Bill Holm Poetry Contest Winners

Bill HolmBill Holm was born in 1943 on a farm north of Minneota. He spent his summers at his little house on a northern Iceland fjord where he writes, practiced the piano, and waited for the first dark after three months of daylight. He is the author of nine books, both poetry and essays. His most recent prose book is Eccentric Islands (Milkweed Editions, 2000).

2025 Bill Holm Winner, Mernine Ameris

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The winner of the 2025 Winter in Variations: Bill Holm Witness Poetry Contest is Mernine Ameris with these poems:
the silent winter, jacket weather during a north virginia winter, cupids’ first pantoum, Goliath, my uber driver, ode to crying in public, cuffing season for harpies like me ಠvಠ. 
Bio: Mernine Ameris’s work has been featured in The Hysterical Rag, Paper Mill Press, DC Zinefest, the Catholic University of America’s literary magazine and her parents fridge. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by the Brain Mill Press in 2018. She is the founder of the Sunflowerfolk Collective in Washington, DC uniting new and old artists. She has most recently been published in Plants & Poetry magazine and featured in the Australian storytelling podcast, “Pillow Talking.” Writing these poems has been some of the best writing sessions of her life. The way winter comes and goes is very significant to me as an environmental artist, who feels a grounding connection with nature every time I spell out what I’m feeling. It was very nice to be able to stand on my own two feet with these 6 selections.

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2023 Bill Holm Winner, Jayne Marek

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The winner of the 2023 Winter in Variations: Bill Holm Witness Poetry Contest is Jayne Marek with these poems.

What Did You Love About Sisley? Evensong Roll the Car You Might Want More New Friend A Second Storm Bio Note: Jayne Marek has published six poetry collections, with her next volume, Dusk-Voiced, due in 2024. Her writings and photos appear in Terrain, Rattle, The New York Times, Spillway, Catamaran, Salamander, Bloodroot, One, Calyx, Bellevue Literary Review, About Place Journal, and elsewhere. A former Midwesterner with a strong sensibility about winter, she now lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she writes, photographs, and learns about natural history.

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2018 Bill Holm Winner, Jayne Marek

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The titles of Jayne’s pieces are “Snow Day,” “Hungry,” “The Balance,” “Winter Pond as Window,” “Worry,” and “Woodcock Walk.” Since I lived for over 30 years in the upper Midwest, I have written a number of poems about that distinct ecology and climate, especially about the cold months. This set reflects the chilly joys of walking and watching birds in winter, for instance in Indiana, a flyway for cranes and a place where one can encounter woodcocks making their invisible, eerie-sounding displays.

Bio Note: Jayne Marek’s poetry and art photos appear recently in One, Stirring, Ascent, Slipstream, Bangor Literary Journal, The Cortland Review, Gulf Stream, Raven Chronicles, Women’s Studies Quarterly, Grub Street, and Amsterdam Quarterly. Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, she also was a finalist for the David Martinson–Meadowhawk Prize, the Naugatuck River Review narrative poetry contest, the Ex Ophidia Poetry Book Prize, and the Ryan R. Gibbs Photography Contest. Her most recent books are In and Out of Rough Water (Aldrich Press, 2017) and The Tree Surgeon Dreams of Bowling (Finishing Line, 2018).

Bio Note: Jayne Marek’s poetry and art photos appear recently in One, Stirring, Ascent, Slipstream, Bangor Literary Journal, The Cortland Review, Gulf Stream, Raven Chronicles, Women’s Studies Quarterly, Grub Street, and Amsterdam Quarterly. Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, she also was a finalist for the David Martinson–Meadowhawk Prize, the Naugatuck River Review narrative poetry contest, the Ex Ophidia Poetry Book Prize, and the Ryan R. Gibbs Photography Contest. Her most recent books are In and Out of Rough Water (Aldrich Press, 2017) and The Tree Surgeon Dreams of Bowling (Finishing Line, 2018).

Jayne’s Bill Holm Witness poetry collection to be published in WRUP Blog.