Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, Alice Lovelace, Armed With Art and In Motion Magazine initiated a contest to collect poems of solidarity for Haiti. Alice Lovelace wrote, "We know that art can heal, we invite you to write a poem of solidarity from your heart to the people of Haiti to help them in their healing." (See original Call to Submit Poems.)

In addition to making available online the collection of poems of solidarity, a donation was made to Haiti relief efforts in the name of the contest winner. (See original Announcement of Winning Poems).

We thank everyone who submitted a poem.

We invite our readers to share the link to this free downloadable collection with your friends, family and colleagues. We ask that you write your congressperson to request the release of aid our government promised to Haiti, but has yet to deliver. Let us keep the on-going crisis in Haiti and the conditions of the Haitian people uplifted in our thoughts, words, and actions.


Here is a PDF of all the poems submitted:

• Poems of Solidarity for Haiti
  free download of PDF of 126-page collection
  
  

• Million Plus Remain Homeless and Displaced in Haiti:
  One Year After Quake
  by Bill Quigley and Jeena Shah
  New Orleans, Louisiana and Port au Prince, Haiti
  
  

Here are the poems of the contest winner and other finalists:

1st Place: Sharecropper's Pantoum by M. Ayodele Heath

2nd Place: Ayiti by April 'AP' Smith

Honorable Mention:

Wings Soaked in Molasses by Darnell Fine

Haiti, after Pat Robertson by Karen Garrbrant

Everybody Running, Saying Jesus by Jenny D'Angelo

Tomorrow's Toussaints by Kalamu ya Salaam