The poetic pie: Winners of the Deseret News Pie-Ku contest

Yes, pies do inspire poetry.

This Thanksgiving, the Deseret News Food section sponsored a Pie-Ku contest.

The inspiration came from the Tampa Tribune, which runs an annual Mrs. Harvey's White Fruitcake Haiku Contest to honor the fruitcake recipe that has run in the paper for more than 50 years.

Although the Deseret News doesn't run any single recipe year after year, we thought it would be fun to honor that quintessential Thanksgiving dessert, the pie.

We got around 50 entries from readers, who waxed poetic about flour, fragrance and flavors such as apple, blackberry, lemon, pumpkin or rhubarb. Some sparked our senses; some evoked memories and emotions; some brought a good chuckle.

Some had titles; others didn't.

We looked for writing with sensory and emotional appeal, imagery, humor and poetic devices such as alliteration.

We tried to pick our "top 10" that represented a cross-section of the entries, as some were pretty similar.

Here are our favorites, in no particular order. These each will receive a cookbook. We didn't choose a first-place winner; we'll leave it to you to pick your own favorite of the bunch.

The other entries will be posted on my blog, Flavors, on deseretnews.com.

Oh, sweet pumpkin pie!
Would it really matter if
I became fatter?

— Erin Renouf Mylroie, St. George

Crisp crust, pattern cut,
Berries barely peeking through,
Picture perfect pie.

— Marlene Merkling, Syracuse

Fleeting as summer
Flaky crust, red ripe berries
Nostalgia tasted.

— Jane Milner, Taylorsville

What is this haiku?
Words like that don't fill me up
Pass the pumpkin pie.

— Gordon Tanner, Kaysville

FRUSTRATION

Rolling out pie dough
Shaped like South America
Oops, must try again!

— Connie Sabir, Salt Lake City

"An apple a day"
How many are in a pie?
The doctors may cry.

— Susan Holt, Murray

BLACKBERRY PIE

Blackberries warmed by summer sun
Enclosed in a flaky, tender crust
Warm November's chill.

— Cherie Dickson, Provo

Odd shapes line the porch
Fragrant, creamy, spicy, fall
In pie, eat them all.

— Debbie Gubler, Riverton

Dad's old recipe
Pumpkin pies baked yearly;
Tradition lives on.

— Mary Anne Schmidt, Magna

CHEESECAKE

Cake? Oh please, says I
Raspberries with whipped cream cheese?
Not this; this is pie.

— Taylor Groberg, Spanish Fork

e-mail: vphillips@desnews.com