2020
1st Place Winner
Gregory Hagan / Madisonville, Ky
A Reader Deconstructs “The Lady Or The Tiger”
| Sweat beading on his brow from God knows what, Heart hammering chest, toes curled in biker boots, Ankles cocked for an about-face, his gut Downside up: no doubt his cohorts , The Brutes, Would not be pleased to see him, so unlike Marlon Brando, in pleather without words Before this woman glaring at his bike— A cherry red Vespa, one for the birds. And now he grins and wipes his fenders clean; She uncrosses her arms as he extends A copy of “The Lady” to the queen With glittering eyes. Will they make amends? She cocks her stilettos from Paul’s Boutique; He drops his shorts and turns the other cheek. |
2nd Place Winners
| Jennifer Stephenson / San Angelo, TX Snooze Button Sophia Maltese / Cheswick, PA Elisabeth Rozann Kraus / W Stockbridge, MA The Talking Animal Party Jax Garrett / Milwaukie, OR Teeth Latoshia Hopewell / Seymour, TN Pending Vending Machine Stella Rigden / Coloma, WI Reality Check Shelly Sizer / Charlottesville, VA Horizon Margery Carole Foster / Ellenville, NY Eggs of Glass Rylen Whitaker / Fairport Harbor, OH Your Spine Ra Risen / Buffalo, NY Dear Ineffable Prince | Philippa Scroggins / Montclair, NJ White Marble Seth Pierce / Bellingham, WA Neuronal Death Emily Brosier / Springfield, OH Snyder Park Carol Ruth / Powell, OH Quag Sasha Fuller / Warrensburg, MO The Dandelion and I Taylor Gaudette / Norman, OK The Coyote and the Albatross Hannah Ford / Lebanon, OH The Folly of Man Abby Crabtree-Eads / Portland, OR Mary Jane David Huff / Auburndale, FL The Gift Sydney Duncan / San Francisco, CA Medicine |
3rd Place Winners
| Mark Mandel / Austin, TX Only Now Enrique Orozco / San Antonio, TX Untethered Christian Childers / Hopkinsville, KY Sunday Morning Muse Madhumitha Sriram / Falls Church, VA Mind and No Matter Patti Ann Patton / Grass Valley, CA Orchidaceous Charles David Poole / Prescott, AZ Voice in the Dark R. D. Schneider / Vero Beach, FL Message From A Captive Ray Loveland / La Vista, NE Perversity Lin LeCompte / Austin, TX Aurelia Trinity Richardson / Naples, FL Ecdysis Hana Ismaiel / Laurel, MD Curbside Stranger Daphne Boyd / Altadena, CA The Red Man Luke Engler / Lakewood, CO Hilarion Sanctity Jeffrey White / Elkhorn, WI Prolixity Carly Matt / York Haven, PA Immunodeficient Jo Serey / Glendale, AZ Going After Mistletoe Dean Prodan / Cleveland, OH The Forbidden Fruit Amanda Freidlander / Chicago, IL A Depressive Episode in a Railway Car Darryl Monteiro / Fall River, MA Hidden Girl Douglas Noel / Aiken, SC Juste pour Danser Eleanor Anderson / Brainerd, MN Sweet Dreams Dave Schmidt / San Diego, CA The Covid Cube John Holliday/ Indianapolis, IN Sonnet 1 Rachel Smith / Port Royal, VA The Archer Theo Castellano-Wood / Austin, TX Weeping Tree Nicholas Shaleen / El Paso, TX FolkTale Madison Stone / Tecumseh, OK As Is Poetry Samantha Ortiz / El Paso, TX Caramel Sara Spinner / Springfield, NJ Seven Second Love Poem Sydney Brown / Hamden, OH The Lonely Spaghettio Grace Haak / Phoenix, AZ Nope Violette Akpona / Germantown, MD Beyond the Veil Thomas Rosini / Gladwyne, PA The Hermit Miki Harvey / Pasco, WA Absence Leah Najimy / Savoy, MA Midnight