POETRY OPEN
2022 RESULTS
FIRST PRIZE ($1,000)
“A Moment Caught in Time”
Joanne Jagoda
SECOND PRIZE ($100)
“Summer, Sweden”
Harry Stessel
HONORABLE MENTION ($25)
“Come Die with Me”
T.A. Ciccarone
“A Bomb’s Life”
Bill Eihausen
“Plague Sestina”
Hosanna Greene
“Amaranth”
Alinda Dickinson Wasner
NOTABLE POEMS
“Mom Says She’ll Pay for My Egg Freezing”
Gillat Kol
“Give Me My Statue”
David Lee Morgan
“Lady Stardust”
Jack McGraw
“Carboncillo”
Juan Pablo Luzuriaga
“18th and Vine”
Sherri Armel Cox
“They Call Us”
Camille Dawn
“Extended Family”
Mark Smith-Soto
“Egret”
Yelena Yantovskaya Barth
“Burglary”
Camden Mazzeo
“The Box”
Lauren Leanzie Lynch
“Da Cowboy”
Charles Carter
THANK YOU to all who entered for letting us hear what is in your hearts. It was an honor. Thanks also to our amazing team of readers. We will start taking entries for the 2023 Poetry Open in early September.
May peace be with you.
David Bright, Editor
2021 RESULTS
FIRST PRIZE ($1,000)
“Gimp Boy and I”
James Henry Zukin
SECOND PRIZE ($100)
“Eyes (circa 1990)”
Beatrice Kujichagulia Greene
HONORABLE MENTION ($25)
“Myself”
Ana Wooldridge
“Derailed”
Suzanne Chick
“Leaf Storm”
David Butler
“I Did a Soldier’s Job Today”
Tom Bixby
NOTABLE POEMS
“A Nor’easter During Covid” Roberta Cooks
“Self Portrait as a Trauma Patient” Liz Holland
“Moving Day” Jed Myers
“I Dug Up a Body Once” Carrie Martin
“Last-Chance Finance” Barbara Ritchie
“Cottonwood Ward, Pontiac State Hospital” Michelle Morouse
“White Grass” William Leo Coakley
“Leaves Descending at a Soccer Game” Sam Wright
“Louise” Harry Stessel
“Sundowning” Audrey DiPlacido
“Consume” Rose Mercer
2020 RESULTS
FIRST PLACE ($1,000 PRIZE):
CAROLANNE CONERLY GRIFFIN
“Ghetto Gold”
SECOND PLACE ($100 PRIZE):
SEAN WEBB
“Wake”
HONORABLE MENTION ($25):
KIM FARRAR
“Powerful Forces”
RICHARD DOWNING
“3-way”
KENNETH FRIES
“Deeper in the Black”
ADINA KOPINSKY
“Ten Weeks Early”
NOTABLE POEMS:
“When Kelvin Trembles” Mona Helen Renney
“Self-Portrait as Egg Beater” Jendi Reiter
“The Fisherman’s Tale” Bruce Harris
“Star Detour” Kerry Rawlinson
“I Wonder if Dave Chappelle Has Ever Been to Santa Fe?”
