These fourteen-liners are little gems of compression. Sometimes metrical, sometimes end-rhymed, and always awake to vernacular speech, they are playful, sensual and direct. They look hard, but not harshly; they sing their troubles and find some accommodation with them, a way to get through: “I love a wound. How honest it is./Don’t you, secretly, too? Isn’t that why/we bloom?” Another poem speaks of lovers “who fail/far less at splendor than I.” But there is quiet splendor here, a marvelous attention to craft along with an assured, engaging voice.

—Kim Addonizio, Contest Judge

ABOUT THE JUDGE

Kim Addonizio has authored twelve books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Her most recent are Bukowski in a Sundress:Confessions from a Writing Life, from Penguin, and Mortal Trash: Poems from W.W. Norton. Her work has been recognized with two NEA Fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes, and other honors. Her poetry collection Tell Me was a finalist for the National Book Award. Addonizio teaches poetry workshops online and in her home in Oakland, California. Learn more at www.kimadddonizio.com.

< BACK | NEXT >

TABLE OF CONTENTS