WD Poetic Form Challenge: Ya-du Winner

Learn the winner and Top 10 list for the Writer’s Digest Poetic Form Challenge for the ya-du.

Here are the results of the Writer's Digest Poetic Form Challenge for the ya-du along with a Top 10 list. (Hopefully, we'll open up the next challenge next Monday.)

Usually, I would link back to the original post to read all the original poems, but we can't do that for this challenge. However, feel free to share your ya-du poems in the comments below.

Here is the winning ya-du:

"Return," by William Preston

From a grey sky
blackbirds fly back,
defying snow
in their slow flight;
bestowing spring as the sky grows bright;

urging the sun
to warm running
brooks underneath
the leaf sheathing;
bequeathing green for when robins sing.

*****

Build an Audience for Your Poetry!

Learn how to find more readers for your poetry with the Build an Audience for Your Poetry tutorial! In this 60-minute tutorial, poets will learn how to connect with more readers online, in person, and via publication.

Poets will learn the basic definition of a platform (and why it’s important), tools for cultivating a readership, how to define goals and set priorities, how to find readers without distracting from your writing, and more!

*****

Congratulations, William! This poem is not only technically correct, but it's also a beautiful, lyrical, and visual tribute to the return of spring.

Here’s my Top 10 list:

  1. Return, by William Preston
  2. Waiting for Summer, by Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming
  3. Seasons, by Nurit Israeli
  4. Year in a Honshu Garden Ya-du, by Margaret Fiske
  5. Seasons of Pandemic, by Jane Shlensky
  6. January 27, by Taylor Graham
  7. Rhode Island, by Sari Grandstaff
  8. Magical Fantasy, by Catherine Martin
  9. On a Clear Evening, by Lisa L. Stead
  10. Awaiting Spring, by Sara McNulty

Congratulations to everyone in the Top 10! And to everyone who wrote a ya-du!

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.