Winner
Judge's Comments:
First Place: Esther Ra – “Laundry”
“Laundry” magnifies the embodied nature of this household task, as it places the machine’s “wonder of torqued water & whiplashed soap” in contrast with the she “pounding dirt from worn folds of colorless / cloth.” With notable brevity, the poem weighs human and machine, speech and body language, domestic work and its cost. I was struck by that final image, the resilience of the she “still swinging at what could be cleansed.”
Runners Up
Judge's Comments:
Second Place: Whitney Egstad – “Hurricane Season”
“[A] dark sky spills / into my organs, flattens me on the shore,” and so grief drives the body and its surroundings to coalesce in “Hurricane Season.” The speaker’s resolve is as striking as the transformation of sandy shore to ash-filled urn. Through sharp imperatives, the poem reads as both petition and penance, like an incantation for the grieving.
Third Place: Emily Kingery – “Parental Advisory”
Striking precision in “Parental Advisory.” Images slick as “glue- / spiked hair” interrogate the notion of ‘crisis,’ while compound adjectives and enjambment quicken the poem’s pace. Throughout, the speaker remains unrelenting in tone and attention.
