New Millennium Writing Awards 53 | 2022
First Place Winners, Finalists, and Honorable Mentions of the 53rd New Millennium Writing Awards!
Poetry
Almost There | John Cullen
51st NMW Award for Poetry.
John Cullen of Big Rapids, Michigan for “Almost There”
Equal parts hopefulness and peaceful resignation, “Almost There” left this Editor with a lump in her throat and a song in her heart.
Lesson for a Tree in a Snowstorm | Susan Salgy
51st NMW Award for Poetry.
Susan Salgy of Provo, Utah for “Lesson for Tree in a Snowstorm,”
The poem we all need right now, the one to remind us that all storms, no matter their blinding endurance, must yet pass.
Pass Over | Doris Ferleger
50th NMW Award for Poetry.
Doris Ferleger of Wyncote, Pennsylvania for “Pass Over”
a heart-caressing poem on what the living and the leaving can offer one another as the time for departure approaches.
grandfather: a dialect of water | Ian Khara Ellasante
An ode to those who shape us and teach us how to flow through this life.
Addendum | Hannah Perrin King
48th New Millennium Award for Poetry
Hannah Perrin King of Cool, California for ”Addendum”
King’s poem is a quiet masterpiece, a revelatory and reverent ode to the fate that awaits every living thing.
The Lamentation of Rev. Daniel S. Butrick | Dale Cottingham
47th New Millennium Award for Poetry
Dale Cottingham of Edmond, Oklahoma for “The Lamentation of Rev. Daniel S. Butrick”
When the law of the land is injustice, there is but one brave act left: to bear witness, to ensure such atrocities will not be erased from history or obscured by propaganda. In “The Lamentation of Rev. Daniel Butrick,” Cottingham dissolves time and space to remind us that the battle for our better nature wages on, and that empathy remains our strongest weapon. When ugly truths no longer hide in darkness, we will thank the poets for dragging them into the light.
Like My Father | Seth Simons
New Millennium Award for Poetry
Seth Simons of the Bay Area, CA for “Like My Father”
“Like My Father” is a neat and tidy indictment of late-stage capitalism, its sins and spoils, and the inner workings of those whose only rule book is a ledger.
The Nation of Aphasia | Xiao Yue Shan
New Millennium Award for Poetry
Xiao Yue Shan of Tokyo, Japan for “the nation of aphasia”
With transportive imagery and longing descriptions of a nation’s rich traditions, Xiao Yue fingers the pulse of the writing life in Hong Kong. Read “the nation of aphasia” and bear witness to the tyrannous shadows encroaching on the Celestial Empire.
The Cripple Makes a Wish | Terri Trespicio
It didn’t happen in the way that other folks will have you think: a flash of light, a giant earthquake rumbling through your bones. I simply did what I was told…