Jack Vian
“Orchard” Svea Kučinić
“haikus: I had a dream the ocean blew away”
Sam Olson
“The Return” Laura Castro
2019 RESULTS
FIRST PLACE ($1,000 PRIZE):
PARTRIDGE BOSWELL
“Ode to the Umbrella”
SECOND PLACE ($100 PRIZE):
JULIA B. LEVINE
“Lamentation with the Detroit River”
HONORABLE MENTION ($25):
ROB JACQUES
“Banana, Sunshine, Chair”
SHIRLEY JONES-LUKE
“Want”
JOSHUA MARTIN
“Dying Towns”
LAURA FOLEY
“Octubre”
NOTABLE POEMS:
“On My Way to Getting Married” John Breen
“Watching a Man Watch a Spider” Catherine Wald
“St. George’s Lake, Copenhagen” J.H. Hall
“Abattoir” Fred Mcilmoyle
“Haiku Number 75” Mary D’Alba
“Dizzy” Aurora M. Lewis
“Airport Bookstores and August Nights” Joanne Jagoda
“Hatbox Fantasy” Jen OConnor
2018 RESULTS
FIRST PLACE ($1,000 PRIZE):
ANNE BOWER
“The Internet of Everything”
SECOND PLACE ($100 PRIZE):
RAFAELLA DEL BOURGO
“Winter, Lower Longley, Tasmania”
HONORABLE MENTION ($25):
MICHAEL MILLER
“Killing”
GLENA TRACHTA
“Offering Prayer, or What I Brought to Standing Rock”
DONNA GINN
“The N.A.I.C. Building”
MICHAEL HARTY
“Canes”
NOTABLE POEMS:
“January’s Full Moon in Transit” Mary Fitzpatrick
“Family on the PATH Train” Sakinah Hofler
“Winter’s Greater Goals” Kriss Erickson
“Death” Gilbert Arzola
“For the Love Of” Aurora M. Lewis
“Maybe Mourning Doves” Carol Kanter
“The Viciousness of Vegetation” Suzanne Kiera Anthony
“Experts” Amy Pechukas
“Ode to a Banana Slug” Peter Nash
“Balaclava” Jane Craven
“What the World Loses” Christy Wise
“Year Four, After the Revolution” J. Hoy
“The Plains as Seen from Above” Anne Leigh Parrish
2017 RESULTS
FIRST PLACE ($1,000 PRIZE):
SEAN WEBB
“Fields”
SECOND PLACE ($100 PRIZE):
JEREMIAH BRAGG
“Laoch”
HONORABLE MENTION ($25):
LISA STARR
“Family Affair”
ESTHER WHITMAN JOHNSON
“On Kissing Her Husband Goodbye”
FRANKIE DRAYUS
“Girl Waiting in Line for a Film”
KATHLEEN KRAFT
“Swedish Fish”
NOTABLE POEMS:
“The Arachnid Artist” E.E. King
“Vendor” Dana Kroos
“In the Kitchen They Danced” Donna O’Shaughnessy
“Public Woman” Arielle Hebert
“Scene Two” Douglas Cole
“Savage Girl” Sophia Rubenstein
“Accounts” Melissa Cannon
“A Sonnet for Old Glory” Claude Clayton Smith
2016 RESULTS
FIRST PLACE ($1,000 PRIZE):
NANDI COMER
“Gentle (Calling Your Name)”
SECOND PLACE ($100 PRIZE):
JONATHAN GREENHAUSE
“It’s just another day in a state-sponsored democracy”
HONORABLE MENTION ($25):
LEE VARON
“Letter to a Pedophile #1”
BRENNAN DeFRISCO
“Produce”
SALLY VOGL
“After Reading a New Student’s Medical Report”
BETH MILLS
“Waiting”
NOTABLE POEMS:
“Ambulatory Schizophrenia” Gene Fendt
“How to develop an aversion to bright sunny days” Ann Kaiser
“Jersey Gulls” William Derge
“Reflection” Emma Coffman
“Winter Moon” Ruth Troughton
“Rifle” Michael Baldwin
“The Bomb-Maker’s Last Bomb” Jack Vian
2015 RESULTS
FIRST PLACE ($1,000 PRIZE):
GENE FENDT
“Water”
SECOND PLACE ($100 PRIZE):
GERRY McFARLAND
“Code Blue”
HONORABLE MENTION ($25):
RICHARD G. HAGEN
“The Letter Opener”
KATHY PELL
“Flying South”
JOHN BRANTINGHAM
“Coyote Blood”
FRED McILMOYLE
“Apocalypse”
NOTABLE POEMS:
“Mr. Avocado Man” (Joanne Jagoda), “Laundry” (Donna Spector), “We Sing of Dreams” (W.J. Burns), “Noise” (James O. Kelly), “Ballroom” (Jamie Lynn Millard), “Grief” (Kim Garcia), “Shadow World” (Barbara Tate), “The Liquidators” (Jonathan Travelstead), “Family Detention Center: New Mexico Border” (Renny Golden)
2014 RESULTS
FIRST PLACE ($1,000 PRIZE):
SUSAN MILLER
“When Do I Pray?”
