“when nothing is happening, when nothing is being said, but you feel like life is finally happening, even if you are just catching their jawline and no one else knows why you almost dropped your wine.”
“For three weeks I watch geese at sunset / outside the hospital window, bellies lit orange”
“like a cry of ecstasy, and the solemn / countenance of the resin Mary / perched above my desk looks coy-“
“Yet as / the tide climbed, I wondered: when the / floods arrived, would my prince be beside / me, willing to swim? Or would he, as my / mother’s bones hinted, flee?”
By Sa Whitley
“Miss Mary, she say, God is good, and Jon gonna be alright. My late Grandma / Dorothy in my dream say, Jon Boy, he alright, and her hands covered high / yellow in batter from frying us”
By Weijia Pan
“I could read history from the back of your reddened skull. / You could read me directly, reflected in the eyes of passers-by.”
We are honored to share with everyone the winners and finalists of the 2024 Previously Published Poem Prize! Please join us in congratulating these remarkable poets. Winners were selected by Palette editors.
We are honored to share with everyone the winners and finalists of the 2023 Resistance & Resilience Prize! Please join us in congratulating these remarkable poets. Winners were selected by Natasha Rao.
By Bazeed
“that bark & branches bristle / with eyes / see all that happens / under the sky. / all that murders & slithers / from sea to shining sea.”