The 2020 Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest Winners

From the Editor’s Desk

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest!

First Place ($1000)
“Afterbirth” by Anne Marie Todkill

Second Place ($500)
“Rim” by Mia Anderson

Third Place ($250 each)
“Sword on the Road” by Pamela Mordecai

“On Not Seeing Rocher Percé…”  by Anne Swannell

Honourable Mentions
(to be published alongside our winning poems)

“The Body’s Dues” by Mia Anderson

“Little Girl Blue” by Jenny Haysom

“Yes, I Kicked a Groundhog in the Butt Once” by Matthew King

“Michif in Public” by Chase Everett McMurren

“Found While Mopping Under the Bed During Advent” and “Myrrh is Mine” by K.D. Miller

“Grace and Blood” by Eleanor Sudak

“Flight delay with telephoto” by Anne Marie Todkill

Other Notable Poems from the Shortlist

“Bones” and “Lazarus Saturday” by Mia Anderson

“Reading Palms” by Susan J. Atkinson

“Movie Review” by Murray Citron

“Dam” and “Oil Spill at Wabamun” by Rhonda Collis

“The Gauntlet” by Laurie Koensgen

“Post-Attempt with a Russian Novel” by Margo LaPierre

“He is in danger” by Barbara Lehtiniemi

“Aftermath” by Daniel Lomas

“Pie Menu” by Dan MacIsaac

“Formative” by Sadiqa de Meijer

“Closing Down the Cabin at the End of Summer” by Patricia Young

Look for prize winners and honourable mentions in The New Quarterly’s Fall 2020 Issue 156! We received 440 poems in all. Thanks to the many wonderful poets who submitted. We enjoyed reading every one of your poems.