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The Latest
Vandewater
Poetry Prize!
2022 Winner
2022 Vandewater Poetry Prize Winner
Judge's Comments
"'Alchemy: An Abridged Biography' braids together the incongruous in the tradition of non-fiction writing, while brief, episodic stanzas attempt to build towards (or alchemize towards) a cohesive narrative of the self. Where the poem fails, repeats, reattempts (“which also means it’s possible to transmute lead into gold / and death into life and me into—more or less—me”), it veers to the outer edges of its long, enjambed lines, even as it veers towards the edges of the universe (inherently always experienced by a self). Deeply philosophical and sonically evocative (“tilt my head back and lick glass clean”), “ALCHEMY” is the poem as a question that must endlessly be asked. Each time I read it I am profoundly moved."
—Raena Shirali, author of GILT
Publication in
New Delta Review!
New Delta Review, Issue 13.1
Sample from "Dessert Sushi"
"So you count out six carrots from the fridge instead, and you count them on a clean floral plate. You eat them in halves for a midnight snack. You eat them slowly, and you savor every crunch. And the steak and asparagus and potatoes stay rotting on the borrowed platter in the fridge. You do this because you must, and you must because you don’t remember getting fat, because you didn’t realize you were fat until your friend persuaded you to download Grindr..."
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