2025 Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Contest Winners and Finalists
First Place ($500)
Where Language Ends—Carlos Andrés Gómez, Atlanta, GA
Second Place ($150)
You Can’t Put the Red Sea in a Poem—Joanne Durham, Kura Beach, NC
Third Place ($75)
Because—Alison Stone, Upper Nyack, NY
Honorable Mentions (5 @ $50)
- Entombing—Chloé Lind, Mount Pleasant SC
- Fire-Proof Box—Susan Kress, Saratoga Springs, NY
- this business of her nerves being older—Anne Rankin, Brunswick, ME
- Knocked Back—Barbara Ungar, Saratoga Springs, NY
- River Reminiscing—Julie Lomoe, Wynantskill, NY
Other Finalists
- HELL IS FOR HOUSE FLIPPERS—Anna Boughtwood, Rensselaer, NY
- Harmattan Blues—Chinaza James-Ibe, Abajah, Nigeria
- self-portrait as it were—Kate Leboff, Trumansburg, NY
- In My Home-town There Are No Apples—Chukwuebuka Alu, Onitsha, Nigeria
- into bodies—Daniel Orisaeke, Lagos, Nigeria
- The Childhood—Robin Greene, Hendersonville, NC
- Bird of Love is Patient—Parrish Finn, Cork, Ireland
- Night Drive—John Savoie, Edwardsville, IL
- Still Life With Pear—Rachel Baum, Saratoga Springs, NY
- Language Lessons—Mary K O’Melveny, Kingston, NY
- Orpheum—Will Nixon, Kingston, NY
- Traveler’s Guilt—Melanie Hyo-In Han, Woking, UK
- Bloodletting—Alana Pedalino, Buffalo, NY
- Fragmentation—Michael Imossan, Abuja, Nigeria
- Life Partner—Jefferson Carter, Tucson, AZ
- Mourning Becomes Her—Howard J Kogan, Ashland, MA
- In the Dark—Anne Graue, Mahopac, NY
- Altared—DUGGAN, Delgany, Ireland