Say It Plainly Challenge Winners

A pattern showed up pretty quickly reading this shortlist: these poems don’t circle what they’re about. They just say it.

That makes for some tough, raw reads. Miscarriage, infidelity, chronic pain, money, addiction, fear for someone you love. Not much is softened or dressed up. By the end, I felt like I needed a cigarette, and I don’t even smoke.

That’s the tradeoff with this prompt. Without metaphor, there’s nowhere to hide. These poems rely on clarity and plain statement to carry the weight. Some stay controlled and measured, others are more blunt, but all of them commit to naming what’s there and staying with it.

The pieces below reflect that range.

🏆 Winners

a thread of quiet rage by Heather Hubler

Heather Hubler speaks plainly about feeling stuck, naming fear, numbness, and a growing anger at herself for staying there. The piece relies on direct statements and questions, letting that tension sit without dressing it up.

Expected to Continue by Cali Loria

Cali Loria names miscarriage and early sexualization without sidestepping the details, letting plain, sequential language do the emotional work; the poem’s restraint puts the facts and expectations front and center, so that nothing is softened for the reader or for the speaker.

I've Never Been Afraid by A. J. Schoenfeld

A. J. Schoenfeld walks through spiders, snakes, and flying in direct, matter-of-fact terms before turning to a present fear that can’t be controlled. Keeping everything plainly stated and letting that shift land without embellishment.

Decomposition in Progress by Tim Carmichael

Tim Carmichael lays out the oak’s decomposition through detailed observation, from bark to roots to fungi. The poem stays plain and exact, even pausing to reject metaphor and keep the focus on what's physically occurring.

Get Out by Marilyn Glover

Marilyn Glover lays out the betrayal in direct terms, then shifts into clear and immediate commands to get out; staying on the surface and letting that refusal carry the weight.

🎖️ Runners-up

• Foul air can still be warm by Eden Row
• Are You Okay with Fucking Me Too? by Lightning Bolt ⚡
• Poem of a Grieving Mother by Emma Mark
• The Problem With Pain by K.B. Silver
• Lemon Bars by Annie Valenti
• Grieving the Living by Natasha Collazo
• Cracked Knuckles by ROCK aka Andrea Polla (Simmons)
• Stop Asking by Brooke Moran
• "You Are a Bad Boss!" by Lana V Lynx
• weighty is by kp
• The Laundromat by Silver Daux
• The Big Problem by Jessica McGlaughlin
• Facing a New Day by Stephen A. Roddewig
• I Am a Visitor by Pixel Floyd
• Drunk by Bride of Sound

🏅 Honorable Mentions

• The Cause Is the Cure by Edward Swafford
• Vehophobia by Raistlin Allen
• Silence by Tennessee Garbage
• talking only to myself by John Cox
• Jaywalking by Harper Lewis
• Hospital: Two Days by Sandy Gillman
• Bad Guy by Tanya Lei
• there is a time to write plainly by Alexandria Stanwyck
• An Open Letter To The Woman I Was by Ashley McGee
• I am not concerned about death by T.L. Amber

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