Local poet Désirée Penner is celebrating another milestone in what has quickly become a breakout year for her writing career after earning third place at the provincial Rabindranath Tagore Poetry Competition.
The competition, organized by the Manitoba Writers’ Guild, drew more than 50 submissions from across the province. Penner’s poem, “When I Think of You, I Want to Find You”, was recognized at the awards ceremony, marking one of her first major competition results.
“I was very touched to have placed within this competition,” Penner said. “I have entered less than five poetry competitions, so I became increasingly excited when my name appeared on the longlist, then the shortlist, then placed third.”
The deeply personal poem was written in memory of her friend Denae, who died unexpectedly nearly a decade ago. Set against the backdrop of rural Manitoba, the piece blends memory, landscape and grief through vivid imagery.
“‘When I Think of You, I Want to Find You” places readers into the cab of a rusted pickup truck, as it drives backroads, against ‘sunset stained prairie skies,’” Penner said. “There is a wistfulness and beauty to the poem, as it oscillates between the past and present.”
She described the work as “drenched in the beauty of a deep, trusted friendship,” with the prairie landscape playing a central role in shaping the emotional tone.
Denae, she said, was a creative and compassionate presence in her life.
“She loved to draw, created gorgeous calligraphy art, watched Christmas movies on repeat — Elf was her favourite — and delighted in sunsets,” Penner said. “She had the most caring soul, especially for children.”
Penner wrote the poem last year around her friend’s birthday, prompted in part by the competition’s theme of “tumultuous journeys with a bright horizon.”
“When a loved one passes suddenly, there is no opportunity for closure conversations,” she said. “In some ways, this poem is a goodbye poem, but at its heart, it’s about how the people we have lost are still here with us along the way.”
She said revisiting those memories through poetry reinforced the connection between grief and love.
“To talk about grief is to talk about love,” Penner said. “Time and distance do not delete the bond that was formed between people, it just changes it.”
The recognition comes as Penner is currently taking part in the prestigious Al and Eurithe Purdy A-Frame Association writer-in-residence program in Ontario, where she arrived after a 2,300-kilometre drive from Elm Creek.
“The cabin is gorgeous,” she said. “There is a large knobby willow tree with a beautiful A-frame cabin that overlooks Roblin Lake, where a loon lives.”
Penner said the award-winning poem will form part of the manuscript she is developing during her residency, which traces her journey from Vancouver Island back to rural Manitoba during the pandemic.
“I plan to finish the first draft of my poetry manuscript at the residency,” she said.
The honour adds to what has already been a significant year of growth and recognition. In January, Penner had no published poetry. By June, she has 16 poems either published or forthcoming in literary journals and anthologies across Canada and internationally.
“I’m still in awe that my poems are making their way out into the world,” she said.
For Penner, the achievement reflects not only personal success but also the enduring influence of the people and places that shape her work.
“I think that she would be really excited to know that I followed my childhood dream to become a poet and painter,” she said of her late friend. “This poem was a way to re-awaken a slice of memory that glows with love.”
The following is Désirée Penner’s award-winning poem, “When I Think of You, I Want to Find You,” which placed third in the Rabindranath Tagore Poetry Competition.
When I Think of You,
I Want to Find You
By Desiree Penner
flying, arms out-stretched—
weaving wind ribbons
through sunset-stained skies.
Between your fingers, honey-
washed wheat fields dazzle
and you lean further
out the open window
of my granddad’s dented Toyota.
I drive, proudly. Ridges and ruts
make our shoulders bump together,
sister stalks of corn
restless in the breeze.
Our world glows
from the cab of that truck—
a sanctuary
where you still live.
Peachy, primrose light
baptizes us, until we cough
up dusty dirt roads— laughing
great, roaring giggles
that snag the crooked corners
of my soul. I ache
for our girlhood promise
to be forever friends,
old as wrinkled flatlands—
bent spines and spiderweb hair,
pressing sighs against the heavens.
I want to remember you,
grin gleaming, glossy
as tail feathers on a magpie,
shimmering rainbows
amidst inky darkness. I think
your smile will always follow me,
down these long lanes
where dusk fades the horizon
and time stretches, shadow-thin.
