Thank you to everyone who submitted to the 2024 Crab Creek Review Poetry Prize! There were many phenomenal submissions, making this year’s contest especially difficult! We are grateful to everyone who submitted their work, and to Kelli Russell Agodon who had the task of selecting our finalists and winner from the submissions.
Congratulations to our winner, finalist and semifinalists!
From the Judge
All of these poems could have been the winner. I understand how subjective and imperfect this process is—choosing a “winner.” On another day, with a different judge or even different weather outside my window, the decision might have been different. I want to acknowledge the subjectivity that comes with judging any prize, but also to celebrate the exceptional work here. To the winners, finalists, and semi-finalists: what a beautiful world we live in, filled with so many outstanding poems that make the task of choosing just one a delightful difficulty. Let’s take a moment to admire and honor this wonderful abundance. Thank you for the gift of spending time with your poems. It’s been my honor to be part of the process.
~ Kelli Russell Agodon
Congratulations to our winner, finalist and semifinalists!
From the Judge
All of these poems could have been the winner. I understand how subjective and imperfect this process is—choosing a “winner.” On another day, with a different judge or even different weather outside my window, the decision might have been different. I want to acknowledge the subjectivity that comes with judging any prize, but also to celebrate the exceptional work here. To the winners, finalists, and semi-finalists: what a beautiful world we live in, filled with so many outstanding poems that make the task of choosing just one a delightful difficulty. Let’s take a moment to admire and honor this wonderful abundance. Thank you for the gift of spending time with your poems. It’s been my honor to be part of the process.
~ Kelli Russell Agodon
Winning Poem: Sacrament, by Dawn Dupler
From the Judge
"I am thrilled to choose “Sacrament” as the winner of the Crab Creek Review Poetry Prize. From the opening line--If only we could place our dead in the basement--I was captivated. Its originality and surrealism offered this reader a deeply moving exploration of grief, memory, and familial love in a way I haven’t quite experienced in a poem. The haunting yet beautiful imagery drew me back to this poem many times, each reading bringing me deeper into the scene where the poet skillfully intertwines the everyday with the sacred, life with death.
What I could not forget is the final image of the dead mother leaving again--Dress her in linen all smoothed & ironed. / Just as she liked it—only to be returned into the basement like other memories that begin to fade, and the final line--Such ceremony as we put her away. This poem captures how we try to honor the dead and how we want to care for our memories yet can never fully keep what we love. There is so much thoughtfulness in the syntax, details, and history. It is a truly inventive and poignant and beautifully-crafted poem that continues to stay with me."
About the Poet
Dawn Dupler’s poetry has been featured on the buses and trains of St. Louis’s MetroLink and in journals such as Natural Bridge, Whiskey Island, Moon City Review,and others. She is the 2023 Grand Prize Winner of MacGuffin’s Poet Hunt and a 2023 Semifinalist for the Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize. Dawn has an MFA in Writing and a BS in Chemical Engineering. Retiring early from corporate life, she now teaches Composition, Poetry, and Creative Writing at the St Louis Community College and works as an Associate Editor of december literary journal.
"I am thrilled to choose “Sacrament” as the winner of the Crab Creek Review Poetry Prize. From the opening line--If only we could place our dead in the basement--I was captivated. Its originality and surrealism offered this reader a deeply moving exploration of grief, memory, and familial love in a way I haven’t quite experienced in a poem. The haunting yet beautiful imagery drew me back to this poem many times, each reading bringing me deeper into the scene where the poet skillfully intertwines the everyday with the sacred, life with death.
What I could not forget is the final image of the dead mother leaving again--Dress her in linen all smoothed & ironed. / Just as she liked it—only to be returned into the basement like other memories that begin to fade, and the final line--Such ceremony as we put her away. This poem captures how we try to honor the dead and how we want to care for our memories yet can never fully keep what we love. There is so much thoughtfulness in the syntax, details, and history. It is a truly inventive and poignant and beautifully-crafted poem that continues to stay with me."
About the Poet
Dawn Dupler’s poetry has been featured on the buses and trains of St. Louis’s MetroLink and in journals such as Natural Bridge, Whiskey Island, Moon City Review,and others. She is the 2023 Grand Prize Winner of MacGuffin’s Poet Hunt and a 2023 Semifinalist for the Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize. Dawn has an MFA in Writing and a BS in Chemical Engineering. Retiring early from corporate life, she now teaches Composition, Poetry, and Creative Writing at the St Louis Community College and works as an Associate Editor of december literary journal.
