In April 2026, the Mississippi Center for the Book is celebrating National Poetry Month with Dial-a-Poem. A sampling selection of 30 winners from the 2025-2026 Mississippi Poetry Project has been chosen by our MS Poet Laureate Ann Fisher-Wirth. Callers will hear one poem each day from a K-12 student from across our state:

Kindergarten 

• Remington Smith: “Baseball in Biloxi”

First Grade

• Mal’akhi Butler: “The Lake”
• A’Myra James: “Round and Round the Seasons Go”

Second Grade

• Ava Grace Williams: “Midnight Mosquitoes”
• Naomi Roderts: “I see stars at night”

Third Grade

• Aiden Berry: “Oops! It’s Autumn Again!”
• Bethlehem Chacon: “My Nature Heart Place”

Fourth Grade 

• Ruby Kathryn Paul: “The Land and Sea”
• Vanessa Hernandez Quintana: “The Park”

Fifth Grade

• Piper Chemin: “Whispers of the Wild”
• Richard Buckley: “My Love for Leaves”

Sixth Grade

• Isabella McGee: “A Lone Wolf in the Night”
• Oniyah McKinnis: “Nature VS Me”
• Ryen Pind: “My Treehouse”

Seventh Grade

• Edwar Orocio-Mendoza: “The Quiet Heart of the World”
• McKinley Dillard: “Down by the Oceanside”
• Price Rogers: “Playing by the Bay”

Eighth Grade

• Elijah Burkes: “Gigi’s Backyard”
• Ella Tullos: “The Stream”

Ninth Grade

• Katherine Krueger: “The Secrets in the Stones”
• Kaylee Good: “Jogging Through the Wild Symphony”

Tenth Grade

• Jaydon Lucas: “Where the Wind Remembers Me”
• Kalley Bonee: “The Ride”
• Trinity Langlinais: “The Storm”

Eleventh Grade

• Lakeria Carouthers: “There’s a spot behind my grandmother’s house”
• Thea Cates-Foster: “Bird Watched”
• Tre-vuan Vance: “Where My Momma Bloomed the World”

Twelfth Grade

• Colin Chung: “A Lesson Under the Persimmon Tree”
• Elayjah Earles: “A Morning Call”
• Nikolas Piernas: “Pass Christian”

Want more poetry in your life? Use MLC’s BookMatch service for custom poetry recommendations.