|
|
|
|
|
|
2007 Winner Elsewhere by Ellen Sullins staple-bound $9.00 36pp. Judge : Lisa Sewell 
These poems about memory, family, the past, and identity cover familiar ground but surprise and engage with language that compels the reader forward with its frank jazz and verve, with its unstoppable forward momentum. -Judge, Lisa Sewell The Day Everything Was flat, like the Grand Canyon looks when you first step up to the edge, your brain unable to access the depth of perception required, so it seems a giant screen that might roll up any moment to reveal -what?- another flat panorama in its place perhaps an anotomical chart of the heart laid bare for the viewing pleasure of passers-by, dissected and sectioned, dispassionate arrows targeting areas of damage, the whole thing bloodless, and flat. |
2005 Winner Following Richard Brautigan by Corey Mesler Out-of-Print Judge : William Brandon III Foreword : ruth weiss  Mesler's passion in all things whether it is his painful disappointment at the plebian nature of his Literary Mecca or his shy reverence for the mysterious girl reading as she walks down the street. Mesler... puts you in his shoes, makes you walk his steps and invites you to feel every moment of triumph and failure. For any human being capable of feeling a fraction of his passion Following Richard Brautigan will remind you of some part of your life or inspire you to begin a new life and simply sit back and enjoy where it takes you. -Judge, William M. Brandon III |
|
2006 Winner Falling Out of Orbit by Anthony White Out-of-Print Judge : Daniel Nester 
This Flute Is a Silver Bus this bell a worn guidebook warm in my hand this drum is a manhole its tight round skin hides a dark tunnel smoothly I flow down the skin reverberates behind me. |
2004 Winner In a Garden of Eden by Justin Vicari Out-of-Print Judge : Colleen Davis  Justin Vicari's first book of short fiction is a gloomy vision of one man's downward spiral lifestyle of drugs and hard living. His life with his girlfriend and the loneliness and despair seem an odd vision of "Eden". His estrangement from his mother and his on and off relationship with his girlfriend increase the separation between himself and the outside world. Contest judge Colleen Davis remarked, "It is a very visual universe, but not one that I would want to live in." |
|
2005 Winner Double Exposure by Constance Boyle staple-bound 36pp $8.00 Judge : Charles Cantalupo  Beautifully conveying a time and place, she meshes scenes from childhood and adulthood, the relationship between father and daughter juxtaposed with birth and death. The haunted imagery brings depth to pain and fear, which transcends age and gender. |
|
|
2004 Winner Crazy Mary and others by Michele Belluomini staple-bound 36pp $6 Judge : Lamont B. Steptoe  Michele Belluomini's second book of poetry exploring marginalized characters in Philadelphia many of the poems in this collection are about `Crazy Mary', an eccentric character, full of life and lunacy who appears around town displaying her peculiarities and giving insights, through behavior, to life. |
|
2001 Winner ...and Guppies Eat Their Young by Deborah Filanowski staple-bound 32pp $7  Now in its second reprint, ..and Guppies explores a woman, a mother, a wife embracing her roles within her family and the lunacy and struggles which accompany those roles. Reflecting herself as a symbol of motherhood and wifehood, she describes her remorse and resignation over who she has become and what opportunities she has left behind. The moments within are bittersweet, charming and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. |
|