Catamaran Poetry Prize
for West Coast Poets 2021
The winner of the 2021 Poetry Prize is
The Second Split Between by Alison Turner
from Los Angeles, California
Alison Turner
Alison Turner lives with her husband under the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles, California. She received a JD from the UCLA School of Law and, during the years of a busy appellate practice, reserved the hours of 5-7am for reading and writing poems. Her poems have been published in Nimrod, Mid-American Review, Hudson Review, San Pedro River Review, The American Journal of Poetry, Catamaran, and other journals and anthologies. She is author of the chapbook, What To Do In An Emergency. This will be her first full collection.
Judge Dorianne Laux had this to say about The Second Split Between:
“A well-written, fully realized manuscript. Impressionistic view of the pandemic, moments opened up and explored, a couple who lives within the confined world of their house of mirrors looking out at the abandoned world beyond. Other apocalyptic scenarios follow, earthquake warnings, emergencies, accidents, shootings, drug deals, the seasonal shifts of global warming, all under the banner of the battered Hollywood sign, greater L.A. with all its sights, sounds, smells, flora and fauna, people and stories: a homeless man on his knees shining a star on Hollywood Blvd with a rag. And amid all the quiet and confusion of a liminal, limited life, there are moments to seize and hold onto.”
"O ephemera, time is filled with us. Let us praise everything against the nothing. I too have posed with Superman on a dare. September, two crows watching, the light about to change."
About the Catamaran Poetry Prize
for West Coast Poets
The Catamaran Poetry Prize encourages the submission of previously unpublished poetry manuscripts across a range of styles, themes, and forms. This contest is for a collection of poetry only. The prize is only open to West Coast poets living in California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii. A prize of $1,000 and publication in book form is awarded to the poetry collection selected by the judge. Submissions accepted Nov 15th through April 20th.
Congratulations to our 2021 Finalists and Semifinalists. Each will have a poem selected for publication in the Fall 2021 issue of Catamaran.
Finalists
Blessings by Jake Young, from Santa Cruz, California
Floriography Girl by Lisa C. Krueger, from Los Angeles, California
Nightjars by David Sullivan, from Santa Cruz, California
Hunger in the Canyon by Sharon McElhone, from Silicon Valley, California
The Shadow Waters by John Struloeff from Malibu, California
Semifinalists
Stem by Lisa Allen Ortiz from Santa Cruz, California
Gifts to the Attentive by Marie Marchand from Ellensburg, Washington
Blue if Only I Could Tell You by Richard Tillinghast from Papaikou, Hawaii
Statement on this year’s Catamaran Poetry Prize
Many thanks to all the poets who entered their work for this year’s Catamaran Poetry Prize. The pool of manuscripts was the largest we have ever received. That number alone is testimony to the incredible vitality of the poetry community on the West Coast of the United States. The poetry collections submitted were remarkably varied in their styles, projects, and subject matter. The regions that inspired the poems ranged from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California and Hawaii. Many highly competitive manuscripts were entered, and to honor that, we have recognized, in addition to this year's winner, five finalists and three semifinalists. Congratulations to all the poets whose excellent work is celebrated here.
About Dorianne Laux:
The judge for our 2021 Catamaran poetry prize is Dorianne Laux. Pulitzer Prize finalist Dorianne Laux’s most recent collection is Only As The Day Is Long: New and Selected, W.W. Norton. She is also author of The Book of Men, winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize and Facts about the Moon, winner of the Oregon Book Award. She teaches poetry at North Carolina State and Pacific University. In 2020, Laux was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.