The Third Coast Poetry and Fiction contests exist to elevate the creative endeavors each of us as writers make. Often, the work in itself is the only reward we can expect. Through the contest, readers and judges give careful attention to the work of each author. We are grateful to shine a light on the work we found most compelling.
Poetry Winner: “A Lesser Evil” by Saba Keramati
Here’s what judge Jamaal May had to say about Keramati’s poem:
“A Lesser Evil” is as complete a poem as I’ve ever seen. The music sounded so natural it felt like it was written for me after a few days. It was in my body—in my field of resonance. The repetition of “lie” works like a moving anchor as the syntax, which is wonderfully varied, pushes the word around. It has been said that poetry isn’t just about pattern. It is about pattern and variation. The poet knows just when to shift the pattern on us at every line. The nimbleness of the poem belies some of its complexity as well. There is a well-done turn near the midway point that increases the stakes before making them personal. It’s a move from the public to the private that Carolyn Forché could be proud of. Approaching the end, the poem works toward the interior before closing on a moment that brings the public, private, interior, and exterior into weave with the closing music. That weave tightens into a raised fist as the threads ripple back through the poem while resonating outwards.
Poetry Runner-Up: “I Drag My Shame Into the Bathroom and Kill It” by Alejandro Lucero
Here’s what judge Jamaal May had to say about Lucero’s poem:
“I Drag My Shame Into the Bathroom and Kill It” arrests attention at the title, then goes on to reward that attention. The skill shown with imagery means this poet could have gotten plenty far with just that in their toolkit. Yet, they go on to demonstrate others, such as the ability to enliven an abstraction, use line-length to ebb and flow the music, and introduce subtle links and psychological interactions through diction.
Poetry Finalists
Aaliyah Anderson, “Decimation” · Moriah Cohen, “In the Emergency Room after my Son Shattered his Elbow I Catalogue Units Below Which Measurement Becomes Meaningless” and “Proof of Life Holding the Associated Press March 2024” · Clayre Benzadón, “Qué Guay” · Saba Keramati, “Notes On the Archive” · Carolene Kurien, “Mirrors” · Daphne Maysonet, “After Julie London’s ‘November Twilight,’ 1956”· Danielle Garcia Tubo- “Aking Panahon: This, too, is Legacy”
Fiction Winner: “Crisis Actors” by Melissa Yancy
Here’s what judge Misha Rai had to say about Yancy’s story:
There are stories that storytellers tell over and over again. The reasons for this are varied, but in, “Crisis Actors,” the winning story of the contest, I saw how skillfully the writer complicated the reader’s understanding of the aftermath of a traumatic event—an event that has been mined in fiction quite often—and the grief that goes with it. Each time I thought I had a handle on the kind of story I was being told, there was a shift in the narrative and suddenly I was in a different story, but also in the one I first began to read. This is not an easy feat to pull off though “Crisis Actors” pulls it off and with such great aplomb that I found myself at the edge of my seat every time I read it.
Fiction Runner-Up: “Where There Can Be No Breath At All” by Aida Zilelian
Here’s what judge Misha Rai had to say Zilelian’s story:
I was instantly taken in by the command of the first-person voice in “Where There Can Be No Breath At All.” The child narrator is watchful, innocent, and in the end, full of gumption exhibited in a manner that raises the stakes of the story exponentially. The ending is beautiful and as the writer puts it, with a kind of “truth (that) can hollow your heart…sometimes it’s best not to know the answers.”
Fiction Finalists
Jasmine Jones, “Zombie Boy” · Dalton Sikes “Head Hunting” · Bill Smoot “The Scream”