The University of Akron Press 2009 Akron Poetry Prize Winner

Akron, Ohio 44325-1703 • uapress@uakron.edu • 1-800-247-6553
Forthcoming Events Search Order Series –Ohio History & Culture –Akron Series in Poetry –Ohio Politics –Law, Politics, & Society –International History –Technology & Environ. –Principia Press Catalogue –by Author –by Title –by Series Submit Manuscript –Submissions –Poetry Prize About Us –Staff	THE 2009 AKRON POETRY PRIZE WINNER The 2009 final judge, Martín Espada, has awarded the Akron Poetry Prize to Oliver de la Paz of Deming, WA for his manuscript "Requiem for the Orchard." This year, 502 manuscripts were considered in the contest. About the winning manuscript, Martín Espada wrote: These are vivid, visceral poems about coming of age in a place “where the Ferris Wheel/ was the tallest thing in the valley,” where a boy would learn “to fire a shotgun at nine and wring a chicken’s neck/ with one hand by twirling the bird and whipping it straight like a towel.” Looking back, the poet wrestles with the meaning of labor in the apple orchards and “the filthy dollars we’d wad into our pockets,” or the rites of passage that included sinking a knife into the flank of a dead chestnut horse. In spite of such hardscrabble cruelties—or because of them—there is also a real tenderness in these poems, the revelations of bliss driving along an empty highway “like opening a heavy book, / letting the pages feather themselves and finding a dried flower.” In line after line, poem after poem, there is an immersion in the realm of the senses. The poet has a gift for rendering his world in cinematic images: a ten-gallon hat on his head in the second grade is “an upside down chandelier;” carnival workers “snarl into the darkness on their borrowed Harleys.” In short, these poems are the stuff of life itself, ugly and beautiful, wherever or whenever we happen to live it. 2009 FINALISTS 137 Seth Abramson, Final Boy 154 Adela Najarro, Twice Told Over 227 Sarah Perrier, Nothing Fatal 249 Gary L. McDowell, American Amen 264 Brent Armendinger, Ghost Maps 289 Oliver de la Paz, Requiem for the Orchard 352 Shara McCallum, Dear History 477 Steve Kistulentz, The Luckless Age 478 David Dodd Lee, Orphan, Indiana 2009 SEMI-FINALISTS 023 Matthew Hittinger, The Erotic Postulate 043 Michael Meyerhofer, Just So 049 Matthew Thorburn, Every Possible Blue 055 David Keplinger, Glass Music 056 Anthony Madrid, The Getting Rid of the That Which Cannot be Done Without 076 Pablo Miguel Martìnez, The Hours Before the Little Morning 153 Ethel Rackin, What Befalls You 164 Anna Leahy, Among Virgins and Harlots 174 Kelli Russell Agodon, Hourglass Letters 196 Carrie Oeding, Our List of Solutions 197 Sarah Sousa, To Stave Off Disaster 199 Jennifer Perrine, In the Human Zoo 253 Terry L. Kennedy, Iron, Wax 427 Stacey Waite, Butch Geography 437 Miguel Murphy, A Morbid Education 448 Stephanie Kartalopoulos, Everything Whispered 457 Emily Kendal Frey, The Grief Performance 470 Todd Fredson, The Crucifix-Blocks The final judge for 2010 is G. C. Waldrep. Manuscripts must be postmarked between May 1 and June 15, 2010. Full guidelines may be found -here- G. C. Waldrep is the author of three full-length collections of poetry: Goldbeater's Skin (Colorado Prize, 2003); Disclamor (BOA Editions, 2007); and Archicembalo (Tupelo Press, 2009), which won the Dorset Prize, judged by C.D. Wright. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in many journals, including American Poetry Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, Paris Review, New England Review, New American Writing, and Tin House. His work has won awards from the Poetry Society of America, the Academy of American Poets, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as residencies from Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. He lives in Lewisburg, Pa., where he serves as Editor-at-Large of The Kenyon Review and teaches at Bucknell University.
Member of AAUP Maintained by WebDiva The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by The University of Akron. © 2009 by The University of Akron The University of Akron is an Equal Education and Employment Institution.

