Announcing the Winners of the 94th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition

Congratulations to the winners of the 94th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition!

Congratulations to the winners of the 94th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition! See which WD competitions are currently accepting entries at WritersDigest.com/wd-competitions.

Grand Prize

Alison Luterman, "Charring Lemons" (non-rhyming poetry). Read the winning poem here.

Children’s/Young Adult Fiction

  1. "The Order of Ordinaries" by Cathy Lepik
  2. "Rowan’s Greatest Hits" by Akash Arun Kumar Soumya
  3. "Autumn Lies" by Cathryn Smith
  4. "Camels in the Clouds" by Gina Steeves
  5. "A Shot Fired" by Becky Franklyn
  6. "Under the Covers" by Shae Harper
  7. "Santa’s Crazy Year" by Thomas Donahue
  8. "Grandma’s House" by Thomas Donahue
  9. "Ari’s Bathroom Map" by Rebecca Thapa
  10. "Death and Theft" by Aspen Hite

Honorable Mentions

  • "Higher Ground" by AB Cromer
  • "Just Another Ordinary Day" by Jolea Broome
  • "The Magic In Ming’s Hands" by Maureen Tai
  • "Putting Toys To Bed" by Alan Elliott
  • "Good Whine Gone Bad" by Jay Lehmann
  • "Stuff As Dreams Are Made On" Heidi Rogers " by Heidi M. Rogers
  • "Lizzie’s Napa" by Lori Pelliccia
  • "Talk To The Trees" by Angela De Groot
  • "Things We’ll Ask God" by Rachel Wierick
  • "Mom's Superhero Story" by Jiwon Yoon
  • "Blood Raven" by Becky Franklyn
  • "A Zip Code from the Heart" by Sandy Cameli
  • "The Last Gate" by Anna Alsup
  • "Gotta Fly!" by Debbie Austin
  • "The Night of the Magic Light" by Doug Geyer
  • "Mia’s Puppet Party" by Megan Erin Hamilton
  • "A Bellyful of Fireflies" by Marcus McGee
  • "Dockson Billie" by Sherri Ashburner
  • "The Arrowhead Game" by L.S. Scott
  • "The Book Boat" by Jenny Nelson
  • "Afraid of Rain No More" by Michael Harley
  • "Simply Extraordinary" by Emma Bowen
  • "Sequin the Snake—Explains World Peace to Children" by Carol Ikard
  • "A Life Unfinished" by Brynda Wolf
  • "Here, There, Everywhere" by Sabrina Powers
  • "Baking a Cake" by Jobie Scarborough
  • "What Will You Call Me?" by Shannon Mae
  • "Ace Ferreira, Multiverse Mechanic" by Ridley Adams
  • "Turning Back Time" by DM Reynolds
  • "Just Tyler" by Tom Olds
  • "Garage Sale Religion" by Susan Jensen
  • "The Last Acolyte" by David Weinkauff
  • "The Synonym Family" by Thomas Donahue
  • "Streetlight Halo" by Kyrie Jade
  • "Kyler and the Garbage Men" by Megan Churchman

Genre Short Story

  1. "Poison Pill" by GK Daffu
  2. "The Kimchi Contest I Never Signed Up For" by Rachel Desiree Felix
  3. "Laney’s Rescue" by Deborah Boucher Stetson
  4. "Bite Like Chocolate" by Bruna M. Barbosa
  5. "A Spare Moment" by Emee Camp
  6. "Morty’s Farewell" by Carrie Hachadurian
  7. "Realm of the Grotesque" by Clarence J. Croxford
  8. "Rwanda 2265" by Sig Watkins
  9. "Lilacs" by Mark Mrozinski
  10. "The Light Collector" by Christina Trujillo

