2nd Annual Poetry Contest Winner

Sweet Lit is proud to announce this year’s poetry contest winner:

Sara Quinn Rivara, “When I Say Love I Mean El Greco’s The Assumption of the Virgin”

Runners Up were:
Emily Rose Cole, “MS Nocturne with Fuse, Crosshairs, and Irreparable Fissure”
Sara Quinn Rivara, “Instead”
Sara Quinn Rivara, “Love Poem, SE Portland”

Poetry editors at Sweet Lit narrowed down the submissions to 15 finalist poems, which the judge received stripped of identifying information. This year’s contest was judged by Katherine (Katie) Riegel, co-founder and editor of Sweet Lit. She is the author of Love Songs from the End of the World (forthcoming October 2019 from Main Street Rag Publishing), the chapbook Letters to Colin Firth, and two more books of poetry. Her work has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, The Offing, Orion, Poets.org, Tin House, and elsewhere.

The other finalists were:
Julia C. Alter, “Ode to My Kidney Bean (8 Weeks)”
Deborah Bacharach, “Shake and Tremor”
Brood, “Hidden Feathers”
Emily Rose Cole, “Dry Spell”
B.R. Dionysius, “Death is an Iron Lung”
Gregory Emilio, “My Mother and My Father in the Kitchen”
Mariana Goycoechea, “Eternal Return”
Dayna Patterson, “Our Lady of Lengthening Days”
Amie Whittemore, “Ode to Everything, Saunders Trail Attempt”
Amie Whittemore, “Ode to the Half-Male, Half-Female Cardinal”
John Sibley Williams, “Sycamores”

The winning poem will get $500 and publication in Sweet Lit.  Some of the finalists will be published in the September 2019 and January 2020 issues.

Congratulations to our winner and finalists! Many thanks to all who entered their fine work. Be on the lookout summer 2020 for next year’s contest.