Exploring the Edges of Contemporary Poetry
Poetry: “Family Histories” and “Bombay Floods” by Lavanya Arora
Lavanya Arora’s poems are perfect examples of how much place and description can ground a reader in the speaker’s world, and even within a speaker’s family lineage. What makes certain descriptors so enchanting is their contrast and saturation—river water in…
Poetry: “Stone” by Mumukshu
Is a stone-cold love still love, or does it mean far less? Could it mean nothing? These are the questions Mumukshu explores in this poem, moving through vacuums searching for the “atoms and magnets” which are associated with warmth and…
Is a stone-cold love still love, or does it mean far less? Could it mean nothing? These are the questions Mumukshu explores in this poem, moving through vacuums searching for the “atoms and magnets” which are associated with warmth and…
In Retrospect: An Interview with Patricia Smith, 2026 Debut Chapbook Prize Guest Judge
This month’s “In Retrospect” interview is with Patricia Smith, who won the 2025 National Book Award for Poetry for her collection The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems, which was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.…
This month’s “In Retrospect” interview is with Patricia Smith, who won the 2025 National Book Award for Poetry for her collection The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems, which was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.…
Poetry: “I don’t know how an overdose works,” by Anna Leonard
The loss of a loved one is particularly challenging to navigate when, in life, helping them navigate addiction added friction to the relationship. Anna Leonard’s poem captures this friction in the exploration of knowing versus not knowing, negligibility versus negligence.…
The loss of a loved one is particularly challenging to navigate when, in life, helping them navigate addiction added friction to the relationship. Anna Leonard’s poem captures this friction in the exploration of knowing versus not knowing, negligibility versus negligence.…
Read Our Award Winning Chapbooks
Opportunity Cost
read and download our 2021 Chapbook Contest winner
selected by Kazim Ali
// by Abby Johnson //
IN THE YEAR OF OUR MAKING & UNMAKING
read and download our 2020 Chapbook Contest winner
selected by Carl Phillips
// by Frederick Speers //
Shadow Black
read and download our 2019 Chapbook Contest winner
selected by Jericho Brown
// by Naima Tokunow //
How Often I Have Chosen Love
read and download our 2018 Chapbook Contest winner
selected by Joshua Roark
// by Xiao Yue Shan //
