Finalists

Fiction

Emma Bolden’s “Assumption” from Mom Egg Review
Emma Eun-joo Choi’s “Strange Fish” from Passages North
Kathy Fish’s “Muriel’s Cyclone” from Mom Egg Review
Chelsea Harris’ “What I actually Am” from Alien
Sakinah Hofler’s “Erasure” from Kenyon Review
Arielle K. Jones’ “Sabbath” from The Rumpus
Hareendran Kallinkeel’s “The Restless Chilanga” from Infection House
Minyoung Lee’s “Make Me a Robot” from Monkey Bicycle
Ciera McElroy’s “River” from Bridge Eight
Jasmine Sawers’ “All Your Fragile History” from SmokeLong Quarterly
Susan Steinberg’s “Killers” from American Short Fiction
Lynn Steger Strong’s “DEBORAH” from Pigeon Pages
Thea Swanson’s “Bread-Bag Girls” from Gingerbread House
Lassiter Wraith’s “My Cat” from Roadrunner Review
Lucy Zhang’s “Eating disorders as an Algorithms Problem Set” from Crab Fat

Nonfiction

Carol Claassen’s “Object Permanence” from The Forge
Naomi Cohn’s “Entries from the Braille Encyclopedia” from Baltimore Review
Moisés R. Delgado’s “Mama says it’s a spirit and spirits can be prayed away, but I want to be haunted” from homology lit.
Camille T. Dungy’s “Diversity: A Garden Allegory” from On the Seawall
Carlos Andrés Gómez’s “Intersection” from Burningword
Berry Grass’ “Historical Record Survey — 30993 W 161st St.” from Waxwing
Kelly Gray’s “Falcons Cry” from The Account
Noor Hindi’s “American Beings” from Adroit
Faith S. Holsaert’s “How I Was Mothered” from North Carolina Literary Review Online
Brent House’s “The Humid Temptations” from Psaltery and Lyre
Kristine Langley Mahler’s “Two Truths and a Lie” from Ninth Letter
John Luckett’s “Prophets and Angels Weeping” Southeast Review
Iris McCloughan’s “Unlike Some Boys” from Anomaly
Cherie Nelson’s “But for Our Words: A Redaction” from Speculative Nonfiction
Sophie Paquette’s “The Scariest Thing” from The Rupture
Julian Saporiti’s “The Ghosts of No-No Boy in a Nation That Still imprisons Immigrants” from The Margins
Asha Thanki’s “kācabō” from Wildness
Lily Watson’s “Psych402” from Longleaf Review
Ji Yun’s “Checkpoints” translated by Yi Izzy Yu and John Yu Branscum from Passages North

