We're pleased to announce the results of the 2009 International Reginald Shepherd Memorial Poetry Prize. First of all, thank you to everyone who entered--it was an exciting and difficult process to narrow down the field, and we were quite impressed with the quality of the work we received. Thanks are also in order to Carl Phillips, who was gracious enough to judge the contest. In all, there were 53 entries to the 2009 International Reginald Shepherd Memorial Poetry Prize, for a total of 266 poems. Of these, 37 were semifinalists, nine finalists, three runners-up, and three winners. 

See below for a complete list of the 2009 prize winners, runners-up, finalists and semi-finalists:
 

WINNERS (selected by Carl Phillips)

First place winner: Occupation* (Kelly Madigan Erlandson)

Second place winner: Archaic Bronze** (Christian Gullette)

Third place winner: Wood*** (Larry Bradley)

  * For her winning poem, Kelly Madigan Erlandson will receive (1) a $300 gift certificate to Powell’s Books, (2) publication in the fourth issue of Knockout Literary Magazine, due out in 2010, and (3) five copies of the issue. All entrants will receive a copy of the issue. Please notify Knockout (via an email to knockoutrsprize@gmail.com) of any postal address changes to ensure you receive your copy.

** For his winning poem, Christian Gullette will receive (1) a $50 gift certificate to Powell’s Books, (2) publication in the fourth issue of Knockout, and (3) two copies of the issue.

*** For his winning poem, Larry Bradley will receive (1) a $25 gift certificate to Powell’s Books, (2) publication in the fourth issue of Knockout, and (3) two copies of the issue.

 RUNNERS-UP (selected by Carl Phillips)
 

First runner-up: Modern Ripple**** (Rickey Laurentiis)

Second runner-up: August, near Arles**** (Richard Foerster)

Third runner-up: Faggot**** (Rickey Laurentiis)

 

 FINALISTS (in alphabetical order by poem title, selected by Knockout’s editors)

Fourteen (Lauren K. Alleyne)

He Calls Her Etsy (Karen Schubert)

Mirror God (Rickey Laurentiis)

Mother Loved to Joke (Joe Eldridge)

Muster (Kelly Madigan Erlandson)

The Reproduction of Desire (Julie R. Enszer)

Still Birth, September 22 (Karsten Piper)

There’s Always One on the Driveway, Featherless, (Diane Seuss)

Touch (L. Lamar Wilson)

 

SEMIFINALISTS (in alphabetical order by poem title, selected by Knockout’s editors)

Temp Work (Emily Van Kley)

Argo Navis (Jory Michelson)

Ars Poetica: Nov. 7, 2008 (L. Lamar Wilson)

Being Young (Kelly Madigan Erlandson)

Biting on Ginger (Chip Livingston)

The Café by Foujita (Christian Gullette)

Chip & Nico (Chip Livingston)

Cutlery Tale (P. Hurshell)

Daphne (Richard Foerster)

Dear Batman (Christian Gullette)

The Face of It: A Meditation on an HIV/AIDS Poster on the A-train (Lauren K. Alleyne)

The Gift of Flight (Chip Livingston)

Going Through Life Wearing a Bathing Suit and Helmet (Amy McLennan)

He Looks at Clouds (Joe Eldridge)

How It Touches Us (Lauren K. Alleyne)

Hunting Morels (Christopher Hennessy)

Impersonal Paragraph (J. Marcus Weekley)

Invocation (Binh Nguyen)

Love with the Beer Brewer (Ching-In Chen)

—Me Tangere**** (Rickey Laurentiis)

Mnemonic Device (Binh Nguyen)

Monument Avenue (Jeffery Berg)

One Explanation (Julie R. Enszer)

Otro Banda, The Other Side (Christian Gullette)

A Prayer for the Phlebotomist (L. Lamar Wilson)

Small Traffic (Emily Van Kley)

Surrender (Christopher Hennessy)

Tarry (L. Lamar Wilson)

 “The Village Advocate” by an unknown Dutch Master, c. 1600 (Robert Kramer)

That the Body Wants (Lauren K. Alleyne)

To My Father’s Blue Tuxedo (Christopher Hennessy)

Unburdened (Christopher Phelps)

Vestiges [excerpt] (Phillip Brian Williams)

What I should Have Told the Homeless Man

in Cleveland Who Mistook Me for Mary’s Son (L. Lamar Wilson)

Where Ocean Meets Sky (Derrick Austin)

The Window (Suzanne Bottelli)

The Wrestler (Christian Gullette)

 **** Knockout has offered to publish this poem in its fourth issue.

 

2010 International Reginald Shepherd Memorial Poetry Prize

Call for Submissions [coming soon]

Knockout Literary Magazine’s newest poetry contest, the International Reginald Shepherd Memorial Poetry Prize, aims to honor the memory and work of poet Reginald Shepherd, who left us on September 10, 2008. For more information on Reginald Shepherd’s life and work, visit his blog: reginaldshepherd.blogspot.com.

Carl Phillips was the final judge for the 2009 Prize. The complete entry guidelines for the 2010 Prize will be posted online at knockoutlit.org/rsprize.htm. C. Dale Young will serve as the final judge for the 2010 Prize.