Elinor Benedict Poetry Prize winner and finalists announced!!
Congratulations to this year’s prize-winning poets and finalists and many thanks to Kevin Latimer for being an extraordinary judge.
Winner: “Aviary” by Yong-Yu Huang
Kevin Latimer on the winning poem: “Aviary” finds you in the evening, knocking. Check under every surface. “I found a tunnel of birds in your throat, pulsing light.” How do we remember? How do we discover? “I am learning to thaw sickness from the mouth, barter the sky for a canyon of light.” I admire the emotional awareness of this poem, the gentle winding movement, and pinpoint imagery. “Aviary” is a poem I am better for reading. Press your ear closely, listen for everything.
Honorable Mention: “Triptych with Oleo-Saccharum and Abandoned Old Navy Dress” by A. Prevett
Finalists:
Emory Brinson: “American Sonnet for the homeless woman on the corner of Brown and Power St.”
Jessica Dionne: “Welcome to the Hibernaculum”
Lupita Eyde-Tucker: “Alausi 1941”
Camille Ferguson: “When You (Don’t) Get Better”
E. Hughes: “After Harpers Ferry”
Aurielle Marie: “in the event i become some unrecognizable beast”
Kalyn McAlister: “Prof. Hill”
Tawanda Mulalu: “The World”
Anna Šverclová: “Lake Ocean // Phenomenon”
Katelyn Joy Wilkinson: “Redshift”
The winning poem will be published in the upcoming Issue 43 of Passages North this winter. Thank you to everybody who entered.