Honorable Mentions

  • "Cotillion" by Kejana Ayala
  • "Our Lady of Life Support" by Amber Fenik
  • "At the garden of the gods" by Frank Biro
  • "Twice Jennifer Hawkins" by Penne Hawkins
  • "A Complication" by Jennifer Slee
  • "The Beast at the Door" by Eric Reitan
  • "Thirteen Coins" by Teresa Michael
  • "The Keeper" by Lucas Tremper
  • "The Legend of the Red-Haired One" by Raw
  • "Twice Pierced Joseph Tappero" by Joseph Tappero
  • "The Clichéd Crime" by Bill Glose
  • "Unknowing" by Andrew Hoffmeister
  • "The Cycle" by Robin Nixon
  • "A Morning at Diedre’s Cafe" by Richard Sutter
  • "Treading Water" by Alison Wright
  • "The Zenith of Her Powers" by Leslie Wibberley
  • "The Voice That Lies" by J. P. Bellipanni
  • "Nisha’s Revolution" by Judith Pratt
  • "After Joslyn Lois Bartholomew
  • "Hotel Room" by Andrew Kass
  • "Willow" by Holland Poole
  • "Tempest" by Kyla Paterno
  • "A Reckoning at Trail’s End" by Albert Morrow
  • "An Extra Scoop of Revenge" by Rachel Cyr
  • "Without a Chaperone" by Susan Matley
  • "Ring of Deception" by Michelle Hess
  • "Everything Burns" by Jennifer Slee
  • "The Currawong" by J.A. Clarke
  • "More Than a Second-Hand Find" by Mary Jo Wyse
  • "Dash Into Love" by Dorothy Wills-Raftery
  • "The Last Mural Frances" by Aurelia Gold
  • "Grains of Sand" by Peter Ball
  • "Habits Don't Lie" by Amy Collins
  • "Beginnings and Endings" by Kelly Thomas
  • "White Tooth" by Cody Pearce
  • "Today I Shot Desmond" by Louise Bailey
  • "The Porcelain Garden" by Cara Boynton
  • "The Departed Dancer—A Las Vegas Mystery" by A.L.Padden
  • "At Birth" by Kate Fitzgerald
  • "A Castle in the Ocean" by J.H. Schiller
  • "A Realm Of Smoke And Sins" by Alison Arico
  • "Then I Became Us" by Victoria Lalayan
  • "War" by Useless Assistant
  • "The Big Smoke" by Jennifer Frost
  • "The Hunger Pattern" by Jason Bellipanni

Humor

  1. "Burnt Toast" by Don Michalowski
  2. "A Vulgarity Smithsonian" by Greg Bauch
  3. "A Textually Transmitted Disease" by Monda Kelley
  4. "Nuts! A Regrettable but True Tale" by Michele Miles Gardiner
  5. "I Will Come In Last With Grace and Good Eyeliner" by Mia Lazarewicz
  6. "How to Write a Novel in 10 Years" by  K. Ashby
  7. "The Shade of the Bodhi Tree in a Basket of Waffle Fries" by John Garvey
  8. "Revealed: The Hidden Secrets of Male Bonding!" by Gary Alexander
  9. "Fore!" by A.J. Schmitz
  10. "Faux pas" by Mary Finnen

Honorable Mentions

  • "My Broken Zipper" by Geoffrey K. Graves
  • "Finding Mr. Right" by Mary Ellen Humphrey
  • "G-Man: And other humorous anecdotes taken from the teaching profession" by Dr. Donald Robertson
  • "An 'Intercoursal'” by Stroke Mary Finnen
  • "HUH? The Story of My Broken Ears" by MerriLee Anderson
  • "Newly Unwed" by Jamie Lockwood
  • "Controversial Sermon Sparks Brouhaha Over Biscuits" by Lori Drake
  • "Astronauts And Panty Hose" by Nanny Treadwell
  • "Is Breaking Bad? Celebrating My Birthday in a Rage Room" by Karen Scholl
  • "Dear Merriam-Webster" by Christine Petzar
  • "Fishing for Seniors" by Steve Holland
  • "Yakov the Supplanter" by Laurie Rosenwald
  • "The Fainthearted" by Lisa Chow
  • "I Swear I Skipped the Poison Apple" by Evelyn Aucoin
  • "The Easter Dress Karen O Conway" by Kay McKay
  • "Hello, this is Your Overly Talkative Captain" by Deanna Hahn
  • "What’s for Dinner?" by Allia Zobel Nolan
  • “Cupid: Chubby. Ornery. Mischievous!” Tammy Lough
  • "The Great Holiday Light Display Race of Appleton Ave." by J.C. McKenna
  • "Breakfast with a Ghost" by Bison Scribe
  • "Violets" by Jessalyn Haefele
  • "Friends of the Earth Urgent Appeal" by Tom Gable
  • "Why I Exercise, and Why I Don’t Care to Get Any Better" by Jacob Summerville
  • "The Third Grader’s Manifestation of Queerness" by Risa Hasebe
  • "The Sabbath" by Christopher D. Pence
  • "Fifty Shades of Gruyère" by Jennifer Becker
  • "Final Cut" by Don Michalowski
  • "Ten Pounds in Three Days" by Joy Alicia
  • "Easy Riders" by Joe Haines
  • "A Half-Carton of Eggs and Getting Published" by Lori Drake

