Elinor Benedict Poetry Prize winner and finalists announced!

Guest judge Tarfia Faizullah has selected the winner of this year’s Elinor Benedict Poetry Prize: “Chicken Fever” by Philip Schaefer. On the winning poem, Faizullah notes:

I praise this poem for taking on oddness, and capturing it meaningfully—oddness and the odd thought loops that run through our minds as we move in and out of our daily lives, trying to keep some intimate acquaintance with our own interiors alive. I’m impressed with the consistently infectious tone, and the terrifically inventive metaphors. “Love is a peacock in outer/space,” for example: wow! Yes it is, but I hadn’t ever thought of it like that—I mean I can see it, and I like that. I like how this poem teaches me about the consciousness of the author: look at the subtle sculpting of those line-breaks! The diction—as specific as it is clear! I want to share that I read this poem aloud to somebody near me, and that they listened intently. That matters—that this poem made me want to reach for the sound of my own voice to disrupt the quiet to share it with another. Kudos to the author. 

She selected two honorable mentions:

“Hidden Bombs in My Coochie” by Threa Almontaser

“Carapace” by Carson Lee

And our finalists:

“tips for masturbating discreetly during the revolution {for women!}” by Zoe Canner

“"Geminids Meteor Shower" by Hannah Larrabee

“Buksán mo ang ilaw” by Kabel Mishka Ligot

“Power Tower” by John Paul Martinez

“"Epistle from the Henares River” by Jenny Molberg

Rockstar” by Ösel Jessica Plante

“Afterword to the Fall” by Lucy Wainger

Thanks to everybody who entered. Look for our poetry contests again in 2021, and to our Waasnode Short Fiction Prize and our Neturino Short-Short Prize this winter.