Rattle Poetry Prize

Conversation with
A.E. Stallings

The Winter 2020 issue of Rattle has arrived, and with it comes good news: Despite the challenges of this year, poetry is as vibrant, beautiful, and necessary as ever. The proof is here, in poems like “Psalm of the Heights” by Dana Gioia, a reverent homage to Los Angeles; “Deitic” by A.E. Stallings, a formal poem about a museum visit during a pandemic; and “Graffiti” by Josh Lefkowitz, which begins with Indonesian cave art and ends with bathroom graffiti. “A Litany of Lukewarm Sentiments” by Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal made us laugh (“On being gaslighted by a millennial/the millennial will ask another millennial/if gaslighting is a millennial thing. The millennial/will not know.”); “Modesty” by Richard Luftig made us nod in understanding (“I am still waiting for the university to figure out that they meant/to send it to the other guy who had the same name as mine”); and every poem made us feel grateful that poetry exists. We hope you’ll feel the same way.

Additionally, we’re proud to present the finalists of the 2020 Rattle Poetry Prize and their diverse poems, including “I Admit Myself to the Psych Ward in a Pandemic” by Beck Anson, a long poem that approaches its subject matter with honesty and depth; “Mega-” by Shelly Stewart Cato, which colorfully explores the now-trendy “megachurch,”; “Farm Sonnet” by Kitty Carpenter, a beautifully restrained and evocative portrait of farm life; and more. Not to mention, of course, the winning poem, Alison Townsend’s “Pantoum From the Window of the Room Where I write,” a masterful work that moves us more each time we read it.

Finally, Timothy Green and A.E. Stallings meet up via Skype for a conversation that runs the intellectual, literary, and cultural gamut, from classical mythology to quantum physics to the Syrian refugee crisis. It’s a thoughtful and in-depth discussion to round out an issue of Rattle.

	Open Poetry
	José A. Alcántara	Divorce
	Paola Bruni	Why I Joined the Cult
	Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal	A Litany of Lukewarm Sentiments
	Fay Dillof	Self-Therapy
	Alan C. Fox	Throughout This Teeter-Totter World
	Nicole Caruso Garcia	Warning Sign
	Dana Gioia	Psalm of the Heights
	E. Laura Golberg	First Night as a Widow
	Laura Gregory	Tiffani’s Testimony at the 11:30 a.m. Service
	Lola Haskins	The Discovery
	Ron Koertge	Because Wolves Are a Protected Species …
	Josh Lefkowitz	Graffiti
		Next in Line
	Richard Luftig	Modesty
	Joan Murray	The Book Pitch
	Jim Peterson	Following You
	Alice Pettway	Homestead
	Derek Sheffield	Exactly What Needs Saying
	A.E. Stallings	Deictic
		Lockdown Puzzle: Hokusai’s Great Wave …
	Sophia Stid	I Am Tired of the Movie About …
	Sarah P. Strong	My Tie
	Anthony Zick	When My Mom, for the Millionth Time …
	Theodora Ziolkowski	At the Memory Care Center
	Poetry Prize Winner
	Alison Townsend	Pantoum from the Window of the Room …
	Finalists
	Beck Anson	I Admit Myself to the Psych Ward in a Pandemic
	Chaun Ballard	Survival Is a Matter of Perspective When
	Kitty Carpenter	Farm Sonnet
	Shelly Stewart Cato	Mega-
	Skye Jackson	Spoon-Rest Mammies
	Gordon Kippola	Army Service: Tikrit
	Lance Larsen	And Also I Ran
	Jessica Lee	Greener Pastures
	Austen Leah Rose	Dear Husband
	Alexis Rotella	Empty Souls
	Conversation
	A.E. Stallings (web)
	Cover Art
	James Christopher Carroll (web)