Inspirational/Spiritual

  1. "All the Way to Mystery" by Stacy Clark
  2. "Where the River Narrows" by David Paul Goins
  3. "No Ordinary Love: Agnes and Leonard’s Visit" by Leonard Scovens
  4. "One Samhain Night" by SamiJo McQuiston
  5. "The Miracle of Ordinary Gifts" by Tracy Cranford
  6. "The Boy From Somewhere Better" by Robin Farnsworth
  7. "Grandma’s Garden" by Celeste Handfield
  8. "Fireflies" by Heidi Botkin
  9. "The Dakini’s Ants" by Robin Nixon
  10. "The Initiation" by Holly Ma

Honorable Mentions

  • "At the Feet of Sleeping Giants" by Kelli Sullivan
  • "The Great Exchange" by Maureen Miller
  • "The Pew by the Window" by EW Bradfute
  • "30 Pieces of Silver" by John Tucker
  • "Hummingbird" by Linda Peterson
  • "Hope Came in the Mail" by Colleen Black
  • "The Inevitable Sameena Topan" by sam riot
  • "Spiritual Resilience in Opioid Withdrawal" by Donna Fado Ivery
  • "Walking on Water" by Kristy Mabe
  • "Rock of Ages" by Thorne Everet
  • "Sustaining Hope in Uncertain Times: Jewish Strategies for Faith" by Carly Levy
  • "The Garage" by Natasha Jo Benevides
  • "Volleyball and the Virgin Mary" by Mary Ellen Collins
  • "Fragmented Stones" by Rhonda Larson
  • "Enmity" by Andrea Hayes
  • "Her Birthday Is The Least of Her Concerns" by J B Nicholson Hunt
  • "Mary Did You Know Controversy" by Kathy Ferrell Powell
  • "Into the Light" by Kay Lesley Reeves
  • "In The Forest & Field" by Katherine Tyler
  • "The Valley" by Antionette Duck
  • "A Gnome Knows" by Michael Gregory Whitfield
  • "Radiance" by Jewel Garcia
  • "Searching for Silence in India and Nepal" by Blake Plante
  • "You’ve Got to Believe; It’s Not Magic" by James Meyer
  • "Hortus Creatoris" by Aria Stewart
  • "Water in Motion" by Ashley C. Shannon
  • "Crazy, Mismatched Socks" by Holly Karpovich
  • "The Traveler" by Lori Griffin
  • "A Midwife's Hands" by Bruce Graham
  • "Bleak Midwinter" by Eric Beversluis
  • "Breath as a Blessing: The Transformative Power of Breath" by Angela Waldron
  • "Pilgrim" by Ashlen Renner
  • "Learning To Swim" by Katie McGuire
  • "The Paradoxes of Prayer" by Robert Pechman
  • "What You Don’t See" by Sarah Boury

