The Hidden Springs
“I have a feeling for a moment that the elk is God—/ a god that we can watch.” | by Sarah Maclay
Poems
Art Deco Sonnet
“O sleekness, O pizzazz, O mirrors, O chrome,/O remnant inklings of a light-struck world” | by Jacqueline Osherow
Ghazal Season
“Once, I wrote a ghazal trimmed in gold,/ to mirror the implausible” | by Jacqueline Osherow
Cochlea
“The murkiness, the smog, the thickened haze/ in me are hard to love.” | by Jehanne Dubrow, 2021 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
The Usual Suspects or a Chronological List of the Ways Men Have Referred to my Breasts:
“They’re my favorite part of you, Mama,/ my son says, pressing into them hard” | by Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach, 2021 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
Silence in Syria
“Melt the ink into my hands/ like the metal of a tank being welded./ Use this newspaper as a rag” | by Seif-Eldeine, 2021 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
Exit
“On every door in this village/ there are last notes left by families/ crossing the sea to another land.” | by Rasaq Malik, 2021 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
The Starlight in Syria
“The wounded know stars are a furnace/ for mankind’s sins. The wounded curl themselves/ into a ball of starlight” | by Seif-Eldeine, 2021 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
I sat next to Adele on a plane and she bought me a house
“I’d gotten a fluky upgrade, moved from 38C to 4B./ She— a stranger still, was already sitting, a silver/ studded handbag at her feet,” | by Patrick Holloway, 2021 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
monarchs are the communication medium for when i die
“a tiny sun in my belly quieted by sweet tea & new tales” | by Phil SaintDenisSanchez, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
Pluto Retires(And During The Exit Interview Sits Near a Wide Window While Watching a Violence of Florida Rainbow Wreckage Unleash Its Storm Over an Empty Magic Kingdom)
“Time to hand in your costume child./ – So much has happened here.” | by Michael Martin, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
Wheel
“How I loved saying I was deeply skeptical of the adverb, very/ but then I got run over by a truck” | by Michael Martin, 2020 C.P Cavafy Finalist
We Were the Kind
“to tell it true we’d say/ we don’t know what it is/ we’re nowhere near the end of.” | by Michael Martin, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
Dent on an Old Hum
“I set the ghosts free./ I found a new way to wear my hat.” | by Michael Martin, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
Any Minor Art World
“He’s far too young to be alone in this life/ and even a tiny frayed lawn chair can feel/ as heavy as a stranger.” | by Michael Martin, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
Mother Tongue
“Walking to the shuq to buy tapoocheem, chalav, and lechem from a merchant who didn’t care—” | by Mari Pack, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
Mammals, Mammals
“After learning the word mammal in first grade,/ I threw it at whatever moved.” | by Lance Larsen, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
Like A Thief in the Night
“My twitchy legs brood at never taking this wreck/ of bone spurs for a hike around the lake./ Meanwhile, my spirit says, don’t sweat it” | by Lance Larsen, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
If It Wasn’t My Daughter
“If it wasn’t/ my daughter, I wouldn’t have prayed like a man/ in a burning forest” | by Lance Larsen, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist
An Amateur’s Guide to Summer
“crash kiss, pesto and blue corn chips kiss/ that was the summer you tracked them all” | by Lance Larsen, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist