Rizzi takes poetry contest

Prize-winning poet David Rizzi, a member of Auburn’s Striped Water Poets, recently received another accolade.

Prize-winning poet David Rizzi, a member of Auburn’s Striped Water Poets, recently received another accolade.

Rizzi accepted the Lohmann prize – named after longtime award-winning poet Jeanie Lohmann – at a reading ceremony in Olympia.

Lohmann spent many years in San Francisco before moving to Olympia to become a part of the Olympia Poetry Network (OPN). Friends decided to name a poetry contest after Lohmann on her 80th birthday.

Rizzi, author of “Vibrant City of Bones” and a regular facilitator of the Striped Water Poets, won for his poem, “Emergence.” Winners from the contest, open to Washington residents only, received $200.

Other winners included Shin Yu Pai (“Footprint”) and Sean Brendan-Brown (“Otaka the Cat”).

Rizzi, who regularly reads poetry throughout the Puget Sound, is scheduled to be a featured reader at Auburn’s Good Ol’ Days festival on Aug. 10.

Read more about Rizzi and his work at www.davidrizzi.com.