We are pleased to announce dark // thing by Ashley M. Jones was selected by Marcus Wicker as the winner of the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize for Poetry and will be published next year. Marcus Wicker praised this book, saying “dark // thing explores the operating costs incurred when blackness—black hair, black bottom, black diction and excellence—are perceived, but not uniquely seen. Ashley M. Jones has penned towns like Birmingham, Alabama and Flint, Michigan; penned America through the lens of Harriet Tubman, Dwayne Wayne, and the Emancipation Proclamation in a pitch tuned for everyone, whether you’re jonseing for sonnets, sestinas, or mathematical proofs. It is imperative that you read these poems, teach these poems, breathe deep this gift of a book.”
We also would like to commend the other finalists and semi-finalists, whose manuscripts in our opinion were all outstanding and publishable.
Finalists: Kimberly Andrews, Scott Beal, Torrin A. Greathouse, Judy Halebsky, Rebecca Hazelton, Kate Partridge, Jennifer Perrine, Cedric Tillman, Michael Torres
Semi-finalists: Dilruba Ahmed, Christian Bancroft, Ralph Burns, Robert Evory, C. R. Grimmer Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Peter Kline, Becka Mara McKay, Andrea Martin, Kyle McCord, Susannah Nevison, Osel Jessica Plante, Christa Romanosky, Molly Spencer, Kathleen Winter, Felicia Zamora