The first news of 2021: Our Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize winners, as chosen by contest judge Ariana Brown! Congratulations Karen, Natalie, and Imani!
Grand Prize
“only the bottom left quadrant of my hair is full” by Karen Lee
karen lee writes powerful, distinctive poetry that resounds. her polyvocal refusals are published in The Malahat Review, The Humber Literary Review, Brick/Brickyard, anthologized in Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis, Sister Vision Press, and shortlisted for the 2018 Small Axe Literary Prize. “Tekkin Back Tongue,” her poetry manuscript in progress, is named after her self-directed writing residency in Ghana, Kenya (2018).
lee supports accessibility and social justice as an accredited Jamaican Patois court interpreter (Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General Registry), voiceover artist, described video narrator, vocalist and actor.
find her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
First Runner-up
“In Defense of My Roommate’s Dog” by Natalie Wee
Natalie Wee is a queer community-builder and the author of Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines, which is forthcoming as a special edition with Teh People Studio. She is the winner of the 2019 Blue Mesa Review Summer Contest for poetry and a finalist for the Best of the Net. Born in Singapore to Malaysian parents, she is currently a settler in Tkaronto. Find out more at natalieweewrites.com
Second Runner-up
“Worst Case Scenario” by Imani Cezanne
Imani Cezanne is a Black writer, performer and tamale connoisseur living in Oakland, CA. In March she became the 2020 Woman of the World Poetry Slam Champion for the second time and in July of the same year she was named a 2020 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship finalist. As a two time Pushcart Prize Nominee, Imani has forthcoming work in Nimrod, Fugue and Crab Creek Review, among others. Imani writes for Black people, Black readers and is committed to the liberation of all oppressed people.
Please join us in congratulating these fabulous poets! The three winning poems will be published in PRISM’s Spring Issue 59.3.
In other news, our 2021 Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction is open for submissions until Jan 15th! Send us your best stories under 4000 words!