ROCKLAND — The Rockland Public Library and the City of Rockland have announced that Joanna Hynd, of Thomaston, is Rockland's new Poet Laureate. She will serve a two-year term. Her arrival was celebrated as well as the hard work of outgoing Poet Laureate Carol Bachofner at last night's "Swarm of Poets (Laureate)".

The adult and teen winners of this year's poetry contest, the theme of which was "Poetry Unplugged", inviting people to write what they wanted in a style they chose, were announced.

Adult First Place- Michele Morin "Catch and Release"
Adult Second Place- Catherine Neuhardt-Minor, "Hot Tamale"
Adult Third Place- Janet Gold, "An Unrehearsed Melody"
Adult Honorable Mentions- Charles Brown, "Just A Drop", Dita Ondek, "The Pin Cushion", and Bethany Sawyer, "Ivory Backbone"

Teen First Place- Josh Blackman, "Out On The Water"
Teen Second Place- Zoe Stonetree, "Who's Watching The Kid's?"
Teen Third Place- Jillian Galloway, "What Are Words?"
Teen Honorable Mentions- Tyler Grierson, "Darkness In Control", Brianna Shaw- "hell On Earth".

The Child 1 and Child 2 winners were celebrated in their own "Buzz From the Hive- Kid's Swarm of Poets" on Saturday, April 23.

Child 1 First Place- Jared Blackman, "The Fire Truck"
Child 1 Second Place- Jessa Blackmand, "The Horses"

Child 2 First Place- Rioux Meinersmann, "The Wheel"
Child 2 Second Place- Jalene Blackman, "Kitten's Life"
Child 2 Third Place- Acer Van Dis, "Mud Splattered Wheels"

We'd like to thank all entrants for participating and congratulate all of our winners.

Joanna Hynd is a Maine native who has been writing poetry nearly as soon as she began writing. She started a poetry club for teenagers while attending Georges Valley High School and then went on to receive a bachelor's degree in English concentrating in Creative Writing with a focus on poetry from the University of Maine at Orono. She wrote and defended an undergraduate thesis titled, A Metastable Structure, a collection of thirty poems with a critical analysis, and received High Honors Distinction. She was published twice in The Maine Review, with two poems in the 2010 publication and two in 2012. In 2011, she also won second place in the Steve Grady Awards for her collection of poems, titled "Conversations." For the past four years, Joanna has been working as a librarian at the Thomaston Public Library. She has assisted with several poetry readings including Gregory Pardlo reading from his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Digest in November at Watts Hall in Thomaston.

Ms. Hynd is very honored to be selected as Poet Laureate of Rockland and is excited to collaborate with schools, businesses, and libraries in continuing to bring art and poetry to the Rockland Maine area.