Tag: Contest

Self. Deception. / Dick Westheimer

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It’s a rare moment when a finicky reader comes across a villanelle that is not only flawlessly constructed (no small feat!), but that also presents a sensitive self-examination to which virtually anyone might relate. These successes are insightfully sustained through the poet’s use of precise metaphors, well-handled allusions (notably to Marianne Moore), alongside a few unexpected, startling details, for instance, “my heart’s hardened to the mice and the beetles”. Also noteworthy is the wonderful, self-effacing tone maintained throughout. – Marilyn L. Taylor.

A Portrait of Narcissus With His Phone / Pedro Poitevin

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Countless “portraits” of Narcissus have appeared in western art and literature over the centuries, but to my knowledge few, if any, have portrayed the young god as he poses for the ultimate selfie. This poem is also a gracefully constructed Petrarchan sonnet, well-realized both metrically and by virtue of the meticulous word choices. Finally—and rather surprisingly, the poem’s overall tone lands somewhere between formal eloquence and unpretentious clarity.

Between Light / Jennifer Burd

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A winning poem in 3rd Wednesday’s annual poetry contest:

This relatively brief poem is ostensibly about a garden, but one that wastes no time finding its way, quietly and unexpectedly, into a very dark domain. Borrowing from the vivid vocabulary of more predictable poems about gardens, the speaker describes instead an environment in slow decay, while providing a warning that we, the observers, are blithely “deadheading in the clarified air.” I consider it a jarring but undeniably memorable poem, infused with the grim inevitability of mortality. – Marilyn L. Taylor, Contest judge.

Circe at the Laundromat / Michelle Holland

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Michelle submitted one of 3 winning poems in 3rd Wednesday’s annual poetry contest. Here is what contest judge, Marilyn Taylor had to say: “A memorable take on the goddess Circe, who has been brought back to life in the unlovely confines of the Pinch Penny Laundromat. In a single stanza, the poet/observer takes note of some strong similarities between herself and this mythological bringer of magic potions and heavenly bedding, along with the firm (if questionable) conviction that “men are pigs.” Cleverly appropriated from the original legend, this poem is a delight.”

Portrait Gallery: The Class of 2024 / Joel Savishinsky

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Joel’s poem is one of three winning poems from 3rd Wednesday’s annual poetry contest. Contest judge, Marilyn L. Taylor said: “Here the concept of human mortality is explored in vivid, human terms, using the poet’s own recollections of friends, acquaintances, and miscellaneous others who may have pre-deceased him, but who somehow do not die. Against the background of his “private necropolis”, the speaker comes to a breathtaking — and genuinely disturbing — conclusion. Extremely well conceived and well expressed.”

Landscape with Knife and Crows / Ceridwen Hall

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Of this winning poem from 3rd Wednesday’s annual poetry contest, Judge Marilyn L. Taylor said:
“This very visual, beautifully written short poem could be read as a crash course in what scholars call “philosophical biology.” Any attempt to paraphrase it would do it zero justice, but my takeaway is that the poem suggests– (in only nine lines, crisscrossed with stark aviary imagery)– the difficulty of existing simultaneously as an organism and a mathematical concept. I find it an exceedingly thought-provoking meditation on the nature of reality.”