From hundreds of poems, our readers selected ten finalists to be sent to the judge, Sweet Co-founder and Managing Editor Katherine Riegel. She had a difficult time choosing from this wonderful group, but ultimately selected these to single out:

First place: “Ricocheted into Our Better Selves” by Heather Jessen

Judge’s note: I’m delighted with the ways language helps us see the world afresh in this
poem—“all long-legged maybe,” “the growl of pickups idling,” “all we wildlife”—as well as the
consonance and assonance that ground us in the physical through the pleasure of sound. But it’s
the exploration of what this viral moment could mean that sticks in my mind, the insistence that
experience does mean something, even if it’s experience via the screen. And I’m always a sucker
for a powerful ending, like this one, which reminds us of the human-created and human-
threatening dangers that make this moment of grace so vital.

Second place: “Abecedarian: Whatever Grows” by Ashley Kirkland

This poem digs into “the beautiful and terrible and surprising / forms love can
take” with the kind of authentic and telling details we need to glimpse understanding ourselves.
Aunt B. has a cigarette and beer in the wedding photos, important life moments take place in the
Boy Scout parking lot. The form is so deftly used that I barely noticed it, yet it provides a frame
on which to hang the joys and sorrows of multi-generational family.

Third place: “Scientists Confirm Ocean Is Really Scary at Night” by Jill McCabe Johnson

Who could resist a poem with a humorous title like this, that goes on to explore
death and our feelings about it with insight and musicality?