The grand winner of the contest is:

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PRISMATIC – TIMOTHY FREIRE

Timothy Freire studied creative writing, philosophy, and religion at New York University and specifically philosophy at Loyola Marymount University, where he earned respective MA’s in Interdisciplinary Studies and Philosophy. Timothy attempts to take a metaphysical perspective poetically, where he attempts to illuminate everyday life in a nuanced and penetrating way.

The second position goes to:

THE COSMIC MACHINE – WILLIAM DAVID

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 been published in three journals by Underwood Press, the flagship journal Underwood, also True Chili, as well as Rue Scribe. He is currently an invited reviewer for that publisher. His poems have appeared in online journals, Bluing the Blade, Elevation Review and Sheepshead Review. He also has had poems published in eight different anthologies by Wingless Dreamer Publishers.

The third position goes to

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN I FEEL INVISIBLE – JOAN PENN

Joan Penn lives in NYC, and has a background in theater and photography. She currently participates in a virtual writing workshop with Paris-based Gracie Bialecki, and is a member of The Yorkville Writing Circle. Publication credits include poems in Griffel, High Shelf Press, MacQueen’s Quinterly, The Rose in the World, and in two anthologies published by Moonstone Arts Press. One of her poems was included in a recent theatrical presentation, “Superheroes & Other Men.”

A big round of applause for our top finalists:

EVERYDAY – SHANNON LYNETTE

Upstate New York based poet Shannon Lynette has been perfecting her craft since the young age of 11 years old. She is the author of such titles as A Place with no Name (2003), Lady on a Wire (2012), and Awkward Years (2022). Her work has also appeared in in several anthologies. More on Lynette’s can be found at www.facebook.com/ladyonawire.

HELPLESS – LUKE HANNON

Luke Hannon is an aspiring poet from County Meath, Ireland. In 2022 he received first place in the Macra na Feirme Creative Writing Competition Poetry Section with his poem Altar Man. He has previously been published in the Irish Farmer’s Journal and Agriland. His poem “Patience is” is soon to be published in Tiny Seed Literary Journal’s online blog.

VICTIM (I DON’T WANNA BE) – SHELBY DEAL

Shelby Deal graduated from Ball State University 2019. It is there, where she discovered her passion for creative writing, from plays, to films, to poetry. She has been lucky enough to have short film she wrote produced in college, several short plays read during the height of the pandemic with an online theatre company, Digital Dramatists, and poems published in several journals, The Odyssey (Ball State Honor’s College Journal, Breath of Love (Wingless Dreamer), and The Wisconsin Review (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Journal). Right now, she works as an administrative assistant for a YouTube channel, while writing to her heart’s content in her free time.

TIME AFTER TIME – GAEL BLAKE

Gael Blake is a recent graduate of UofSC where she completed her minor in creative writing and has published works in both poetry and prose

A COWBOY SUNRISE – KILEY WOODS

Kiley Woods is a student at Eckerd College double majoring in creative writing and marine biology. Her poetry has previously appeared in Second Story Journal and Pomegranate Lit. Her passion for artistic expression comes from a need to discover herself and the world around her. She started writing poetry during her sophomore year of high school and participated in her high school’s first ever poetry reading. She loves reading, nature, studying biology, the ocean, and reading and writing poetry and fiction.