The lines have all been pulled in and we found a few with some really juicy claws–er, we mean poetry. We’re happy to share that our wonderful friend Sue Ellen Thompson has chosen Jennifer Keith as winner for the John Elsberg Poetry Contest first place winner, with the poem “I’ve Been Hit” to be published in our Summer/Fall 2014 Issue. Runners up are Shirley J. Brewer with “Staircase Anthology” and Emily Mohn-Slate with the poem “The Falcon Next to Me on Qatar Airways Flight 385.”
When I read this poem, I felt as though I were the one who had been hit–so utterly different was it from all of the other poems submitted. Plainspoken diction exists side-by-side with densely-packed, craft-laden phrases; humor keeps its head just below the surface. It’s a poem that never stops moving–until it ends with a thud. — Sue Ellen Thompson
Free State Review is a literary journal that comes out every 8 months. Want to know what we're into? Peruse our site and/or order a copy, then hit us up!