2022 Poetry Contest Winners

Our 2022 Judge, Abby E. Murray, is the editor of Collateral, a literary journal concerned with the impact of violent conflict and military service beyond the combat zone. Her first book, Hail and Farewell, won the Perugia Press Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. She was the 2019-2021 poet laureate for the city of Tacoma, Washington, and after relocating to Washington DC for two years, she is now in the process of returning to Washington State.


 

Abby Murray says of this poem,

The poet’s handling of this simple but stark imagery shows restraint in a way that lets one lingering encounter with death absorb all the light our eyes can give to it by reading. How does a poem manage to feel so ghostly while rooted in the experience of living? In my notes, I wrote, I love this.

 

Abby Murray says of this poem,

This is a beautiful, dancing glimpse at a single word’s role in the poet’s heart. The way words are used—and by whom—matters. Every word has infinite histories, knowings, possibilities, births, and deaths within it, and it does us good to explore those experiences. This poet accomplishes that exploration while creating a poem that, in the end, instructs us on how to appreciate a word.

 

Abby Murray says of this poem,

A poem that is true to its title: one moment, equal parts prayer and blessing, shared between writer and reader. Exquisite in its simplicity and truthfulness.