2026 Frontier OPEN Winner: “Parasitic Haibun” by Amanda Nicole Corbin
In “Parasitic Haibun” by Amanda Nicole Corbin, they invoke apocalyptic language to create a complex depiction of love, infidelity, desire, and secrecy. The speaker engages in “greedy-freedom.” Amidst the murderous heat, growling air, and blood-letting mosquitos, the lovers in the poem continue stealing small moments of intimacy while, as Corbin writes, “togethering in Hell.” Nonetheless, the poem refuses categorization as a poem solely about romantic love as it ultimately culminates in the speaker declaring a radical allegiance to themselves.
Read their haibun below.
Parasitic Haibun
by Amanda Nicole Corbin
Amanda Nicole Corbin is an award-winning poet who has had their work published in Black Warrior Review, New Ohio Review, The London Magazine, Palette Poetry, and more. They are the winner of Frontier Poetry’s 2026 Poetry Open and of the 2025 Mississippi Review Poetry contest, where their work received a Pushcart Nomination. Their second full-length collection, A say in patience (Sundress Publications) is forthcoming in 2027. They spend their non-poetry free time collaging, collecting rocks and trading cards, and playing RPGs.
