June 2019

Judge’s comments I ultimately awarded first place to “Loaded trunk falling down a flight of stairs like choir birds” for its unrelenting imagery and the author’s broad perspective on the theme. —Nancy Carol Moody Poet bio Shari Crane Fox comes from Cherokee, Lakota, Blackfoot and Irish roots. She holds advanced degrees from the University of

Judge’s comments My second-place choice, “Assemblage. The Anthropocene,” successfully employs the device of a visual artwork (the assemblage of the title) to imagine a geographical reality in urgently enjambed and insistent language. —Nancy Carol Moody Poet bio Michael G. Smith’s poetry has been published in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Cider Press Review, Crannóg, Labletter, Nimrod,

Impending Water Shortage: Facts & Incantations by Khadija Anderson Over 5 billion people could suffer water shortages by 2050 Money washed in clear rain water cannot be stolen   To spill water while carrying it from the spring or brook is an omen of sorrow Global demand for water has increased six-fold over the past

Honorable mentions: 1st Honorable Mention: “I Promise to Keep These Promises” by Jennifer Dorner, Klamath Falls, OR 2nd Honorable Mention: “Anthem for the Anthropocene” by Alida Rol, Eugene, OR 3rd Honorable Mention: “Ode to the Worst Air Quality in Two Decades” by Hillary Tully, Eugene, OR Judge’s comments Congratulations to all of the poets who

Slippage by Eleanor Berry Venus of Urbino, Olympia—each successive version slips farther indoors from the mythic landscape where Botticelli’s Venus sleeps. In Hiratsuka’s Breakfast on the Bed, the reclining female is not nude, though she appears so from a distance. Up close, one sees she’s wearing a slip. From outside the frame, a maid comes

For a Distant Friend by Delia Garigan While I’m cracking eggs & heaping plates with food Campers and vans line the roadway, in assembly with you.   A child’s teeth will be opening for the brush When a fox slides out from the scrub, scenting you.   At the crest of the hill the road

Hiraeth from an Oregon beach to a lost island by Amelia Díaz Ettinger I return to the image of a sky that devoured an ocean, and an ocean that splits my ghosts from the living.   Not by cloud or breath can I touch those faces, faded along with their voices, a choice I made

Judge’s comments The ghazal entries arrived on my doorstep while I had the flu. My first reading of these beautiful poems cheered, lifted, and helped heal me—so much wisdom and craft! Such deep feeling and acute intelligence! Because of the high quality of entries, though, selecting the winners and honorable mentions was difficult, requiring many,