After much arguing and reading and rereading then handing the amazing poems we selected over to Hadara Bar-Nadav to select a winner of the inaugural Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize ... we have one.
A huge congratulations to Megan Merchant of Prescott, Arizona. Megan lives with her husband and two children there and holds an M.F.A. degree in International Creative Writing from UNLV and is the author of three full-length poetry collections with Glass Lyre Press: Gravel Ghosts (2016), The Dark’s Humming (2015 Lyrebird Award Winner, 2017), Grief Flowers (2018), four chapbooks and a children’s book, These Words I Shaped for You (Philomel Books). Her latest book, Before the Fevered Snow, was released in April 2020 with Stillhouse Press. She was awarded the 2016-2017 COG Literary Award, judged by Juan Felipe Herrera, the 2018 Beullah Rose Poetry Prize, and most recently, second place in the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. She is an Editor at Pirene’s Fountain and The Comstock Review. You can find her work at meganmerchant.wix.com/poet.
Megan's winning poem, "Every day I draw a different bird," and a short interview will be featured in our upcoming fall issue.
We also congratulate runner-up Stacey Balkun and finalists James D'Agostino, Mag Gabbert and Jessica Walsh. Balkun's poem "Lure" will run in the fall issue; D'Agostino, Gabbert and Walsh's poems, "Prairie Warble," "Mare" and "Better One // Better Two" respectively, will appear in the spring issue.
We are honored to have received so many outstanding submissions and look forward to holding this contest for many years to come.
Sincerely,
The editors
