Lush, unfolding in exquisite image toward a portrait of relationship, JC Talamantez’s “Insect” plays with the confines of the line as it prompts a consideration of “what words will make” and what we pass on. Insect to enter / the…
Mackenzie Duan’s “Thermal Hazard” is poetry as a place of mirroring: a lyric merging of landscape and speaker. Laced with tense, haunted images, it invokes climate with a strange intimacy and the urgency of survival. Thermal Hazard
In a poem that immediately draws into question the nature of truth and the power of language, Eliza Gilbert wields naming, the very action being interrogated, with grace and precision, piling image after image into an abundant, incisive reflection on…
A lyric exploration of self and its truths and questions, Nome Emeka Patrick’s poem draws in the reader through long-lined, lush couplets. As we are introduced to the speaker’s landscape of thought, we are invited to delve into the core…
Congratulations to the winners of our inaugural Hurt and Healing Prize, and thank you to everyone who submitted! We’re delighted to announce that Andrés Cerpa has selected Eliza Gilbert as the winner of our $3000 award! In second place, we…
Angelica Esquivel writes a song to the insistence of memory and emotion through and in spite of time. In evocative image, each “reminiscent of something else,” we are led into a pursuit of moving on. Diez años después (ten years…
Dexterous and riddled with danger, Nova Wang’s abecedarian is aquatic in its deftness, darting from image to image as the speaker gathers pieces of their “small histories” and offers them as an exploration of personal wreckage and its origins. Abecedarian…
A poem that savors stillness, Paula C. Eisenrich’s “One year later…” reflects the speaker’s beloved through an image of life and sustenance that comes from beyond both of them. Its title hints at steadfastness, at patience, and the work of…
Satya Dash’s poem is a cinematic tour through a memories filled with “unexpected pleasure.” The speaker, who is gripping in their directness, cites the metaphysical and then proceeds to locate this sense of intimacy in a catalogue of everyday occurrences:…
We’re so excited to share this poem by Javier Sandoval, the 2022 Global Poetry Prize winner for the region of North America. About Javier’s poem, the judge J. P. Dancing Bear writes, “This poem captures a lot of different themes…
