table of contents
Cover art: “send me dead flowers,” Sydney Strickland.
2 0 2 6 clarion poetry prize
WINNER: KALE HENSLEY
Self-Portrait as Wet Horse
RUNNER-UP: SYED HASHMI
the rubaiyat of anthrax boy
RUNNER-UP: SAM BEAL
creation myth #29
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
KARA BARLOW
KEENING FOR THE CATERPILLAR THAT REMAINS A CATERPILLAR IS THE HARDEST TASK
THOM ADDINGTON
A Crown of Haikus on Grace
LIZA SPARKS
I Pray to the Women
RICHARD HAMILTON
To a Luminous Dark Flecked with Stars
DUC DAU
And the internet dubs him Monkey Christ
p o e t r y
JOSEPH BYRD
All saints
DANIEL ABDAL-HAYY MOORE
A Scientist Walked Into A Wall
Only Allah
MERLIN JUNE MACK
What Pope Gregory Said
HANNA WEBSTER
Romans in Their Decadence
Perseid
Our Magic Box
ELLIOT
Rue d'Isoard, 3rd October
HALLIDAY CARPENDER
Obscure Cat Disease
Pilgrimage
SKYE TARSHIS
Jonah
FRANÇOIS TRISTAN L'HERMITE,
STEPHAN CROWN-WEBER (tr. French)
Le Navire
The Ship
KARA BARLOW
Glossary: Gabbeh
E.L. BIDDLE
María Kecharitomeín Triptych
EWEN GLASS
Scrabble in the Sky
Z.H. GILL
Paul Revere
BART EDELMAN
Chartreuse
JUSTIN KARCHER
Before My Good Friend's Memorial Service, I Rummage Through a Yard Sale
I Found A Pair of Frozen Reading Glasses in the CVS Parking Lot
PIP McGOUGH
The Sixth Hour
LINDA BRYANT-DAVIS
My Grandfather as a River Saint
KG NEWMAN
Preparing to Cauterize
MARK J. MITCHELL
Devotions
JANÉ DOWD
Litany of the Emerging Middle Class
Let It Unfold You
CAT BROGAN
In Memory of Yameen Rasheed (1988 – 2017)
The Blessing of the Graves
CHARISSE GENDRON
The Handicap
KRISTIN LUEKE
any small thing
PATRICK T. REARDON
O, brothers
GRETCHEN GALES
A Beautiful Day That I Must Go
VICTOR KAMHAZI (tr. Spanish)
Turpial
Birdwatching
SOPHIE CORNWELL
When the World Stood Still to Watch the Little Anglerfish
We Were Supposed to Be Mothers
JW SUMMERISLE
Cat / Cow
TONY DiCARLO
Stylites
PAYSON WHITWELL
Please
LISA PERKINS
Storm Barra
RACHAEL A. ZUBAL-RUGGIERI
Micro Mutant Postcard #225
Micro Mutant Postcard #289
BEATRIZ F. FERNANDEZ
A Prayer to St. Lucy
D.W. BAKER
Fortunately Together
FERNANDO JEREZ (tr. Spanish)
Magno, naturel e invisible
Magnificent, natural and invisible
f i c t i o n
JAMIE LEFORT
Workhorse
TAYLOR THORNBURG
John, A Prophet for our Times
JER HAYES
Transubstantiation
CHRISTINA RAUH FISHBURNE
& CHARLIE RAUH
A Pardonsburg Songbook
FIONA VIGO MARSHALL
Raising the Relics
ALLEN KESTEN
Back to the Grotto
c r e a t i v e n o n f i c t i o n
v i s u a l a r t
JULIETA BELTRÁN LAZO
La Creadora
SARAH GOODERMUTH
Marked
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
ARCH BUDZAR
In the Belly
Lord, I’m Three
KAITLYN “THU” HETTINGER
Isaiah for Now
AUBRIENNE BERGERON
Celestial Object I
Double Star
CATIE HERNANDEZ
Sexy
Who Pays
BRIGID O’NEIL
Flat Rat
Get Free
ANGEL TEETH
Deer in Headlights
MINA MOND
Hildegard
SOPHIA HUANG
Ghosted Archive
Unholy Prayer
ÉMILE SYLVAIN
The Ponds Lover
The Birth of a Satyr
EDENA ALVARADO
Pinky Swear
MARTINA McATEER
St. Joan of Arc of the Living God
KALE HENSLEY
Child Prophet
HANNAH GRETEMAN
Quiet Abundance
ASHLEY CZAJKOWSKI
Blood Moon
DIANA STORY
Let Us Meet At The Threshold
SYDNEY STRICKLAND
send me dead flowers
I am the thing you tried to bury in the garden
JOWONDER
Butterfly Wheel
Infinity Jump
ZANDER FIESCHKO
Knight of Pages
LATTEA FALCO
Where the Forest Reflects