Poetry

M. Saida Agostini’s “The Mermaid Speaks” from Barrelhouse
Hussain Ahmed’s “Sudan” from EcoTheo Review
zaina alsous’ “Arabidopsis” from The Rumpus
Justice Ameer’s “when white supremacy kills me” from Split This Rock
Derrick Austin’s “In the Decadence of Silence” from Adroit
Fullamusu Bangura’s “my mother sings the national anthem” from New Delta Review
Sasha Banks’ “From Canfield Green Apartments, Tituba, Rekia, and Cynthia Watch Michael Fall” from Apogee Journal
Wendy Barker’s “Why Cages” from Kenyon Review
DeMisty D. Bellinger’s “There Was Such a Glory: A Harriet Tubman Triptych III: Nurse Cook Spy” from Mason Street Review
Rosebud Ben-Oni’s “Poet Wrestling with the First & Foremost of Fundamental Forces” from The Cortland Review
Nickole Brown’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Saltine” from On The Seawall
Ina Cariño’s “It Feels Good to Cook Rice” from Waxwing
Kenneth Chacon’s “Christ in a Cholo Stance” from Blackbird
Cortney Lamar Charleston’s “It’s Important I Remember That in Order for White People to Study My Life They Must First Study My Bod” from Southeast Review
Caroline Chavatel’s “Spell for Misheard Sound” from Waccamaw Journal
Tiana Clark’s “My Daddies Have Voices Like Bachelors, Like Castigators & Crooners” from Four Way Review
Ashley Cline’s “radioactive summer/you are a chorus of fangs” from Third Point Press
Michael Collins’ “‘Tight Like This,’ recorded 1928, Chicago, Illinois” from The Rupture
Trishita Das’ “jol-khabar (জলখাবার)” from The Wild Word
Imani Davis’ “The Devil Wears Prada” from The Offing
Estrella del Valle’s “Coconuts” (translated by Toshiya Kamei) from Ligeia Magazine
Jeni De La O’s “Do You Get Nervous on Planes?” from Yes Poetry
Leslie Dianne’s “The Train From Abijan to Bouake” from KAIROS
Jose Hernandez Diaz’s “The Moon” from Diode
Natalie Diaz’s “I, Minotaur” from Granta
Chelsea Dingman’s “Powerlessness is the Animal we Fear” from Quarterly West
Carrie Etter’s “Stephanie” from Flashflood
Katherine Fallon’s “Decoy” from Lavender Review
Alexis Rhone Fancher’s “Power Play” from Harbor Review Magazine
Jessica Lynne Furtado’s “Self-Portrait as Owl” from Rogue Agent
Kristin Garth’s “Addiction” from Taco Bell Quarterly
Marissa Glover’s “The World Asks Too Much of Mothers” from Whale Road Review
Summer J. Hart’s “Red Bird, Red Bird” from Third Point Press
Shana Hill’s “Tied” from the Museum of Americana
Ren Chun Ho’s “Ballroom” from Porter House Review
Christina Im’s “thank thank” from Nostrovia! Press
Omotara James’ “Ceremony” from Redivider
Brionne Janae’s “Self-Portrait with a Line from Black Panther” from Waxwing
syan jay’s “Neck-Lace” from Beestung
Luke Johnson’s “This is what it looks like, son” from The Florida Review
Tatiana MR Johnson’s “My father hums in the kitchen and for the first time this is art” from Poem of the Moment / Hard Work of Hope
Jack Jung’s “Code” from Afternoon Visitor
Aris Kian’s “In Which I No Longer See My Face as Full of Potential” from The West Review
Divyasri Krishnan’s “Eventualities” from Third Point Press
Kevin Latimer’s “let’s let you dance” from DIALOGIST
Julia B Levine’s “Ghazal After the Abortion the Drought, the Rape” from SWWIM Every Day
Ada Limón’s “The News She Does Not Give Him (Everyone is Killing Us)” from The Rumpus
Kyle Carrero Lopez’s “Blackberry the Masses” from Pigeon Pages
Adam Malinowski’s “After Love” from Inverted Syntax
Joshua Martin’s “Hamlet on the Shuttle” from The Baltimore Review
Amber McBride’s “For Colored Kids Building Up Their Bones” from Blackbird
Ashley Anna McHugh’s “What I Can’t Tell Her” from The LaHave Review
Ross McMeekin’s “Epistle #32” from MoonPark Review
Rodrick Minor’s “AIN’T WE LUCKY WE GOT ’EM, GOOD TIMES” from Voicemail
Kabel Mishka Ligot’s “Juan dela Cruz” from Bear Review
Michael Montlack’s “Vermont Getaway: Thirteen Gays Looking at a Blackbird” from The Florida Review
Robbi Nester’s “After Blossom” from MacQueen’s Quinterly
Rachel Nix’s “Coming In” from Pidgeonholes
Chimedum Ohaegbu’s “Adelaster” from The /tƐmz/ Review
Matthew Olzmann’s “Sleep on a Bed of Nails” from Leon Literary Review
James Owens’ “That All Things Seek an Ending” from Peatsmoke
Gerardo Pacheco’s “Canto Y Lloro” from Anomaly
Skye Pagon’s “The First Lesbian Siren in the Atlantic Ocean” from Sword & Kettle Press
Sebastián Hasani Páramo’s “Portrait of a Boy Returning to Dirt” from Kenyon Review
January Pearson’s “Zero” from Rust and Moth
JJ Peña’s “yo te sigo queriendo” from Hayden’s Ferry Review
Jennifer Perrine’s “Hysteroscopy” from Green Linden Press
Simone Person’s “Proud Flesh” from Diode
Emilia Phillips’ “Poem About Death Beginning with a Humblebrag and Ending with a Shower Beer” from Adroit
Q.M.’s “Look at This Young Foreigner” from The Roadrunner Review
Esther Ra’s “My Mother’s Mother (Speaks)” from Border Crossing
Sage Ravenwood’s “The Creeping Thief” from Contrary Magazine
Erin Rodoni’s “Forgive Me, I’ve Forgotten” from The West Review
Sam Rush’s “Let nothing touch the ground” from Heavy Feather Review
Angbeen Saleem’s “Black and Brown People on Shar Tank” from Pigeon Pages
Hannah Baker Saltmarsh’s “Ars Poetica With Flash Flood Warnings” from Minola Review
Anna Saunders’ “I am pedigree I am snow fox I am Siamese.” from Ice Floe Press
Martha Silano’s “Leading a Nature Walk on 23rd & Yesler” from Ilanot Journal
Leonora Simonovis’ “A MAN HELD A GUN TO MY STOMACH ONCE” from The Arkansas International
Lannie Stabile’s “You Ask Me How I Am But Never Wait For An Answer” from Feral
Upfromsumdirt’s “Black Stélé In The Hour Of Chaos” from Ice Floe Press
Anastasia Vassos’ “ARS POETICA” from Mason Street Review
Nikki Wallschlaeger’s “Little Barefoot Soul” from VIDA Review
Natalie Wee’s “Self Portrait as Pop Culture Reference” from Split This Rock
Zoe Whittall’s “April Tornado Watch” from Minola Review
STELLA WONG’s “Fu er dai” from Poetry Northwest
S. Yarberry’s “Enter The Ghost” from Redivider
Jihyun Yun’s “Elegy w/ Mayfly Sex” from Southeast Review

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