Scorched Earth
By Tiana Clark
“Am I allowed / to conjure the possibility of pain to protect / myself from the pain?”
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A Fairy Tale of Blackboyhood
“I sometimes long for watered-down brown tresses that know to bow to the comb’s might.”
As for Knowing Him
“The window shows a starling / considering a seed. Some people leave behind / almost everything,”
2023 Previously Published Poem Prize: Winners & Finalists
We are pleased to announce the winners, finalists, and longlist for the 2023 Previously Published Poem Prize! Please join us in congratulating these brilliant poets. Deep gratitude to all who shared their work with us. The winning poems were selected by Palette editors and will be published in April.
Epithalamion Sealed in Wax
“The chambers of my heart are / infinite and many. / I fasten us beyond the last breath / and exempt us from death.”
Poetry Double Features #1
By Summer Farah
In Poetry Double Features, poet, critic, and editor Summer Farah moves away from the capitalistic language of “comparative titles” and instead towards the indulgence possible in considering two poetry collections that complement each other. The books paired here are not necessarily similar, but Farah asks: what language, pleasure, or wonder might be uncovered when they are read together? Poetry Double Features is in praise of the beautiful and unruly process of reading, synthesizing, and parsing out connective threads.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DATE PALM
By Samia Saliba
“i fact check this & only some of it is true i will not say which parts. i prefer it this way.”
Sonnet with Jackson Pollock’s “The Deep” (1953)
“I stood silent I fell into that maw / of water blackened with air my own”