First Place
I let you down
gently
like haddock
into hot oil
standing back
in case you spat.
Second Place
What I ask my body for
For lemon trees grafted at my throat.
For hydrangeas
in my blood to hum.
For stems to keep my organs tucked in their corners
like poems.
For surrender.
To open like oiled hinges, to be an orchard.
For satiety.
To swallow even my own bones—
once everything else is gone.
Taylor Hamann Los is an MFA student at Lindenwood University. Her poetry has appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic, perhappened, Split Rock Review, and Rust + Moth, among others. She lives with her husband and two cats in Wisconsin. You can find her on Twitter (@taylorhamannlos), Instagram (taylorhlos_poetry), or at taylorhamannlos.wordpress.com
***
Third Place
After you left
You answered the phone with the
voice of someone expecting a weight
to be lifted or dropped; of
some imminent terrible decision, like your
whole being was hesitating on the edge of absence.
Rachel R. Baum is the editor of Funeral and Memorial Service Readings: Poems and Tributes (McFarland, 1999) and is the author of the long-running blog Bark: Confessions of a Dog Trainer. Her poems have appeared in Poetica Review, Raven’s Perch, OneArt, Crosswinds, and others. She chairs the committee that will select the first Poet Laureate of Saratoga Springs
Contest Inspiration
Named after Three Notch’d Road, an old American colonial thoroughfare running through the heart of Virginia, USA, the Three Notch’d Poetry Contest seeks to inspire poets (American or International) to blaze their own path in the craft of writing.
Judges
A.R. Williams is a poet from Virginia, USA, and has been published in Briefly Zine, Fevers of the Mind, Ink Sweat & Tears, among many others. He is currently working on his debut poetry collection to be published with Kelsay Boooks (2024). He is also the editor of East Ridge Review and can be found on twitter @andrewraywill
Dana Knott’s writing has recently appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, Parhelion, Ethel Zine, FERAL, and Rejection Letters. Currently, she works as an academic library director in Ohio, and is the editor of tiny wren lit. You can follow her on Twitter at @dana_a_knott
Mark Antony Owen is the author of digital-only poetry project Subruria. He’s also the creator, curator and publisher of online poetry journals iamb and After…