Contests

Honorable mentions: 1st Honorable Mention: “Against Neighborhood Noise” by Cecelia Hagen, Eugene, OR 2nd Honorable Mention: “The Turning Year” by Linda Barnes, Medford, OR 3rd Honorable Mention: “Rondeau for the Millennial Whoop” by Jen Karetnick, Miami Shores, FL Judge’s comments Big cheers to all the OPA poets who wrote and submitted rondeaus. The catchy, musical

soddo ethiopia 1 by Brad Canfield the sun disintegrates in a ditch a pile of clothes that are no longer any real color the sound of wind in metal wash tubs the sound of the sun on yellow jugs lined up at the well the sound of painted soccer balls swinging in a net from

Canned Fruit in the Crawl Space by Diana Morley Mom has no use for Bible talk—sinners, saints, all gobbledegook cooked up to snag your soul. When she and Jesus met by chance, each stared in disbelief, asked out loud which of us is real? Jesus saves souls, not worldly goods; Mom who saves goods, asks

One Light by Krayna Castelbaum i stand in the gently flowing stream stately as the trees still as the rocks all of us dappled by the same light     Judge’s comments I appreciate the simplicity of this third-place poem, and I love its wrap. —Colette Tennant Krayna Castelbaum honors her passion for deep inquiry

Honorable mentions: 1st Honorable Mention: “Visit to Seattle” by Lucy Cotter, Portland, OR 2nd Honorable Mention: “Response to Tess Gallagher’s poem ‘He Would Have, in Moon Crossing Bridge’” by Bren Carver, Newport, OR 3rd Honorable Mention: “Coming Home” by Emily Antonia Fox García, Vancouver, WA Judge’s comments I had to remind myself I was judging

Searching for the True Gesture #2 by Joshua Boettiger My Grandfather has my mother sit on her hands so she can learn to talk without gesticulating. She grows up and becomes a dancer. I flail like a man without a piñata, who senses there might be one nearby. I reach for things elsewhere— the perfect

Yelapa Regret by Lois Rosen Four-legged, seaside swain, sashays into my no-door, open-air palapa along with smells of grilling tortillas raucous chachalaca birdcall clatter. Light brown, maybe a Labrador mix more surfer dude than simpering pet a guest without reservations, here for a one-nighter, perhaps longer, a stray with no collar. I back away fretting

Picking Peaches by Judson Hyatt The way they are placed gently in the bottom of the galvanized bucket so their sibs have cushion when they arrive. The way the bucket fills quickly one after another so the late-comers can peep over the rim. The way heat blasts and sun-shade hats are needed to avoid the

Honorable mentions: 1st Honorable Mention: “Rowing Machine” by Judith Barrington, Portland, OR 2nd Honorable Mention: “Renault Shocked” by Charlie Southerland, Viola, AR 3rd Honorable Mention: “Tips” by John McPherson, Portland, OR Judge’s comments What a pleasure to dive into a great wodge of poems all 20 lines or less, by OPA members, and let them

Dream: At the Beach by Robin Rosen Chang [gview file=”https://oregonpoets.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Rosen_Chang-Dream-at-the-Beach.pdf”] Robin Rosen Chang’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Michigan Quarterly Review, Zone 3, Paterson Literary Review, Yemassee Journal, Vinyl Poetry, Up the Staircase Quarterly, and other journals. She has an MFA in Poetry from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. An