We’re pleased to announce the following $15,000 Rattle Poetry Prize winner:

“Pantoum from the Window of the Room Where I Write”
Alison Townsend
Stoughton, Wisconsin

Alison Townsend is the author of two award-winning books of poetry, The Blue Dress and Persephone in America, and a volume of prose, The Persistence of Rivers: An Essay on Moving Water. Professor Emerita of English at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, she lives in the country outside Madison.

Finalists:

 

“I Admit Myself to the Psych Ward in a Pandemic”
Beck Anson
Burlington, VT

“Survival Is a Matter of Perspective When”
Chaun Ballard
Anchorage, AK

“Farm Sonnet”
Kitty Carpenter
Salem, MO

“Spoon-Rest Mammies”
Skye Jackson
New Orleans, LA

“Army Memorial Service: Tikrit”
Gordon Kippola
Bremerton, WA

“And Also I Ran”
Lance Larson
Provo, UT

“Greener Pastures”
Jessica Lee
Nashville, TN

“Dear Husband”
Austen Leah Rose
Eugene, OR

“Empty Souls”
Alexis Rotella
Arnold, MD

“Mega”
Shelly Stewart
Jasper, AL

These eleven poems will published in issue #70 of Rattle. Each of the Finalists are also eligible for the $5,000 Readers’ Choice Award, selected by subscriber vote in February.

An additional 15 poems were selected for standard publication, and offered a space in the open section of a future issue. These poets have been notified individually about details, but they are: Francesca Bell, Frank Beltrano, Susan Browne, Red Hawk, Clemonce Heard, Danusha Lameris, Lance Larsen, A.D. Lauren-Abunassar, Sam Leon, Alison Luterman, Taylor Mali, Emily May Portillo, and Mike White.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the competition, which would not have been a success without your diverse and inspiring poems. This felt like the strongest year of entries by a wide margin, and we really enjoyed the opportunity to read. We received 4,882 entries, and it was an honor to read every poem.