The Winners of the 19th Mudfish Poetry Prize
Judged by Billy Collins!
Winner:
Allen Brafman, NY, “together on the uptown 6“
Honorable Mentions:
Arthur Solway, CA, “Tango“
William Snyder, FL “Side by Side“
Finalists:
Robert Clinton – Dedham, MA
Mark Elber – Fall River, MA
Sandra Vrana – Mechanicsburg, PA
Kate Aver Avraham – Aptos, CA
Seanse Lynch Ducken – Ellensburg, WA
Kenneth David White – Santa Fe, NM
Robert Grant – Albuquerque, NM
Charles Spruance – Weed, CA
Paul Wuensche – Barnes, London
Matthew J. Spireng – Kingston, NY
Kevin Arnold – Paolo Alto, CA
Ann Robinson – Novato, CA
Ted Gilley – Bennington, VT
Advance Praise for Topless!
“I just read the first 40 pages of Topless! If the rest of it is this good, I’ll move to Tribeca, buy a red Indian motorcycle with a sidecar (for the dog), sit on the motorcycle reading left-wing newspapers and, when you’re ready, take you shopping. Every day.”
“read another 40 pages — no complaints — did you really live through all that?”
“It’s not like anything I’ve ever read. If I were you, I’d wake up in the morning very proud. Then I’d be proud all day….It’s so good, in fact, that I’m in some dread of analyzing, putting my words over yours in an attempt at appreciation.”
– Robert Clinton, All These Things I Will Give To You
“‘They’re just right. Soft and expressive,’ says Bliss Barnes when asked to describe her breasts to a personal ad suitor. So opens Jill Hoffman’s Topless, the funniest. poignant, most beautifully written, pleasurable saga of a woman’s journey through breast cancer and the exhilarating disappointments of online dating. She nudges aside the medical mores of technicians, nurses, doctors, oncologists, and the Gilda’s Club support group, as few have met anyone like Bliss, with her charm and allure which she refuses to leave in the waiting room. Her verbal stink bombs explode as she courageously marches on in her long-pointed boots undergoing chemo (making it a picnic), multiple surgeries, radiation, and match.com dates. Delightful and inspiring, harrowing and breathtakingly funny, yet always a bittersweet undertow at the vulnerabilities of the flesh.”
– Stephanie Emily Dickinson, Harlow/Smith Postcards: Icons in Black & White