Mainstream/Literary Short Story

  1. "The Memory Eater" by Eric Reitan
  2. "Dugga Boys" by Greg Jones
  3. "The Absence of Cut Grass" by G. Thomas Fin
  4. "The Gas Line" by Colin Kostelecky
  5. "J.C., Little Susie and the Music Seen" by Pat Rooney
  6. "Cave Art" by Nathan Tobler
  7. "Thankless" by Cynthia Liu
  8. "Rise, River, Rise" by Taylor Brown
  9. "Variation with Fan" by Karen Novak
  10. "The Hugging Machine" by Nancy Lederman

Honorable Mentions

  • "Terms of Haunting" by Caroline Hall
  • "Tapestry" by John Garvey
  • "Short Story/Fiction" by Susan Eastham
  • "Olive Theory" by Serrina Zou
  • "My Family Tree" by Mary Upton
  • "The Raccoons" by Kyle Wong
  • "Mama’s Baby" by Haley Bebout
  • "His Forest" by Meredith Gebhardt
  • "Rejection Letter" by Ty Green
  • "Gold and Bones" by L.J. Longo
  • "Dream Journal" by Sunthorn Capellini
  • "An Ordinary Guest" by Tamar Mezvrishvili
  • "The Bad Luck House" by Cath Bibeau
  • "Bloom" by Gwendolyn Bellinger
  • "Boys Like Us" by Siavash Saadlou
  • "Downed" by Gabrielle Glaslyn
  • "Mourning Dove" by Christine Roy
  • "Smile for the Camera" by Jessica Junqua
  • "The Quiet Howl" by Garin Demirjian
  • "My First Body" by Baird Harper
  • "The Divide" by Ferrell Jennings
  • "Time and Time Again" by Ryne
  • "Johnny Appleseed" by Katie Harms
  • "The Blue Road" by Robert Ziegler
  • "Reaching For The Sun" by Elizabeth Conte
  • "The Good Mother" by Dana Rodney
  • "Aliens Are Us Shelley" by Jones Clark
  • "So Long as the Earth is Spinning" by Sharan Yaso
  • "Liberty" by L. M. Filarsky
  • "The Gingerbread Boy" by Lide Dawson
  • "Lost and Found" by Bruce Jay Baker
  • "Lifeline" by Natalie Moore
  • "Rooted Jane Hershberger" by Jane Hershberger
  • "Little Angels Of God" by Mark Lyn Campbell
  • "Where the Walls Remember: Grete Samsa’s Unraveling—A Metamorphosis Adaptation" by Meghan Hanily
  • "December First" by Katie McGuire
  • "R&R" by Owen Goodwyne
  • "The Neighborhood Marketplace" by Rose Sampley
  • "Prairie Grass" by John Cheesebrow
  • "Don’t Tell the Boys" by Jacob Mayer
  • "Sapling" by Helen Vidrine
  • "Wild Hymn" by Ashley Berry
  • "Animal Husbandry" by Aili Whalen
  • "Dirge for the Divine and Departed" by Irene Hwang
  • "A Nice Girl" by Jane Corey
  • "Nighthawks" by Jeremy Stelzner
  • "The Conversationalist" by Rosanna Watts
  • "Undertone" by M.C. Blandford
  • "Who We Were Yesterday" by Josh Rosen
  • "Nightlight Marianne" by Malloy Kirby

Memoir/Personal Essay

  1. "The Dead Whale" by Carol Keeley
  2. "Salvage Rights" by Cheryl A. Kelley
  3. "Turning Pages" by Landon Porter
  4. "Bleed" by Catherine Dorian
  5. "The VA Destroyed My Body — and No One Will Help Me" by David Lee Condrey
  6. "Friendly Fire" by Lide Dawson
  7. "Crushed" by Carrie Osborne
  8. "Ask Me How My Mother Died" by Liam Carnahan
  9. "Center of Gravity" by Kristina Kasparian
  10. "In Pieces" by Jen Shepherd

