After Making Love at 6AM, I Leave You in My Bed
“like a cry of ecstasy, and the solemn / countenance of the resin Mary / perched above my desk looks coy-“
Contest Winner
Deluge: A Chinese Almanac
“Yet as / the tide climbed, I wondered: when the / floods arrived, would my prince be beside / me, willing to swim? Or would he, as my / mother’s bones hinted, flee?”
Prayer Circle
By Sa Whitley
“Miss Mary, she say, God is good, and Jon gonna be alright. My late Grandma / Dorothy in my dream say, Jon Boy, he alright, and her hands covered high / yellow in batter from frying us”
The Peasantry
By Weijia Pan
“I could read history from the back of your reddened skull. / You could read me directly, reflected in the eyes of passers-by.”
2024 Previously Published Poem Prize: Winners & Finalists
We are honored to share with everyone the winners and finalists of the 2024 Previously Published Poem Prize! Please join us in congratulating these remarkable poets. Winners were selected by Palette editors.
2023 Resistance & Resilience Prize Winners & Finalists
We are honored to share with everyone the winners and finalists of the 2023 Resistance & Resilience Prize! Please join us in congratulating these remarkable poets. Winners were selected by Natasha Rao.
kh like khummus
By Bazeed
“that bark & branches bristle / with eyes / see all that happens / under the sky. / all that murders & slithers / from sea to shining sea.”
Banjo Be
By Maurya Kerr
“banjo be deeply known by its own / before bootlegged for mass / production, instruction manual, smash & grab of its soul.”
Sharper Than
“Honed a kind of malingering, for most of that stint – / part-response to my farm-crazed aunt’s / unsparing miserableness.”