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Finalist honors: 2022 River Heron Poetry Prize

River-Heron-Review-Poetry-Prize.InstagramPost7.24.2022

As I’ve said many times, contests are hard, and I only enter those offered by journals or organizations I’m both more-than familiar with and a fan of. The River Heron Review is such a journal; for years, I’ve read their insightful interviews with poets I admire and always have come away inspired.

Although I’d never had a piece published by the journal, I tried my luck in the contest this year, and was surprised and thrilled to learn last month that one poem from the several I submitted had been shortlisted by the editors, Judith Lagana and Robbin Farr, and forwarded to the contest’s final judge, Deshawn McKinney. This past week, I learned that Deshawn had selected my poem, “If the Fragment is the Story,” as a finalist in the competition — designating it as one of the top five out of  hundreds of pieces submitted. What an honor!

The poem will be included, along with the other finalists and the winner, in the journal’s contest issue, which goes live on August 1.

Update: “If the Fragment is the Story” is online at the River Heron Review site. You can read it here.