Finalists
 “After” Amy Smith From the Judge: I so appreciated how “After” creates a connection and deeper meaning through the act of saving a dog from traffic. It beautifully illustrates how loss and gain are intertwined, and how small acts of kindness can bring comfort and healing, both to the one performing the act and to those who witness it. About the Poet Amy Smith’s poetry is found or forthcoming in Waxwing, Poetry Northwest, Salamander, and elsewhere. She serves as an Editorial Assistant at Poetry Northwest and lives and works in Central New York. |  “ode to cows & clitorises” Mandy Shunnarah From the Judge: I was immediately captivated by “ode to cows & clitorises” from the title alone, but the poem's depth transformed it into a compelling exploration of identity. This poem navigates themes of queerness, bodily autonomy, and the pervasive judgments women endure regarding our bodies. It also addresses the exhaustion with heteronormative expectations while acknowledging the compromises made for survival. The poem's engaging voice made me adore the speaker and their desire for pleasure—what a voice, keep speaking! About the Poet Mandy Shunnarah (they/them) is an Alabama-born Appalachian and Palestinian-American writer who calls Columbus, Ohio, home. Their essays, poetry, and short stories have been published in The New York Times, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, and others. They are the winner of the Porter House Review 2024 Editor’s Prize in Poetry and are supported by the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Sundress Academy for the Arts. Their first book, Midwest Shreds: Skating Through America’s Heartland, was just released from the Belt imprint of Arcadia Publishing. Read more at mandyshunnarah.com. |  “Ghazal with Difficult Music” Emily Rose Cole From the Judge: “Ghazal with Difficult Music” is a sensual poem inspired by the organ, where the form of the ghazal enhances the subject with its repetition. I loved being pulled into this intimate moment where the history and its complexities mirror the deep connection between the two people in the poem. The uses of organza, organic, and organ delighted me. About the Poet Emily Rose Cole is the author of Thunderhead, a collection from University of Wisconsin Press, and Love & a Loaded Gun, a chapbook of persona poems in women's voices from Minerva Rising Press. She has received awards from Jabberwock Review, Philadelphia Stories, The Orison Anthology, and the Academy of American Poets. Her poetry has appeared in American Life in Poetry, Best New Poets 2018, Poet Lore, and the Los Angeles Review, among others. She holds an MFA in poetry from Southern Illinois University and a PhD in poetry with an emphasis in Disability Studies from the University of Cincinnati. |
Semifinalists
“Dr. West boosts the dosage” by Jordan E. Franklin
“The Circling” by Jean Harper
“Letter Written from the Other Side of Town” by Patricia Caspers
“Watching My Mother” by Lexi Pelle
“We Don’t Call It Anything, But” by Julia Roch
“My Mother Is Giving Away Another Baby” by Amanda Auchter
“If Yes, Then” by Tyler Allen Penny
“The Movie Theater Where I Had My First Kiss is Now a Mega Church” by Lauren Kalstad
"Saì Gòn Diptych” by Phương Uyên Huỳnh Võ
“Word of the Day: Fathom” by Kathleen Tryon
“i never thought about my mother’s grave” by Karen Javits
“Almost Armored” by Judith Fox
“I’d Like to Bend” by Judith Fox
“Peacocking” by Chloe Cook
“what is it you taste when you die in the night” by Abi Pollokoff
“Life History” by Emilie Lygren
“The Call” by Hannah Silverstein
“Self Portrait as Artemis” by Emily Rose Cole
“marriage, as the world burns” by Mandy Shunnarah
“Late Winter” Amy Smith
“The Circling” by Jean Harper
“Letter Written from the Other Side of Town” by Patricia Caspers
“Watching My Mother” by Lexi Pelle
“We Don’t Call It Anything, But” by Julia Roch
“My Mother Is Giving Away Another Baby” by Amanda Auchter
“If Yes, Then” by Tyler Allen Penny
“The Movie Theater Where I Had My First Kiss is Now a Mega Church” by Lauren Kalstad
"Saì Gòn Diptych” by Phương Uyên Huỳnh Võ
“Word of the Day: Fathom” by Kathleen Tryon
“i never thought about my mother’s grave” by Karen Javits
“Almost Armored” by Judith Fox
“I’d Like to Bend” by Judith Fox
“Peacocking” by Chloe Cook
“what is it you taste when you die in the night” by Abi Pollokoff
“Life History” by Emilie Lygren
“The Call” by Hannah Silverstein
“Self Portrait as Artemis” by Emily Rose Cole
“marriage, as the world burns” by Mandy Shunnarah
“Late Winter” Amy Smith
About the Judge
Kelli Russell Agodon is a bi/queer poet and editor from the Pacific Northwest. Kelli's newest book Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon Press) was named a Finalist in the Washington State Book Awards and shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize in Poetry. She is the cofounder of Two Sylvias Press where she works as an editor and book cover designer. Her other books include Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room (Winner of the Foreword Indies Book of the Year in Poetry, Washington State Book Finalist, and shortlisted for the Julie Suk Prize), The Daily Poet: Day-By-Day Prompts for Your Writing Practice (coauthored with Martha Silano), and the newly released Demystifying the Manuscript: Essays and Interviews on Creating a Book of Poems which she coedited with Susan Rich. Kelli lives in a sleepy seaside town in Washington State on traditional lands of the Chimacum, Coast Salish, S'Klallam, and Suquamish people where she is an avid paddleboarder and hiker. She teaches at Pacific Lutheran University’s low-res MFA program, the Rainier Writing Workshop. She is also currently part of a project between local land trusts and artists to help raise awareness for the preservation of land, ecosystems, and biodiversity called Writing the Land. www.agodon.com / www.twosylviaspress.com
Kelli Russell Agodon is a bi/queer poet and editor from the Pacific Northwest. Kelli's newest book Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon Press) was named a Finalist in the Washington State Book Awards and shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize in Poetry. She is the cofounder of Two Sylvias Press where she works as an editor and book cover designer. Her other books include Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room (Winner of the Foreword Indies Book of the Year in Poetry, Washington State Book Finalist, and shortlisted for the Julie Suk Prize), The Daily Poet: Day-By-Day Prompts for Your Writing Practice (coauthored with Martha Silano), and the newly released Demystifying the Manuscript: Essays and Interviews on Creating a Book of Poems which she coedited with Susan Rich. Kelli lives in a sleepy seaside town in Washington State on traditional lands of the Chimacum, Coast Salish, S'Klallam, and Suquamish people where she is an avid paddleboarder and hiker. She teaches at Pacific Lutheran University’s low-res MFA program, the Rainier Writing Workshop. She is also currently part of a project between local land trusts and artists to help raise awareness for the preservation of land, ecosystems, and biodiversity called Writing the Land. www.agodon.com / www.twosylviaspress.com