Hold your breath. The grand winner of the Black Haven Poetry Contest 2022 is:

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STEVE GERSON – SELF-PORTRAIT AS ANGST

Steve Gerson writes poetry and flash about life’s dissonance. He’s proud to have published in Panoplyzine, Route 7, Poets Reading the News, Crack the Spine, Decadent Review, Underwood Press, Dillydoun Review, In Parentheses, Vermilion, and more, plus his chapbook Once Planed Straight: Poetry of the Prairies from Spartan Press.

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A big round of applause for our first runner-up:

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WILLIAM DAVID – CRAWLING BACK IN MY HOLE

William David has had a successful 40+ year career as a Senior Engineering Designer working with international mining companies, designing Gold, Silver, and Copper processing plants all over the world, including the first SX-EW copper processing plant in Asia, located near Monywa, Myanmar. William is retired now and living with his wife of 38 yrs. in Tucson, Az. He likes spending his time now devoted to his passion, reading, reviewing, and writing poetry. William writes for his pleasure and for the pleasure of those who might read his poems. He has recently been published in three journals, in Underwood, True Chili, as well as Rue Scribe , three journals published by Underwood Press. He is currently an invited reviewer for that publisher. In addition, he’s been published in four anthologies by Wingless Dreamer Press, “Flee to Spring”, “Breath of Love”, “My Cityline” and “Field of Black Roses”.

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Cue the confetti for our second runner-up:

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ROBERT RENÉ GALVÁN- ELEGY

Robert René Galván, born in San Antonio, resides in New York City where he works as a professional musician and poet. His collections of poems are Meteors, published by Lux Nova Press and Undesirable: Race and Remembrance, Somos en Escrito Foundation Press, Standing Stones, Finishing Line Press and The Shadow of Time, Adelaide Books. His poetry has been featured in such publications as The Acentos Review, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Azahares Literary Magazine, Gyroscope, Hawaii Review, Hispanic Culture Review, Latino Book Review, Newtown Review, Panoply, Prachya Review, Sequestrum, Shoreline of Infinity, Somos en Escrito, Stillwater Review, West Texas Literary Review, and UU World. He is a Shortlist Winner Nominee in the 2018 Adelaide Literary Award for Best Poem. Recently, his poems are featured in Puro ChicanX Writers of the 21st Century(2nd Edition) and in Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art and Thought. His poems have been nominated for Best of Web and the Pushcart Prize. His poem, Awakening, was featured in the author’s voice on NPR as part of National Poetry Month in the Spring of 2021.

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Beat the drums for our top finalists:

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GABRIEL MCLEOD – LONE BIRDS

Gabriel McLeod currently resides in a corner of Earth called Florida. His hone is shared with two beautiful daughters, two enigmatic cats and a plethora of books, art and stories. He is currently working on a collection of short stories, a chapbook of poetry and a venue for his paintings. His work has been featured in Storyteller Magazine, The Elephant Journal, Beyond Words and Wingless Dreamer.

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DOUGLAS COLSTON – MOTHER’S YEARNING

Douglas Colston has travelled the world and knows there is no place like home (for him, that is the Sunshine Coast in Australia). Decades ago, he played in various Ska bands (and garnered song and lyric credits, in addition to dubious mementos in the form of screaming tinnitus and occupational hearing loss … c’est la vie). He has a number of university qualifications and is now – by vocation – a Counsellor, but spends much of his time writing. His fiction, poetry and nonfiction has been published in online and traditional print journals, magazines and anthologies, including POETiCA REViEW, Red Door Magazine, New Note Poetry, New World Writing, Impspired, Still I rise, Oxymorons and poets, Erotica of eternity, Let’s begin again, Garden of poets, and My Glorious Quill.

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ANITA ALIG – THE BOG

Anita Alig is a writer living in the West of Ireland and the founder of the Poetry Cooperative.

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SKYLAR BROWN – THE VIEW FROM UP TOP

Currently Skylar is a nanny and private English tutor. She has been passionate about writing and poetry for years, and has had a few pieces of work (both poems and short stories) published in various anthologies.

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TERRY BRINKMAN – SONNET CDLXIV

Terry Has been painting for over forty five years. Has Five Amazon E- Books. Poems in Rue Scribe, Tiny Seed. Winamop, Snapdragon Journal, Poets Choice, Adelaide Magazine, Variant, the Writing Disorder, Ink Pantry, In Parentheses, Ariel Chat, New Ulster, Glove, and in Pamp-le-mousse, North Dakota Quarterly, Barzakh, Urban Arts, Wingless Dreamer, LKMNDS and Elavation.

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CAROL STEWART – THE PLIGHT OF THE SONS OF ICARUS

Carol Stewart is a mother and grandmother living in the Scottish Borders. Currently working on editing her first two interlinked novels, her poems have been published (or are forthcoming) in various journals including That (Literary Review), Gravitas, Coffin Bell, Change Seven, Atlas and Alice and Scapegoat. She has recently received a top finalist’s award from Wingless Dreamer. More of her work can be found on https://carolstewartbastardlanguage.blogspot.com/

Congratulations to all the contributors who made it to our anthology. Well done. Bravo!