SECOND PLACE ($100 PRIZE):
SARA BACKER
“Strip”
HONORABLE MENTION ($25):
DAVID HOLPER
“The Bridge”
ROSALIND BRENNER
“Storm”
SARAH COLBY
“Embarkation for War”
CAROL SEITCHIK
“Tel Aviv: a Portrait”
NOTABLE POEMS:
“Madame X,” Lauren K. Alleyne; “Drop-Off,” Michael Milburn; “Bite,” Sandra Weyant; “Last Planet from the Sun,” Leland James; “Written on a Copyright Page,” Julia Older; “Vodka on the Rocks,” Brant Welty; “Indefusible Molotov Device,” Jack Vian; “The Mammogram,” Patricia McConnell; “Cape Breton,” Hannah Loeb; “Roadside Stand: Highway 33,” J.D. Blair; “Oyster Point Marina (November),” Jerold Zell; “Editing a Failed Poem,” Justin Naylor; “The city of Washington does not have you in mind tonight (apologies to Deborah Landau),” Peter Dugan
2013 RESULTS
1ST PLACE ($1,000 PRIZE):
LEONORE HILDEBRANDT
“Rock Me”
2ND PLACE ($100 PRIZE):
KENDAL PRIVETTE
“for a girl, unknown”
3RD PLACE ($50 PRIZE):
LETITIA MONTGOMERY-RODGERS
“Swagger (God hollas at Mary)”
HONORABLE MENTION ($25):
CHELLIS GLENDINNING
“Outlaw”
JULIA OLDER
“Likewise”
PAULA C. BRANCATO
“Stoop”
NOTABLE POEMS:
“Other Americas (in a Haibun),” Ellaraine Lockie; “Overqualified,” Cindy Rosmus; “Thanks for Giving,” Carla Thompson; “The Ballad of John Collier,” Jane Elkin; “Women Who Love Truckers,” Tom Reynolds; “Ways In Which I Remember You,” Christine Amezquita; “In Our Formica Scullery,” Marina Kharkover; “On the Road in Maharashtra,” Elizabeth A. Gibson; “Vacationing in the Pacific,” Gary Arthur; “Bourbon Street,” Jerold Zell; “East Bay Stand Down,” Michael Pearce; “Shoshone Winter,” Cal Lewis
2012 RESULTS
1ST PLACE ($1,000 PRIZE):
SHERYL MEBANE
“Renga for an Absent Lover”
2ND PLACE ($100 PRIZE):
GERARDO MENA
“A Nursing Home Boxer to a High School Volunteer”
3RD PLACE ($50 PRIZE):
CHRISTINA LOVIN
“11/11/11”
HONORABLE MENTION:
JENDI REITER
“Depression Is My Happy Place”
RUSS DICKERSON
“What the Fuck?”
AURORA M. LEWIS
“Morris’ Magic”
NOTABLE POEMS: “Hemets Wildcat Oil Well,” JeanThurston Liebert; “Real Doctor,” Cal Lewis, M. D. ; “Martin,” Nash J. Lundquist; “If I Leave You,” SharonRogoff; “After the Mastectomy,” Megan Peak; “ChanceMeeting,” Lawrence Kessenich; “Liminal,” TatianaForero Puerta; “Jap Camp,” Caroline Zarlengo Sposto; “La Nina,” Ruth Goring; “New Years Cleaning,” MaraBuck; “He Told Me,” Sarah Ghoshal; “Victory Dance,1945,” Nick Sweet; “Ashes,” Gail Eisenhart; “Swift,” Jane Schneeloch; “The Last House,” Betty Jameson; “Whos Gonna… ?” Deborah Valianti; “I Have Risked Enchantment (title stolen from Lawrence Ferlinghetti),” Marie Chambers; “Why the Willow Weeps,” StanleyModrak; “The Last Wildflower,” Don Shook
2011 RESULTS
1ST PLACE ($1,000 PRIZE):
DAVID MOHAN
“The Lazarus Dream”
2ND PLACE ($100 PRIZE):
MAB JONES
“The Three Coats”
3RD PLACE ($50 PRIZE):
BILL MARABLE
“Epiphany at the Arab Store”
HONORABLE MENTION:
LESLIE KING
“Missile”
SMOKEY MILES
“When Jesus Came to Hollywood”
STEPHEN JOSEPH
“The Hypocrite and the Orphanage”
Noteworthy poems include “Rage, ” by Heather Miller; “The Atelier in Winter, ” by Micah Herzog Stack; “OnFifth Avenue, ” by Alice Jay; “Michael, ” by Aurora M. Lewis; “Divorce Attorney, ” by Edyt Dickstein; “Nana, “by Bonnie West, and “Final Push, ” by quicksand3005.