2023 Table of Contents
All
Michael Dowdy
Kathie Collins & Paul Reali
Charlotte Lit’s Co-Founders’ Note
Claudia Crook
A Catalogue of Celebrities Seen While Working at the Restaurant
in the Gramercy Park Hotel
Melissa Scott Sinclair
Brooke Shaffner
Everything I Love Is Out to Sea
Marcus Wicker
I’m Tuning in Live from the Way Out—
Joanne Durham
Parable of the Foolish Virgins Revised
Arielle Hebert
Birds Speak to the Women in My Family
J. Joseph Kane
Jeannetta Craigwell-Graham
Heather Hahn
Rhett Iseman Trull
The Stars Align Themselves in Ancient Sisterhoods of Light
Anita Cantillo
When the Universe Told Me You Were Dead
Susan L. Lin
Cathy Rigg Monetti
Janna Zonder
Angelina Oberdan Brooks
Katherine Soniat
Telemachus Ponders the Bottomland
Maureen Sherbondy
Only Daughter in a House of Sons
Tess Congo
Judith Turner-Yamamoto
Paul Jones
Kenneth Chamlee
Elizabeth Cranford Garcia
The Holy Ghost in Thalia’s Closet
Bill Griffin
Rachel Baiman
Kayla Rae Has Been Driving All Day
Michael Sadoff
A. Van Jordan
Janet Ford
Terry Hall Bodine
Leslie Williams
Fred Pond
The general tends his olive trees in the middle of a memoir I am writing
Nikki Campo
What Newton’s Laws of Motion Taught Me About Lust and Lies in High School
Claudia Crook
If I Love You, I Will Roast You a Chicken
Susan Alff
Elisabeth Murawski
Bryn Chancellor
The Moon, the Pyramids, the World
Suzanne Adams
Melissa Febos
Katie McDougall
Introductions
Poetry
1st Place:
Claudia Crook – A Catalogue of Celebrities Seen While Working at the Restaurant
in the Gramercy Park Hotel
2nd Place:
Marcus Wicker – I’m Tuning in Live from the Way Out—
3rd Place:
Rhett Iseman Trull – The Stars Align Themselves in Ancient Sisterhoods of Light
Additional Finalists:
Kenneth Chamlee – A Pinch of Gray Fluff
Arielle Hebert – Birds Speak to the Women in My Family
Angelina Oberdan Brooks – Clemency
Anita Cantillo – In Spite of My Anger
J. Joseph Kane – It occurs to me now
Katherine Soniat – Kingdom
Joanne Durham – Parable of the Foolish Virgins Revised
Semi-Finalists:
Claudia Crook – If I Love You, I Will Roast You a Chicken
Arielle Hebert – Queens and Kin
Anita Cantillo – When the Universe Told Me You Were Dead
Susan L. Lin – For Angel Island
Angelina Oberdan Brooks – Echo
Katherine Soniat – Telemachus Ponders the Bottomland
Maureen Sherbondy – Only Daughter in a House of Sons
Tess Congo – Family History
Paul Jones – Of Rock Doves
Elizabeth Cranford Garcia – The Holy Ghost in Thalia’s Closet
Bill Griffin – Abscission
Rachel Baiman – Kayla Rae Has Been Driving All Day
Michael Sadoff – The Hotel Motel
A. Van Jordan – Hex
Janet Ford – Catechism
Terry Hall Bodine – Reef
Leslie Williams – Loving v. Virginia
Fred Pond – The general tends his olive trees in the middle of a memoir I am writing
Susan Alff – Vessel
Elisabeth Murawski – Anna’s Bible
Fiction
1st Place:
Melissa Scott Sinclair – The Bridge
2nd Place:
Jeannetta Craigwell-Graham – Becoming Posture
3rd Place:
Cathy Rigg Monetti – Stone Cold
Honorable Mentions:
Judith Turner-Yamamoto – From Away
Additional Finalists:
Katie McDougall – Howling Baby Arch
Michael Sadoff – The Hotel Motel
Fiction Judge:
Bryn Chancellor – The Moon, the Pyramids, the World
Nonfiction
1st Place:
Brooke Shaffner – Everything I Love Is Out to Sea
2nd Place:
Heather Hahn – An Herbarium
3rd Place:
Janna Zonder – When Facts Obscure the Truth
Additional Finalists:
Rachel Baiman – Kayla Rae Has Been Driving All Day
Nikki Campo – What Newton’s Laws of Motion Taught Me About Lust and Lies in High School
Suzanne Adams – What I Did That Summer
Nonfiction Judge:
Melissa Febos – Wildness