Honorable Mentions

  • "First Job" by Geoffrey K. Graves
  • "The Human Touch" by Sukhwinder Sukh
  • "By Chance" by Darlene Junker
  • "Wire Mesh and Memory: A Craniotomy Forgotten" by Krystal Renee
  • "Giving Up My Ghost" by Esther Raday
  • "Resting Places" by Beth Christiano
  • "Couch Mom" by Stacy Johnson
  • "All He Needs" by Quincy Trochue
  • "Memoir Essay: Still Small Things" by Erin Schalk
  • "We Were Here" by Colleen Black
  • "Jew" by Jane K Stern
  • "Raising Lambs" by Michelle Nicolaysen
  • "Behind the Red Door" by Renee Roberson
  • "Intervention: Fully Loaded" by Maddy Nye
  • "Let Him Go" by Mari Harrison
  • "No Questions Asked" by Lorraine Lai
  • "I'm Not Normal" by Amy Jean Hetland
  • "Dear Lorraine" by Michael Creger
  • "Medical Jenga" by Janet Yeager
  • "Puppy Love" by Kristen Wilson
  • "Hungry Animals" by Ashley Berry
  • "The flags we didn't earn" by Faye Zasada
  • "Turning Point" by Mary Mortensen
  • "When the City Began Again" by M. Lea Gray
  • "Hey Dad, It's Me" by Don Michalowski
  • "The Folder Called Not Ready" by Kathryn Johnson
  • "The Subtle Art of Falling From a High Place" by Alex Tricarico
  • "The Art of Falling Apart While Smiling" by Nicole Duff
  • "Child's Play" by Jerome Goettsch
  • "Disassembled" by Alyssa Holly
  • "Unsprouted" by Haley Russo
  • "Muses Work Best When They’re Far Away" by Francesca Willow
  • "Trickles" by Tracy Cranford
  • "Little Owl" by Tracy Cranford
  • "Shaved Heads" by Heide Brandes
  • "Was His Love Worth My Life?" by Phiiip Alexander
  • "Where the Hell is Ordway, Anyway?" by Philip Alexander
  • "A Thing With Fangs" by Cynthia Singerman
  • "Lone Staircase" by Christen Makhoul
  • "Burning for Sully" by Jen Shepherd
  • "Steak Tartare" by Alison Foster
  • "Bad Fortune" by Janet Guthrie
  • "Sweet Lemon Grass" by Jen Shepherd
  • "Running With Eunice" by Carol Marks Stopforth
  • "Eight Shots" by Owen Ryan
  • "My Grandfather's Fathers" by Karen Gravelle
  • "How to Play Kings Corner" by Fay Falcone
  • "Process: An Excerpt" by Steven R. Perez
  • "Rotten Sunflowers on Grandpa's Grave" by Chia Lam
  • "The American Goldfinch" by Aimee Seiff Christian

Nonfiction Essay or Article

  1. "Little Black Book" by Rebecca Victoria Blanchard
  2. "A Witness to History" by Cynthia Furlong Reynolds
  3. "Analyzing the Role of Photography in the Depiction of Native Americans in the 19th Century" by Tsi’Ani Washington
  4. "With Kristi in the Garden" by Ramona Scarborough
  5. "Out of Many, One People: The Origins of Jamaican Ancestry" by Vilma Ruddock
  6. "A Dog Leads the Way" by Margie Gray
  7. "The Tangled Web We Weave" by Dana Zartner
  8. "Meaningful Metamorphosis" by Julie Jacobs                
  9. "The Bare Truth" by Leslie Wibberley
  10. "The Holy Righteous Queen Tamar" by Angela Waldron

