The Ode on a Grecian Vacation Challenge Winners and Finalists
Our Ode to a Grecian Vacation Challenge invited poets to submit their odes—poems that praise or celebrate anything they felt was good, beautiful, or worthy of a little extra karmic glow. While the ode is a classic form, the submissions were anything but expected. We received reimagined lyrics of love and lust, alongside tributes to the often-overlooked loves of our lives—because who says plums or pole dancing can’t be awe-inspiring?
Our editorial team delighted in reading your poems about the people, places, and things that set your hearts racing.
Please join us in congratulating Tori Gosse, whose poem “Ode to the Moth That Drinks the Tears of Sleeping Birds” was selected as our winner. Artful in its observation, Gosse’s ode reminds us that life’s most captivating wonders are often nestled in the quiet, microscopic mysticisms of nature.
We also celebrate our runners-up: Rachel Norman, with “ode to the convex,” and Melissa McKinstry, with “Ode to My Vitruvian Man.” Their poems further revealed how knees—and reason—continue to lose out to the things we love most.
Thank you to all of our submitters for their incredible and imaginative poetry. Our winner and runners up will be published in the coming weeks.
WINNER
Tori Gosse
“Ode to the Moth That Drinks the Tears of Sleeping Birds”
Second Place
Rachel Norman
“ode to the convex”
Third Place
Melissa McKinstry
“Ode to My Vitruvian Man”
The Finalists
Piero Filpi
Ellie Snyder
Joan Hofmann
Danny Cassidy
Kailey Giordano
Sherry Shahan
Churan Xu
Ardon Shorr
Katy Luxem
Kristina Hakanson
ioanna gika
Ivy Raff
David Kann
