Pushcart Prize (Poetry) 2025 Nominations

(Oct 27)

two quadrums

single bed.         single clap.

that buzzing        the ending

in my ear.                 of a life.

~Mark Gilbert

(Oct 24)

time travel

if only

i’d go back

a day

and keep

my mouth

shut

~Tom Blessing

(Oct 20)

unedited

I want to say love me

love my text,

consider converting

all the selfies

on my dating profile

to screenshots of poems.

~Kathryn Reese

(Oct 17)

A Man Called Toothbrush

bristles

at the thought

of death

ignorant

of the fact

Sylvia Plath

would never

write a poem

about him

~dan smith

(Sept 29)

preemptive

i leave my hand

open flat

on the mattress

so i don’t

wake up swinging

from the moon

~Kelly Moyer

(Sept 29)

Nothing.

And then

nothing,

but

in verse.

~Noah Berlatsky

 

Congratulations to these six talented itchy poets! 

 

 

Afternoon of November 2, 2024

 

14 stitches

the mysterious lure of

a nowhere tree

~A.J. Anwar

climate change—

worldwide snowflakes

seasonless

~A.J. Anwar

wooden labyrinth

3D-printed

coral reefs

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Home

We lived in a ghetto.

In a chawl of our illusions,

in the mind’s megalopolis.

 

Our shanty was built

to be bulldozed.

~Sanjeev Sethi

refugee school

the now

of this woman's voice

~Maya Daneva

alone at the beach

there must be something

the moonlight wants

~Maya Daneva

queue for popcorn

a potbellied man keeps

pushing me ahead

~Tejendra Sherchan

Aren’t I Entitled

I’m an open book

though some pages here and there

are glued together

~John H. Dromey

frayed nerves

election day jitters

hauntingly déjà vu

~Ruth Van Alstine

undecided

I consider unfriending

all undecideds

~Morag Elizabeth Humble

One day there will be…

One day there will be no sounds of suicides.

One day there will be a vast blue sky—

A perfect abode for the innocent.

One day they are all phoenixes with the sound of

First ever freedom.

~Partha Sarkar

paramedic sirens

I wonder

if

it would be

another sudden death

~Tuyet Van Do

chalky hand sprouting

from the ground

candlesnuff fungus

~Tuyet Van Do

Plot Development

write what you know

write what you think you know

make something up

~John H. Dromey

 

Evening of October 30, 2024

                                                       Flea swag available here

 

 

Halloween

I EARLY VOTED sticker on

a tombstone

~John J. Dunphy

I am

the merchant

of stars

~Tejendra Sherchan

as the bees dance

the moon

is pierced in two

~Melissa Dennison

Solitary Wanderer

as a ghost

what I miss the most

my shadow

~John H. Dromey

Old Hall

witches' marks

carved into the walls

~Kimberly Kuchar

birthday cake

still standing

cutting time

~Elliot Diamond

candlelight dinner

a swimming moth

in my soup bowl

~Bidyut Prabha

Sunlit river

No one can see you cry

Underwater

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Misty leaves

Haunt the window

Days grow longer

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

just

beneath the surface

truth

~Jennifer Gurney

stepping into

the vast wilderness...

I meet myself

~Jennifer Gurney

I am depressed

so I walk the dog.

The dog feels better.

~Noah Berlatsky

he doesn't want to know the secret handshake anymore

~Patrick Sweeney

tripping over a sycamore root on the way to Cézanne's mountain

~Patrick Sweeney

once I wrote it down, the morning glory let me go

~Patrick Sweeney

he spent an inordinate amount of time on the subsidiary elements of his story

~Patrick Sweeney

when the plot is worth unraveling

~Patrick Sweeney

vanishing point the words unsaid around the conference room table

~Joshua St. Claire

our squares

in different circles

mockingbirds

~Joshua St. Claire

another acceptance

a little less afraid now

of dying

~Joshua St. Claire

unwashed

the hand that sewed

sequins on the stinkbug

~Kelly Moyer

a tuft of lint

drifts from my sock

namaste

~Kelly Moyer

needlework

i trade my yarn and canvas

for a voodoo doll

~Kelly Moyer

spitwads and airplanes

i contemplate

a career in physics

~Kelly Moyer

i write myself

as the protagonist

absurdist tales

~Kelly Moyer

chronic illness

fluffing the pillows

of my escape room

~Kelly Moyer

listen

~dan smith

Morning of October 27, 2024

  

thanks for making

a positive choice

with your shoes

~Mark Valentine

this week

head outside

and experience

~Mark Valentine

your holiday is

nearly here

we're delighted

~Mark Valentine

As to summit and tooth

Begins summit.

