel his strong arms
cradling her nakedness.
She was ashore now
solid and dry
feet rooted firmly
in the bones of earth,
the warmth of sun,
the green of growing,
the clatter of living,
but still
inside
the waters of love
flowed in the tides
of her blood.

Third Place: Invited to a Wordless Page by Cheryl Banks

Invited to a wordless page once written becomes wise
Beckoning us vital dawn’s sunlight
A tree that bends beneath full-flowered skies

Restless winds caress and echo sighs
And sunlight does address her plight
Invited to a wordless page once written becomes wise

Janie’s inner voice denies her life is spent gazing through her guise
Her song no harsh experience can spite
A tree that bends beneath full-flowered skies

Tea Cake’s love did not consist of discarded lies
A lesser man could not offer true insight
Invited to a wordless page once written becomes wise

Amidst the dance her beloved lover dies
Her poignant song scented breeze takes flight
A tree that bends beneath full-flowered skies

Their passion’s silent fury burns tears in their eyes
Their Phoenix ascends, transforms this tragic night
Invited to a wordless page once written becomes wise
A tree that bends beneath full-flowered skies

Teen Category
First Place: The Path of Self by Alesiah Sims

There are so many ways to find oneself
Everyone does it differently
Each person is unique in their path of self
Janie takes the path of self by way of love
Who is Janie?
Nanny seemed to know
Go, Go, Go get married is all nanny knows
Get married before it’s too late
Marry Logan and move in that house with, not a fence, but a white picket gate
Go marry the man you don’t love
Marry him because you are a person who should be treated like a queen
Stay married to him even though he is mean
You don’t cry, you don’t pout
You suck it up like the strong, dependent woman you are
Who is Janie?
She’s the woman who runs away with Joe
She wasn’t the person Logan wanted her to be
She is Joe’s new wife, She is Janie
She is the oppressed woman, living in Joe’s shadow, searching for herself while dealing
With her husband
Being publicly embarrassed and abused no less
A woman who stands by her husband even in his death
Who is Janie?
The woman who loves
Leaves with Tea cake
And makes a good life
Tea Cake, her true love…
She’s finally found herself
She’s a woman who defines herself by the definition of her love
She is a woman that any and everything she can endure
Who is Janie?
The woman who weeps
The woman who sleeps
The woman who rests after her love has left
The woman who believes she is herself
The woman who lives by her own rules and does whatever she wants
Janie…Tea Cake lives on forever in her soul
Joe lives on forever in her memory
Logan lives on forever in her past
Janie is Janie
Janie is herself
Janie has met the end of her path
She has found herself
She can finally rest and be satisfied…her path of self is now complete

Second Place: Real Woman by Jessica Holden

She is real woman
She is a real woman with real goals
Real spirit and real soul
God held her up and said
“Behold. The perfect creation is here.”

See, she’s been through such pain
Cried more tears than it’s rained
Her life ignites such flames
That only a real woman, this woman, can contain

Once upon a time, there was a girl
Enjoying her dolls and teddy bears
She heard a knock at the door that would change her world
Opened it up to see Life standing there
Snatched out of her only home
Leaving Teddy and Dolly behind
Thrown in a pit of unmentionables
It was enough to make the realest man teary-eyed

Looked for support to find none there
Because in the real word it doesn’t exist
Went from a teenage child to a teenage phenomenon
Packed up her real emotions to find her own bliss

But bliss is easy to misunderstand
Through all the hurt and lies
She continued to rise
Until something, rather someone, caught her eye
The reincarnation of a real man

See, like Adam needed Eve
Like husband needs wife
A real man needs a real woman
This man needed her in his life

But what this man needed was a reality check
He thought he was the sun, and she revolved around this man
Took away her real words, real feelings, real goals
And replaced them with his own plan

She lost her voice and strength
Waiting for his beck and call
With him being the man, controlling everything
There was no use for her at all

 However once a real woman is created
A real woman remains
She emerged from his world
And brought along her real pain
Grabbed him and his facade by the collar
As she led the way
She told him how Life knocked on her door
And she had no choice but to let it in
But out was the only direction for this fake man
Their beginning was his end

Once again…
We are real women
We use real words
And only real men know how to be real about theirs and take it
We are real women
Real flow, real soul, real bold
Really comfortable about the real us
Not defined by what fake boys say
No answer when Life knocks on their doors
Fakery, like all false things, simply fades away
Only the real remain
Watered down versions are no more

Poems were judged by a committee of local poets.