A year ago, a group of community volunteers came together to plant more than 1,000 trees to create a 3,000-square mini-forest at Belmont High School.
In recognition of the mini-forest’s one-year anniversary, the Miyawaki Forest Action Belmont (MFAB) is hosting its first “Mini-Forest, Mini-Poetry” contest. All students in Belmont—from kindergarteners to seniors—are invited to participate, as well as last year’s seniors.
“We’re hoping for poems that are inspired by the forest and by the restoration that it represents,” said MFAB Head of Community Engagement Anne-Marie Lambert.
Submissions are due Friday, Sept. 18.
“We’re hoping to connect children with the forest and build community through poetry, through science, through art,” Lambert said. “The poetry contest is our first attempt to build community through literature or writing.”
The theme of the contest is “the mini-forest comes to life,” Lambert said. Potential subjects to write about include budding plants; favorite trees or shrubs; insects, birds, or animals visiting the forest; or an individual experience of visiting the mini-forest.
Poems should be no more than 10 lines each.
“We know there are a lot of different cultures represented in Belmont,” Lambert said. “And we know those cultures all have their own literature and their own connection to trees and forests at a time when human beings have been destroying forests all around the globe.”
Submissions will be judged by local poets in five separate categories based on age: Grades K-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-12, and Class of 2026. Winners will be announced at an Oct. 3 mini-forest dedication ceremony.
“This forest had an average height of about three feet when it was planted in October of 2025, and it’s been growing through a very harsh winter… to today, we have trees seven feet high with lots of leaves,’ Lambert said. “We’re hoping they will change color. We’re trying to make it a living laboratory for teachers in the arts and literature and sciences.”
