Finalists
Our fifty poets for the 2025 anthology appear below. Please join us in congratulating them!
- Sam Bailey, “Why I’m a Xtian”
- Jessica Bowdoin, “Wintering”
- Shelly Stewart Cato, “River, Heron, Doe”
- Letitia Chan, “Inheritance”
- James Ciano, “The Committee of Men (Haze)”
- Acie Clark, “Self-Portrait as Orpheus on T”
- Laura Cresté, “Between 5,000 and 12,000 Years after the Eruption”
- Brian Czyzyk, “Equinox”
- Kate DeLay, “Repair”
- Jonathan Diaz, “Your Old Men Shall Dream Dreams, Your Young Men Shall See Visions”
- Courtney DuChene, “On Culling”
- emet ezell, “Has Your Spirit Dried Up”
- José Felipe Ozuna, “Undocumented Sonnet”
- Mckendy Fils-Aimé, “the lougawou discusses repetition”
- Katey Funderburgh, “Dinner Party”
- Harrison Hamm, “Ghost of a Peacock”
- Michael Hurley, “Vespers or Orison or Haven”
- L. A. Johnson, “Birthmark”
- Tobi Kassim, “Heavyweight”
- Anya Kirshbaum, “Letter from the Edge of Every Known Thing”
- Hannah Kosak, “Portrait Returning to the Fog”
- Peter LaBerge, “California Avenue”
- Caroline Laganas, “Champagne or Maggots?”
- Kent Leatham, “America’s Last Hometown”
- Alexander, “Memorial Day & How We Fight”
- Lindsay Li, “悲怆五阶段 (heritage study)”
- Janiru Liyanage, “The Deer”
- Elizabeth Loudon, “Renunciation”
- Alejandro Lucero, “When I search ‘Sapello,’”
- Cate Lycurgus, “Martingale”
- Brittany Male, “Case Study”
- Melissa McKinstry, “Late Spring Epiphany after the Georgia O’Keeffe Exhibit”
- Lenna Mendoza, “You can’t really clean the piercing gun at Claire’s,”
- Brooke Middlebrook, “Après L’Ondée”
- Lo Naylor, “object permanence”
- Jupiter Nesky, “Kiddush Levana—for S.”
- Sophie Pedersen, “feast on your life”
- Chi Pham, “Italian Lambskin Leather Gloves”
- G.H. Plaag, “Televised”
- Dora Prieto, “Girls of the Now [Garments]”
- Justin Rigamonti, “Failure”
- Rachel Rothenberg, “Blessings over the Bodies of My Father’s Murderers”
- Jackie Sabbagh, “Having a Great Time Being Transgender in America Lately”
- Jen Siraganian, “Thinking about My Father’s Erector Set from 1948”
- Mary Spooner, “Here in My Unincorporated Plot”
- D. M. Spratley, “The Collector of Debts”
- Nur Turkmani, “Animal Grief”
- Benjamin Voigt, “Grief”
- Genevieve Watson, “Last Supper”
- Mason Wray, “After Birds”
Updated Sept. 21, 2025