Honorable Mentions

  • "The unsettling chic is our modern aesthetic of ugliness" by Denis Bozic
  • "Would You Be My Pen Pal if I Paid You?" by Naomi Horne
  • "Of Snails and The Hundred Yard Dash" by Larry Menlove
  • "Time Traveler" by Jill Sisson
  • "Beethoven and Napoleon: Decomposing Symphony Number 3 'Eroica'" by Mark A. Fulco
  • "Four Times I Fled the Flames" by Tamara Nowlin
  • "Dance Movement Meets Psychotherapy" by Ember Reichgott Junge
  • "The Language Of Love" by Pat Matthews
  • "Holbein's Ambassadors" by Patrick Tyman
  • "Black Lives on the Titanic" by Douglas Walters
  • "Underground Anthologies: Public Transportation Meets Poetry" by Emma Arden
  • "Writing Like Hemingway" by Azalea Lucile
  • "Gender Bias in the Polls: How Sexism can Prevent Female Leaders" by Leslie Rutledge
  • "For Gentlemen Only" by Cheryl Bailey
  • "The High Life: For circus artists and aerialists, something’s always up" by Kathy Bradshaw
  • "Close Encounters of the Animal Kingdom Kind" by Krishna "Krash" Jackson
  • "Swimming Beyond Fear" by Elaine Howley
  • "Triathlon's Spiritual Side" by Elaine Howley
  • "'Heart of the Eternal' Opens the Second Chapter for A.J. Croce" by Sheryl Aronson
  • "Showcasing Female Power in Ballroom Dance" by Ember Reichgott Junge
  • "Call to Action for Social Prescribing" by Ember Reichgott Junge
  • "I'm Not Going to Live in God's Waiting Room" by Ember Reichgott Junge
  • "A Powerful Presence in the Ballroom World" by Ember Reichgott Junge
  • "Oui the People" by Kathy Bradshaw
  • "Take a Walk on the Tiled Side: It seems that everyone is playing mahjong these days" by Kathy Bradshaw
  • "Oh Generous One, Oh Noble One, Oh Hero: The Path of the Akhi in Anatolia" by Angela Waldron
  • "Anatolian Sikke" by Angela Waldron
  • "The Evil Eye" by Angela Waldron
  • "English as both Gateway and Barrier to Legitimacy and Success in Post-colonial African Literature" by Douglas Walters
  • "A Pilgrimage to the Holy City of Lhasa" by Angela Waldron

Non-Rhyming Poetry

  1. "Wiffle Ball" by Gary V. Powell
  2. "留下街道 [Liuxia Street]" by Yan Zhang
  3. "Another Supermarket in California" by Judith Chibante
  4. "What Kind of Fool" by Alison Luterman
  5. "Untitled" by Michael Olson
  6. "16th Street Flight" by Kent Neal
  7. "Day Trip" by Paul Tifford Jr.
  8. "Horsie—A Sestina for Mommy" by Kendra Aya
  9. "Human Binoculars" by Todd Friedman
  10. "Where Water Meets the Sky" by M. G. Field

Honorable Mentions

  • "The New England Aspect" by Jeffery Allen Tobin
  • "Snow on the Brain" by Paul Tifford Jr.
  • "Ordinary Birds" Erin Murphy
  • "I Need To Be Something Worth Losing" by Jacob Reisinger
  • "A Garden of Penitents" by Redd Ryder
  • "A Used Up Year" by D.T. Christensen
  • "Passages" by Paula J. Lambert
  • "Spring Light" by Stephen Burns
  • "We Discover Fire: Elkhart Indiana, 1962" by Julie Novak-McSweeney
  • "A História da Criação" by Lauren Michelle Finkle
  • "Nice Clothes" by Brian Evans
  • "A Class for Almost-Mothers" by Adele Evershed
  • "Bluebeard: A Sestina" by Serrina Zou
  • "A Night at Fort Stevens" by Brian Evans
  • "ippississiM Backwards" by Michelle Alexander
  • "Riding from Synesthesia to Metaphor on a Bicycle Built for Two" by Stephanie Saywell
  • "Deadweight" by Rebecca Buller
  • "Sophomore Year" by Rebecca Buller
  • "The Post Office" by Rebecca Buller
  • "what to do when your ex-husband stops by for your last signature on legal forms" by Kathy Lenney
  • "The Bird of Your Life" by Alison Luterman
  • "Grief Potatoes" by Alison Luterman
  • "El Tapatio" by Paula Wagner
  • "The Pepsi Guy" by Kimberly Shaw
  • "The Sun Does Shine in the Ghetto" by Elizabeth Smith
  • "We Love Uncle Mengele" by C. Lynn Shaffer
  • "The Tip of the Wip" by Ockert Greeff
  • "Into the Last Nights" by Ockert Greeff
  • "All the Way to This Heavy Tree" by Ockert Greeff
  • "Dance Studio on the Assabet" by D.T. Christensen
  • "Toward an Understanding of Summer" by D.T. Christensen
  • "Yellow Grass" by Ayla Walter
  • "The Tyranny of Maps" by Dennis Todd
  • "R2-D2" by Kay King
  • "Green" by Suellen Wedmore
  • "Mastered the Art" by Jane R. Snyder
  • "Two Doors" by John Gibson
  • "on anxious attachment" by Leta Rebecca Cunningham
  • "I Speak" by Mel Diyarza
  • "i stood on america's shoulders and looked up at you" by Dean Gessie
  • "A Reading from the Book of Sidewalk" by Jill A. Melchoir
  • "Jumping From a Cedar Lake Pier, circa 1970’s" by Rebecca Evans
  • "What She Does with Fire" by Meg Taylor
  • "Witness to a Murder" by Michael Shoemaker
  • "The Net" by Emily Portillo
  • "a force of nature" by Dean Gessie
  • "It Is Still Good" by Anissa Lynne Johnson
  • "13th Street" by Lyn Caldwell
  • "Oh, How He Washed, and How She Pitied" by Magiel Ockert Greeff

