In 2026, America marks the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. The Revolution Will Be Poeticized invited regional poets to reflect on America’s past, examine the present, and imagine hopes for the next generation through their original work.
This open call reached poets across the Southern Tier and surrounding region, resulting in 163 submissions from 25 counties. Each poet was asked to respond to one or more of three guiding themes:
Looking Back: history, founding ideals, and untold stories
Right Now: modern America, democracy today, and lived experience
Looking Forward: hopes for future generations.
The poems gathered here reflect a wide range of voices and perspectives, offering an expansive portrait of a region in conversation with itself.
We have made every effort to preserve each poem’s original formatting as submitted. However, variations in word processing and digital display may affect elements such as spacing, line breaks, and indentation.
Thank you to every poet who shared their work with us, and to the communities that continue to support and uplift creative expression across our region. This project was made possible with support from a grant provided by the Public Broadcasting Service.
Congratulations to the Winners!
Jessica Femiani
Robert Bensen
Christine Gelineau
Jerry Mirskin
Susan Thornton
Katherine Micha
Bridget Meeds
Terrence P. Dwyer
Lisa Wujnovich
David Weiss
Meet Our Judging Panel
Jen DeGregorio
Poet and Associate Director of the Creative Writing Program, Binghamton University Department of English.
Author of the poetry collection What to Wear Out(Get Fresh Books, 2025). Her poems have appeared in the Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day, The American Poetry Review, Paterson Literary Review, Prairie Schooner, Rattle. Third Coast, Tupelo Quarterly, and other publications. A former senior editor of Poets & Writers Magazine
Jamaica Baldwin
Poet and Assistant Professor in the Department of Writing, Ithaca College.
Poet and educator. Her first book, Bone Language, was published by YesYes Books in June 2023. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Guernica,World Literature Today, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, The Missouri Review, and more. She is the recipient of several awards including a Pushcart Prize. a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a RHINO Poetry editor's prize, among others.
Dante Di Stefano
Poet, Author, and Educator.
Author of six poetry collections and a chapbook, including Heartland Errata, forthcoming from Etruscan Books in Fall 2026. He co-edited the anthology, Misrepresented People (NYQ Books, 2018).
He earned a PhD from Binghamton University and lives in Endwell with his wife and children.
Sharon Ball
Poet and Writer.
Sharon Ball is a poet, writer, and member of the Grapevine Poets, a Binghamton-based workshop collective. Sharon's poems and essays have appeared in several literary journals. She is working on her first chapbook. Formerly, she was executive director of the Broome County Arts Council in Binghamton and senior cultural editor with NPR News in Washington, DC.
nicole v basta
Tompkins County Poet Laureate.
nicole v basta's poems have found homes in Ploughshares, Blackbird, Third Coast, RHINO, North American Review, etc. Her 2nd chapbook the next field over, (2022) was published by Tolsun Books. nicole is also a community educator, visual artist, and arts events producer with proud roots in the Pennsylvania coal mines & garment factories. Her work has been supported by Art Farm Nebraska, Monson Arts, The Saltonstall Foundation, etc.
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