Akron, Ohio 44325-1703 • uapress@uakron.edu • 1-800-247-6553

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–Ohio History & Culture
–Akron Series in Poetry
–Ohio Politics
–Law, Politics, & Society
–International History
–Technology & Environ.
–Principia Press

Catalogue
–by Author
–by Title
–by Series

Submit Manuscript –Submissions
–Poetry Prize

About Us
–Staff

THE 2009 AKRON POETRY PRIZE WINNER

The 2009 final judge, Martín Espada, has awarded the Akron Poetry Prize to Oliver de la Paz of Deming, WA for his manuscript "Requiem for the Orchard." This year, 502 manuscripts were considered in the contest.

About the winning manuscript, Martín Espada wrote:
These are vivid, visceral poems about coming of age in a place “where the Ferris Wheel/ was the tallest thing in the valley,” where a boy would learn “to fire a shotgun at nine and wring a chicken’s neck/ with one hand by twirling the bird and whipping it straight like a towel.” Looking back, the poet wrestles with the meaning of labor in the apple orchards and “the filthy dollars we’d wad into our pockets,” or the rites of passage that included sinking a knife into the flank of a dead chestnut horse. In spite of such hardscrabble cruelties—or because of them—there is also a real tenderness in these poems, the revelations of bliss driving along an empty highway “like opening a heavy book, / letting the pages feather themselves and finding a dried flower.” In line after line, poem after poem, there is an immersion in the realm of the senses. The poet has a gift for rendering his world in cinematic images: a ten-gallon hat on his head in the second grade is “an upside down chandelier;” carnival workers “snarl into the darkness on their borrowed Harleys.” In short, these poems are the stuff of life itself, ugly and beautiful, wherever or whenever we happen to live it.

2009 FINALISTS
137 Seth Abramson, Final Boy
154 Adela Najarro, Twice Told Over
227 Sarah Perrier, Nothing Fatal
249 Gary L. McDowell, American Amen
264 Brent Armendinger, Ghost Maps
289 Oliver de la Paz, Requiem for the Orchard
352 Shara McCallum, Dear History
477 Steve Kistulentz, The Luckless Age
478 David Dodd Lee, Orphan, Indiana

2009 SEMI-FINALISTS
023 Matthew Hittinger, The Erotic Postulate
043 Michael Meyerhofer, Just So
049 Matthew Thorburn, Every Possible Blue
055 David Keplinger, Glass Music
056 Anthony Madrid, The Getting Rid of the That Which Cannot be Done Without
076 Pablo Miguel Martìnez, The Hours Before the Little Morning
153 Ethel Rackin, What Befalls You
164 Anna Leahy, Among Virgins and Harlots
174 Kelli Russell Agodon, Hourglass Letters
196 Carrie Oeding, Our List of Solutions
197 Sarah Sousa, To Stave Off Disaster
199 Jennifer Perrine, In the Human Zoo
253 Terry L. Kennedy, Iron, Wax
427 Stacey Waite, Butch Geography
437 Miguel Murphy, A Morbid Education
448 Stephanie Kartalopoulos, Everything Whispered
457 Emily Kendal Frey, The Grief Performance
470 Todd Fredson, The Crucifix-Blocks

The final judge for 2010 is G. C. Waldrep. Manuscripts must be postmarked between May 1 and June 15, 2010. Full guidelines may be found -here-

G. C. Waldrep is the author of three full-length collections of poetry: Goldbeater's Skin (Colorado Prize, 2003); Disclamor (BOA Editions, 2007); and Archicembalo (Tupelo Press, 2009), which won the Dorset Prize, judged by C.D. Wright. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in many journals, including American Poetry Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, Paris Review, New England Review, New American Writing, and Tin House. His work has won awards from the Poetry Society of America, the Academy of American Poets, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as residencies from Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. He lives in Lewisburg, Pa., where he serves as Editor-at-Large of The Kenyon Review and teaches at Bucknell University.

Member of AAUP

Maintained by WebDiva

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by The University of Akron.

© 2009 by The University of Akron

The University of Akron is an Equal Education and Employment Institution.