Rhyming Poetry

  1. "Plaints of the Old Git" by Peter Hankins
  2. "Servant by the Sea" by P.D. McMilian
  3. "Barn Cats" by Linda Lee Bowen
  4. "The Black Mare" by Jorge Rojas, MD
  5. "Third Grade Redemption" by Victoria Mary Fach
  6. "If You Come to a Gathering of Trees" by Judith Chibante
  7. "Where Lost Cats Dance" by J.R. Roland
  8. "A Looking Glass Tribute" by Janet S. Qually
  9. "The Time of Mud" by Kurt Luchs
  10. "Heavenly Ocean Views" by Leslie Charles Stanford

Honorable Mentions

  • "On Visiting Berlin's Empty Library Memorial" by Laurie Clark
  • "A Sonnet for All Our Broken Angels" by Adele Evershed
  • "Aelios" by Jafar Cain
  • "Nana's Lament" by Anne Madigan Murphy
  • "The Future Bird Scientist" by Shannon Miller
  • "Rhyming Poem" by Falsetto Prophet
  • "The Cardboard Underneath" by Christopher Williams
  • "Olathe" by Amber Wommack Fox
  • "Lovers of Chaos" by Elena Tolstova
  • "The Latch Lifter" by Barry Childs
  • "As One" by Fig Aster
  • "Darkest Before Dawn" by Stephen Torrens
  • "Buried" by asha anand
  • "Sturdy Joe Sonnet" Paul Tifford Jr.
  • "Father's Lullaby" by Grant Moore
  • "The Moon is Always Round" by Landon Porter
  • "The piano in the alley" by Hagai Perets
  • "Hair Like That" by Rocky Lepliin
  • "Our Stain to Lament" by Jennifer Roberts
  • "The Tale of Fanny McGree, No One as Famous as She" by Briana Melton
  • "Daddy's Smile" by Tamiko Nesbitt
  • "The Longest Goodbye" by Holly Emery
  • "The Porch Lady and Her Feral Friend" by Katrina Soto
  • "The Ship" by Labertha McCormick
  • "Seed Corn Should Not Be Ground" by J.W. Rose
  • "Resolution" by R. Spencer Dooley
  • “The Box” by Aimée Doyle
  • "On The Night You Were Born" by Terri Michels
  • "All that Glitters" by P.D. McMilian
  • "Inside" by Freeman Ng
  • "Parody of Hush Little Baby" by SunYeong Still
  • "Reign of a Cloud" by Matthew Wenzel
  • "Bells On The Wind" by Kimberly Shaw
  • "The Chair Beside the Window" by Rhys Evans
  • "The Chicken's Wedding" by Julia Griffin
  • "A Necklace of Words" by John Wagner
  • "Disappearing" by Villanelle Kurt Luchs
  • "myths" by Michael Miller
  • "The Dream of Crossing the Water" by Mary Brennan
  • "Did You Call Me?" by Mary Brennan