Rain Jessica Lecorchick / Browns Mills, NJ Throw Me a Line Ned Eckhardt / Ellington, CT Quest End Andrea Defreitas / Denton, OH Mycelium Joseph Scariano / Imperial, CA My Photograph Benjamin Garst / Perrysburg, OH This Is There and This Is Now Jewelia Brindel / Fort Wayne, IN Horsepower Lauren Shahan / Davie, FL Nostalgia Is a Narcissist Lindsay Hamilton / Long Branch, NJ Omnipresence Terry Russell / Tullohoma, TN Lilacs Maeve Heaney / Kirkwood, MO Sorry, Tuesday Siriveena Nandam / Coral Gables, FL Aromatherapy Willow Martin / Pine Grove Mills, PA Beer Breath Jess Rivera / Bayport, NY Catacomb Garden Siri Palreddy / Avon, CT The Antithesis of a Lie Sebastian Mayfield / Celeste, TX The Comprehensive Tempest | Emily Scarpati / Howard Beach, NY Soul Food Paul Hertelendy / Piedmont, CA The Tree That Dares to Question Drew Duglan / San Diego, CA Father and Son, Pahsimeroi Upon Daril Bentley / Elmira, NY Saguaro Jana Wrenn / Marietta, GA The Weeping Willow Catherine Black / Lexington, SC Floodlights Elizabeth Cook / Poughkeepsie, NY Breath Poet Fauth / Fort Salonga, NY William Carlos Williams Pets My Dog During Plague Skyla Tate / Paragould, AR Falling Asleep in Class Shannon Tower / North Richland Hills, TX Lad or Lass, What Is Your Guess Eleanor Murphy / Worcester, MA A White, Unwashed Window Sill Erin Jeon / Irvine, CA Koreatown Belen Tesfaye / Arlington, VA Journey Elisabeth Anderson / Miami, FL Tragicomedy in Vermont Julia Heinrichs / Leawood, KS The Fun House Joanne Krayer / Hatfield, PA Marshmallow Fluff Nicolette Acosta / Studio City, CA Skin of a Survivor Kenneth Watters / Abita Springs, LA (fic)tion in Consensus Angeni Lieben / Lafayette, CA The Song of a Flute Eric Cohen / New Market, MD Solstice (Rictameter) Katherine Gierhahn / Downers Grove, IL Toxicology Truman Harris / Skokie, IL Midnight Rust Arce Mckeilla Malabunga / West Palm Beach, FL My Little Cottage Anthony Di Virgilio / Stoneham, MA The Bancroft Burglar Ava Kominski / Enola, PA Intertwined Tracy Hauck / Pasadena, TX Insatiable Love Hyunjun Chang / Sewickley, PA A Merry Migrant Wayne Michell / Red Oak, TX How Do You See It? Gail Arbucci / Massapequa Park, NY Under One Roof Caroline Steele / Harlingen, TX Apalachacola Oysters Joseph H. Kempf / Indianapolis, IN Sunday Morning Musing Ray Wolbert / Hillsboro, WV Mystery Writer Kirk Anderson / Athens, TN A Blueberry Muffin Ron Matros / Mesilla, NM Ode to the Cretan Runner Patricia Falter / Sudbury, ON Pandemic Hair Tabitha Bryner / Prescott, AZ Paintings, Poems, and Paper Maché Kaitlyn Stitch / Whitestown, IN Hazy Recollection of the Sun Jennifer Larkin Milazzo / Ponte Vedra, FL Lockdown Jennifer Barradale / Middletown, NJ Cat Scratch Brigitt Molina-Alvarado / New York, NY Ode to a Pencil Jake Beilleux / Raleigh, NC Plight of the Fraser Fir Mack Cooper / Boston, MA The Wandering Jew Diana Emmons / Stoneham, MA The Actor, a Self-Portrait Sourish Jasti / Holmdel, NJ Indeterminant Nancy Stere / Julian, PA Miss Tomato Hattie Honey / Cohutta, GA The Boy Paige Snuffer / Willowick, OH Poltergeist Haley Morris / Albany, OR Memoir of Margaret Montgomery Joseph Decelle / Mesa, AZ Crinoline Cage Connor Landreth / Garden City, ID Yellow Pine, Black Oak |