2024 Writing Finalist – Canned Pasta by Jeff Oro
I skim the instructions with haphazard intent
as you maneuver around the cramped walk-in shower
trying to wash away a day’s worth of dirt and stress.
You said you were craving spaghetti,
2024 Writing Finalist – Complicit by Jenna Luscombe
His eyes were never as blue as that first night
while the sunset waved its yielding flags,
the landscape of his smooth back a blank canvas.
You wrote your name on my collar, that mendacious tongue,
but soap won’t expunge a brand that goes straight to the marrow.
2024 Writing Finalist – Something About Walking Into Bars by Kai Leung
A teacher, a paramedic, and a writer walked into a bar, sitting side by side in the corner on a dead Monday night. The teacher ordered a vodka soda, the paramedic ordered a rum & coke, and the writer ordered a gin & tonic. They all gave the bartender their credit cards as all three of them started their own tabs.
2024 Writing Finalist – Feed Me Grapes by Raquel Adrian
Laying
Not-so-regal on the half-couch
Feed me grapes
Amongst sun-bleached pillars
Pay attention to the summer freckles on my nose
Please, not the fires in my eyes.
2024 Writing Finalist – Shaken Iced Tea by Matthew Funk
An end greeted all too quickly,
this final form is but a whisper
of what you once were.
Leaves are your iron,
forged in fire’s nemesis,
2024 Writing Finalist – Andante Spianato by Apsara Coeffic-Neou
“Oh,” said my mother. “That’s good.” She turned back to her dishwashing.
“You barely looked at it!” The sweat from my hand had stained my first-place certificate. “Can’t you even pretend to care?”
“Can’t you see I’m busy, Emma? I’ll look at it later.”
2024 Writing Finalist – Fancy Wine by Victoria Wall
Your love is like an empty Nutella jar,
Like the feeling of coming home from school and finding out your sister ate the last pizza slice.
It’s like a drunk violinist trying to play guitar,
It’s like being thirsty and only having whiskey to drink,
2022 – 2023 Writing Contest Winner – ROUTINE by Mimi Toma
Routine With the strand of hair hanging from my mouth, holding onto the piece of bread I just chewed. I think of when mother would wrap her hair in a scarf each morning. Still, her red velvet hair would always make it into my greek salad. It happened so often that she...
2023 Writing Contest Finalist – YOU by Thea Lutters
YOU (Content Warning: Suicide) I place the key into the ignition and turn it; my dad’s old ‘67 Camaroroars to life. It was his prized possession, navy blue with two white race stripes right down the hood. Now, dirt suffocates him six feet under. I’m going to...
2023 Writing Contest Finalist – THE PROMISE OF A THOUSAND KISSES by Ethan Sauer
The promise of a thousand kisses: has always been a lie. Slipping away into momentary bliss. Slipping away into a single, sultry night sky. I’ve always hidden the colour of my heart. Tucked away its rose-filling, its pink catastrophe routed in desire. Tucked it...