White Mice Poetry Contest

The 2025 White Mice Poetry Contest

These ships, these islands, these simple trees
Are our rewards in substance, being poor.
This earth a dictionary is
To the root and growth of seeing,
And to the servant heart a door.

—Lawrence Durrell, from “Ships, Islands, Trees”

A Call for Poems on HOME PORT

No entry fee. Prizes: 1) a one-year membership in the International Lawrence Durrell Society; 2) publication in Deus Loci, the ILDS Journal and on the Society’s website; and 3) an invitation to read at the International Durrell Society Conference in Vancouver, Canada, on July 16–18, 2026.

Judges: Cal Freeman, Julie Kane, Gregory Leadbetter.

Deadline: October 15, 2025. Submit one or two poems on “home port” – anchorage, harbor, haven, dock – both literal and metaphorical, along with a brief biography. Use 12-point Times New Roman font; no more than one poem per page. Submissions must be previously unpublished (and not to be published during the course of the contest). All poems will be considered for publication.

Poems must be submitted electronically to White Mice coordinator Rod Kessler rodkessler71h@gmail.com as an MS Word or Rich Text attachment. Poems must be submitted without any identification; include name, address, and phone number in an accompanying email.

No, you should have picked one from a poem
Being written softly with a brush–
The breathless ideogram for love we writers hunt.

—Lawrence Durrell, “A Bowl of Roses”

Winners of the 2023 White Mice Poetry Contest

The theme for the 2023 contest was “Ruins,” in keeping with the International Lawrence Durrell Society Conference to be held in Athens, Greece in July 2024.

First Prize: “Child of War” by Gabrielle LeMay (Oxnard, CA)
Second Prize: “Ptochos” by William Orem (Newton, MA)
Third Prize: “All things await the day of their breaking” by William Orem (Newton, MA)

Honorable Mention:
“The Poet’s Way” by Partridge Boswell (Woodstock, VT)
“In Donegal” by Deborah Doolittle (Jacksonville, NC)
“Detritus” by Dina Friedman (Hadley, MA)
“Burnt Offerings” Suzanne Burns (Bend, OR)

To read the prize-winning poems, click here.

A Coda: “Ruins,” by David Radavich

Winners of the 2023 contest will receive the following awards:

A) A one-year membership to the International Lawrence Durrell Society;
B) An invitation to read at a special poetry event to be held in Athens, Greece in July 2024;
C) Publication on the International Lawrence Durrell Society website (www.lawrencedurrell.org); and
D) Publication in the ILDS print publication, Deus Loci.

Winners of the 2021 White Poetry Contest

The theme for the 2021 contest was “History Revisited,” in connection with the pandemic-delayed ILDS conference to be held in Toulouse, France, June 2022.

First Prize: “Flora” by Jesse Arthur Stone (Hedgesville, WV)
Second Prize: “Army Chaplain receives news of the death of Ezra Pound, November 1, 1972” by Jane Mary Curran (Asheville, NC)
Third Prize: “The Hartford Railroad Disaster, 1877” by Laura Budofsky Wisniewski (Hinesburg, VT)
Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order by author name):
“Are We Here Yet?” by Patridge Boswell (Woodstock, NY)
“Legacy” by George Held

To read the introductory essay and prize-winning poems, click here.

Winners of the 2019 White Mice Contest

The theme for the 2019 White Mice Poetry Contest was “The Heavens,” in connection with the 2020 ILDS Conference in Toulouse, France.

First Prize: “Reflections of an Astronaut, Looking Down on Earth Below (a love song),” by Daisy Bassen (East Greenwich, RI)
Second Prize: “August Missions,” by Daryl Scroggins (Marfa, TX)Third Prize: “Slippages,” by Jesse Arthur Stone (Hedgesville, WV)
Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order by author name):
“Traveller,” by Graham Burchell (South Brent, Devon, UK)
“Filling in the Spaces,” by Marie Henry (San Rafael, CA)
“Haiku in Terza Rima,” by Katharyn Howd Machan (Ithaca, NY)

Finalists (in alphabetical order by author name): Bo Niles, Rev. Jennifer M. Phillips, Marjorie Stamm Rosenfeld, and Eileen Van Hook (two poems).To read the introductory essay and prize-winning poems, click here.

Winners of the 2017 White Mice Contest

The theme for 2017 was “Harbor,” in connection with the 2018 ILDS Conference in Chicago.

First Prize: “I remember,” by Malcolm Miller (Salem, MA)
Second Prize: “The Leaky Boat,” by Rachel Michaud (Washington, DC)
Third Prize: “She Sails,” by Paul Jones (Chapel Hill, NC)
Honorable Mentions (listed alphabetically by title):
“Land,” by Katharyn Howd Machan (Ithaca, NY)
“Waiting for the Tsunami,” by Nancy Cook (St. Paul, MN)

To read the prize-winning poems, click here.

Winners of the 2015 White Mice Contest

We are happy to announce the winners of the 2015 White Mice Poetry Contest.  To read the prize-winning poems, click here.

First Prize: “The Color Hazel” by Stephen J. Kudliss
Second Prize: “What We Swallowed” by John Davis
Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically by title):
“Drinking Much Wine from a Glass My Ex-Lover” by Katharyn Howd Machan
“Lunch on Poros” by Dr. Anthony Hirst

Winners of the 2013 White Mice Contest

We are happy to announce the winners of the 2013 White Mice Poetry Contest.  To read the prize-winning poems, click here.

First Prize (shared):”Stray Goats on a Barrier Island” by Michael Colonnes
“Night Crossing” by Kateri Kosek
Third Prize: “Storm at Sea” by Kateri Kosek
Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically by title):
“On Skyros: Grey Stone Beach” by Katharyn Howd Machan
“Two Worlds” by John Laue
“When Demolishing a Beach House on Pine Island, Michigan” by Michael Colonnese

Words I carry in my pocket,
where they breed like white mice.

—Lawrence Durrell to Henry Miller