Poem of the Week Awards
Kevin Swanwick of Walden, New York for “Tell the Bees”
Urged to write poetry by his 11th grade English teacher, Sally Littlefield, Kevin Swanwick returned to an abandoned craft after many seasons.
Swanwick lives in the Hudson Valley where he closely observes nature. His first poem, “Goshen,” appeared in Onager Editions. Other early poems appear in Chronogram, La Presa (English & Spanish), Unleash Press, Canary (Hip Pocket Press), & Triggerfish Critical Review. His short fiction has appeared at The Strange Recital podcast and Prometheus Dreaming.
Jed Myers of Seattle, Washington for “I Can’t Feel the War”
Jed Myers is author of three books of poetry, most recently Learning to Hold (Wandering Aengus, Editors’ Award, 2024). Recent honors include the Northwest Review Poetry Prize, the River Heron Poetry Prize, the New Millennium Writings Poetry Award, and the Sundress Chapbook Editor’s Choice Award. Poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Rattle, The Poetry Review, RHINO, Poetry Northwest, Southern Indiana Review, The Southeast Review, and elsewhere. Myers lives in Seattle and edits the journal Bracken.
— FINALISTS —
Week One
Andrea Bartosiak
Tallahassee, Florida
“More than just a drop”
Miranda Beeson
New York, New York
“Lyric”
Wes Civilz
Tucson, Arizona
“Self-Portrait as Chimpanzee”
Kim Farrar
Astoria, New York
“The End of the Road”
Annette Gagliardi
Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Aficionado”
Lauren Gebrian
San Francisco, California
“Mysterious Cast”
Thomas Johnson
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
“Love Sonnet for Virgo”
Barbara Knott
Palmetto, Georgia
“PanElvis”
Mel Konner
Avondale Estates, Georgia
“A Child is Being Born”
Caleb Lackey
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
“Lvoe”
Clif Mason
Bellevue, Nebraska
“The Witch’s Interrogation“
Ed McManis
Denver, Colorado
“Aligning the Planets”
Bill Ratner
Los Angeles, California
“The Memory Machine”
Brittany Richter
Racine, Wisconsin
“Enabling Cain”
Claire Scott
Oakland, California
“Sessile Stage”
Lily Tobias
Auburn Hills, Michigan
“What the Image Revealed”
Marie Turowski
Swannanoa, North Carolina
“Boat People”
Roger Vickery
Sydney, Australia
“Jacob”
Diana Woodcock
Midlothian, Virginia
“Still Learning”
Ping Yi Yee
Singapore, Singapore
“Kissing Air”
Week Two
Jessica Barksdale
Vancouver, Washington
“Western Divorce”
Jeff Bien
Kemptville, Ontario
“The Story of God”
Michelle Bitting
Pacific Palisades, California
“The Clearing”
Lynne Burnett
Parksville, Canada
“All the Time in the World”
Delia Corrigan
Columbia, South Carolina
“The Drill”
Edgar Ted Davis
Boise, Idaho
“The Passing Away”
Anna Egeland
Seattle, Washington
“Still Life with Riptide and Bubbly”
Eric Machan Howd
Ithaca, New York
“Peonies”
Louise Kantro
Modesto, California
“The Sticking Place”
Clif Mason
Bellevue, Nebraska
“Circe’s Invitation to Odysseus”
Ed McManis
Denver, Colorado
“The Grief of Gravity”
Don Mitchell
Atlanta, Georgia
“The Same Woman”
Jenn Powers
Johnson City, New York
“Here to Gone”
Holly Redell-Witte
La Conner, Washington
“Eden”
Roberta Senechal de la Roche
Charlottesville, Virginia
“Flight Path”
Julia Robinson Shimizu
Portland, Oregon
Take One in the Evening”
Morgan Smith
Santa Fe, New Mexico
“Los Loquitos”
Meg Taylor
Indianapolis, Indiana
“Missing: Myself”
Marie Turowski
Swannanoa, North Carolina
“Post-Evolutionary Reflections”
Dianalee Velie
Newbury, New Hampshire
“Blending”