Pushcart Nominations 2021

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Origami Poems Project - Pushcart Prize Nominations 2021

Our 6 nominated poems - Click title to open/read

{slider Scalene - Emma Foster}

Scalene

I am tilted,
Arrayed at the end
Of distended queues of logic.
When walking, lightly tread
These gossamer threads
And these splintering fragments
Of my once concrete soul.
Be aware of me, my foundation,
I have no equal,
I am no one’s equal.

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By Emma Foster from her microchap, 'Isoceles Triangle'

Emma Foster is a fiction writer and poet from Florida. She has been published in the Cedarville Review, Ariel Chart, the Aurora Journal, Writing in a Woman's Voice, Nailpolish Stories and others.

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{slider Ten Years Missing Amy - Diane Elayne Dees}

Ten Years

A decade has past,
and I imagine you
as you might be today:
Perhaps shocks of pink or silver
would replace your beehive,
maybe you would tour with Tony,
maybe you would go to rehab.
It’s a blurry image, dimly lit,
but I see you—
still fusing words and music
like heaven’s cheeky magician,
still devoted to the Shangri-Las,
still able to rip the seams
of the fragile fabric of my soul.

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By Diane Elayne Dees from her microchap 'Missing Amy'

Diane Elayne Dees lives in Covington, Louisiana, just across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. Her poetry has been published in many journals and anthologies. Diane is the author of the chapbook, Coronary Truth (Kelsay Books), and the forthcoming chapbooks, I Can’t Recall Exactly When I Died, and The Last Time I Saw You. Diane also publishes Women Who Serve, a blog that delivers news and commentary on women’s professional tennis throughout the world.

Her author blog is Diane Elayne Dees, Poet and Writer-at-Large.

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{slider Against the Current - Matthew James Friday}

Against the Current'

The red tailed hawk flies a tugged line
over the pines that rig the riverside,
along a taste of cracked toffee rocks.

Oddly slow, the hawk, as if fighting a tide.
Puppet wings but the strings are invisible.
Behind the river groans. There’s a plan

to build 250 homes against the cliffs,
trees to be cleared, paths suffocated,
the hawk’s clawed opinions ignored.

By Matthew James Friday from his microchap 'The Residents'

Matthew James Friday is a British born writer and teacher. He has been published in numerous international journals, including, recently: Dawntreader (UK), VerbalArt (India), and Lunch Ticket (USA). The micro-chapbooks All the Ways to Love, Waters of Oregon and The Words Unsaid were published by the Origami Poems Project (USA). Read more of his work at: http://matthewfriday.weebly.com/

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{slider days of writing - Craig Kitner}

days of writing spent
not writing
and writing
about nothing and the passage of years
in minutes and minutes
stretching out

I don't know how long
the past has been in the past
or if it even matters

without thought
time gets deprived of its sting
and flows across the day like honey

every thought you have
was had by another you
or will be

a thought is no
singular thing
it carries its baggage like we do

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By Craig Kitner from his microchap 'across the day like honey'

Craig Kittner has lived a lot of places. Fourteen at last count. Providence saw the start of interesting things that DC helped solidify. Now he lives near the sea in North Carolina and likes to ramble and write. Recent publications include Rabid Oak, CP Quarterly, Right Hand Pointing, and Bones.

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{slider Into the Wild Unusual Dawn - Carolyn Adams}

Into the Wild Unusual Dawn

In this vicious
day
of extremity,
the sun
arrives like a black
dog
worrying fire
in its teeth.

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By Carolyn Adams from her microchap 'Into the Wild Unusual'

Carolyn Adams' poetry and art have appeared in Steam Ticket, Cimarron Review, Topology, Apercus Quarterly, and Blueline Magazine, among others. She is the author of four chapbooks, and has been nominated for a Pushcart prize, as well as for Best of the Net.

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{slider The Fall - Joris Soeding}

The Fall

they weren’t kidding
when they said this is the greatest
to be with you
I’m sorry that you tripped
but I’ll always take to embracing
remember
without healing there cannot be hurt

(Inspired by Julie Rotblatt-Amrany’s sculpture,
“Compassion Moves a World”)

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By Joris Soeding from his microchap 'After Highland Park'

Joris Soeding's most recent collections of poetry are Forty (Rinky Dink Press, 2019) and Home in Nine Moons (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, 2018). Soeding’s writing has appeared in publications such as Another Chicago Magazine, Columbia Poetry Review, and Red River Review. He is a fifth grade Language Arts teacher in Chicago, where he resides with his wife, son, daughter, and kittens.

{/sliders}

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All original work published by the Origami Poems Project is considered for the annual Pushcart Prize nominations.

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