What started as a grassroots effort to promote poetry in the city will be marking its fifth anniversary this year as a public art project that honors local haiku writers by placing decorative signs featuring their work throughout Newton.
“I think it’s important to bring poetry out of the book and into the public realm,” said artist and poet Grey Held, who co-directs Haiku Newton with Elizabeth Lund and Greg Fulchino.
The winning writers from this year’s contest will be honored on June 9 at 7PM at the Newton Free Library, where they will read their works during a celebration.
Haiku, and poems in general, give “people the chance to see the world through a different lens,” said Lund, the former poetry editor at the Christian Science Monitor.
According to the arts nonprofit Spark Newton, the project’s sponsor, the 2026 contest received 190 submissions from 115 poets.
An integral part of Haiku Newton is sharing this year’s 22 winning works with residents in different parts of the city by putting up signs featuring the creations.
“I like when people encounter poetry by chance,” said Held about residents and visitors unexpectedly finding the signs while out and about in various parts of Newton.
Poetry is “a bridge in many ways …it’s a way to connect,” said Lund.
One set of haiku signs is already outside the library, while a second set will be moved among four other locations throughout the summer.
“We try to find locations where there’s a lot of foot traffic,” said Held.
Haiku origins, contest
Traditional haiku, which has its origins in 13th-century Japan, is “a three-line poem with 17 syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count,” according to the Academy of American Poets. “Often focusing on images from nature, haiku emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression.”
With its “economic use of language to evoke a specific mood or instance,” haiku remains a powerful form of poetry, according to the Poetry Foundation. “Most often occurring in the present tense, a haiku frequently depicts a moment by using a pair of distinct images working in tandem.”
This year’s Haiku Newton contest themes were “Discovery and Transition,” and could include: Beginnings, transitions, farewells, life stages (a baby’s birth, the first day of school, loss of a loved one, etc.), surprising experiences (a lesson learned, a new love), nature (a sunset, a wave break), the seasons, or times of day.
The 2026 winners include schoolchildren, teens, adults and retirees. Although Haiku Newton focuses on poets from the city, Held said they accept work from people across Massachusetts. Winners receive honorariums, and no submission fee is required.
The 22 winners of this year’s Haiku Newton contest are: Jody Callahan, Christine Carvajal, Hugh Dun Rappaport, Julia Dun Rappaport, Eliot Fumante, Margaret Geller, Marilyn Halpern, Ruth Hoberman, Lyn Jekowsky, Debbie Knapp, Jim Krosschell, Julie Leavitt, Heona Liu, Robin Mayer Stein, Roxanna Myhrum, Grace Neilan, Susan Nisenbaum Becker, Ezra Robison, Annette Seaward, Clara Silverstein, Claudia Springer, and Richard Waring.
All the winning poems will be featured on the Haiku Newton website after the celebratory reading on June 9. In addition, by the end of June, the website will feature an anthology of all the winning poems from the past five years. A hard copy of the anthology will be available at the library.
A complete set of signs featuring this year’s winners has been installed in front of the Newton Free Library (330 Homer Street) and will remain there through the season. A second set of signs will move around the city at the following locations:
- John M. Barry Boys and Girls Club (675 Watertown Street, West Newton)
- First Baptist Church in Newton (848 Beacon Street, Newton Centre)
- Suzuki School of Newton (1615 Beacon Street, Waban)
- Little Luke’s Café (1225 Chestnut Street, Upper Falls)
The 2027 contest will open in March next year.