Toothache.

Summit on.

Toothpaste.

MoU.

Toothsome.

Summit is over.

Toothpick.

Next summit.

Toothbrush.

~Partha Sarkar

musical scales

a heavy minor chord

difficult times

~Olinda Ninolakis

a touch of love

uncountable syllables

no cutting words

~Olinda Ninolakis

A delivery kid in the rain

A delivery kid

in the rain

with meagre commission

on no man's land-

the mother's womb.

~Partha Sarkar

today I see

no good

& no evil

neither good

nor evil

~Mark Gilbert

predictably

the orangutan

watches us

act predictably

while grazing

~Mark Gilbert

two quadrums

single bed.         single clap.

that buzzing        the ending

in my ear.                 of a life.

~Mark Gilbert

another autumn . . .

father's garden sea still

creaking

~Fatma Zohra Habis

weaving the canvas

unraveling the canvas —

politician's work

~Nicoletta Ignatti

election day

in the 10-day forecast

a 50% chance

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

political debate

the moderator’s sneeze

caught in mid-air

~Mona Bedi

Kamala

in Kalamazoo

today

~Jennifer Gurney

getting my brave on

I step into

the fray

~Jennifer Gurney

I wonder

what happens to all the poems

written only in my mind

~Jennifer Gurney

another little time machine great-grandchild

~dan smith

hanging roots my unreasonable expectations

~Mona Bedi

believing unbelieving what was I thinking

~Mark Gilbert

just after the storm a praying mantis

~Mona Bedi

paper boats—

the untold stories

after the flood

~Mona Bedi

a faded line

on the pregnancy kit

false spring

~Mona Bedi

 

 

Afternoon of October 24, 2024

 

hurricane smashing

the reporter

protects her microphone

with

a condom

~Tuyet Van Do

Fortune cookie

Is now a misfortune cookie

Tables have turned

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Hope

A four-lettered word

Dim sum for one

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

ant Darwin’s

crystal ball

how to get through

the footfalls

to fall

~Biswajit Mishra

moonless night

looking for the right moon

for a poem

~Biswajit Mishra

reduced milk

once part of a multipack…

I hold you so close

~David Cox

December darkness —

between us

a photon

~Vijay Prasad

my family folk art knitted brows

~dan smith

time flies — but where does it land?

~Tom Blessing

not one duck in the pond writer’s block

~Sharon Ferrante

Halloween season beware of seedy orange characters

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

All Souls' Day

our shoes caked with

graveyard mud

~John J. Dunphy

 

such

a spooky season

election time

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

I told you one day

I’d swim in your ocean

—Jupiter

~Sharon Ferrante

rest stop law

visitors will be greeted

by a fly

~Sharon Ferrante

mid-movie

an urge to peel my feet

from the sticky floor

~Sharon Ferrante

I want that

to be my killer

of today’s fear

a fly on the nose

of a lion

~Sharon Ferrante

cold dew

watering the succulents

out of habit

~Madeleine Kavanagh

SHADOW PLAY

 

The rusty nail

bends back

upon itself

to see

its shadow

wearing

a sun hat.

~Diane Webster

INTO THE SUNSET

 

At least

the railroad tracks

have a partner

to go off

into the sunset with.

~Diane Webster

not a piggy-bank

full of stones

my gall

~Hassane Zemmouri

Heron — a perfect philosopher

A lone white heron

returning home

in the evening-

A lone philosopher

even without a follower.

~Partha Sarkar

spiky bones

in my fish curry

yet they can't protect him

~Tejendra Sherchan

time travel

if only

i’d go back

a day

and keep

my mouth

shut

~Tom Blessing

if only

I could lose loss

and find found

~Jennifer Gurney