Talking Gourds: Rebecca Foust wins Fischer Poetry Prize

17 Nov Talking Gourds: Rebecca Foust wins Fischer Poetry Prize

The Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds Poetry Program proudly announces the winner of the 28th Annual Fischer Prize for Poetry: Rebecca Foust of Minnesota for her poem, “Polaris.”

For more information on the Talking Gourds Poetry Program and its national Fischer and Cantor poetry contests, visit tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds

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Rebecca Foust, Grandf Canyon. Courtesy William Harvey

“The poem unfurls on the page like the galaxies in our open skies,” noted Judge Juan Morales. “It also affirms the stars belong to us all with its native connections.”

Foust was delighted to learn of the award, adding: “My poem ‘Polaris’ is from a longer sequence inspired by a re-reading of George Orwell’s 1984 during the pandemic. Some of these are collected in my new chapbook, ‘You Are Leaving the American Sector,’ that was released this fall by Backbone Press.”

This year, 284 poets submitted 566 poems in the Fischer contest. In addition to the first place $1000 prize, the contest features five $250 Outstanding Finalist prizes, plus nine Honorable Mentions. Poems,

Photos of poets and bios can be accessed at www.tellurideinstitute.org/2024-fischer-cantor-prize-winning-poems

The five Outstanding Finalists for the 2024 Fischer Prize are Kelly Rowe of Arizona with “Waiting for Sunrise”; Liza Patrick of Colorado with “How You Hold”; Mary Buchinger of Massachusetts with “Gentian”; Julia Liu of New Jersey with “Fortune Cookie”; and former Fischer Prize winner Carlos Andrés Gómez currently of Georgia with “Aperture.”

The nine Honorable Mentions include Dawn Dupler of Missouri with “My hometown carved out a golf course from 2,000-year-old Native American ceremonial earthworks”; David Allen Sullivan of California with “To Eat a Peach”; Samantha Russell of Oregon with “Burnt Edges”; Rafaella Del Bourgo of California with “Winter, Lower Longley, Tasmania”; Gary V. Powell of North Carolina with “First Kill”; Kelly Houle of Arizona with “The Basket of Apples”; Junxin Tang of Indiana with “`Portrait of My Grandfather in the Korean War (1952)”; multiple Fischer Prize finalist Partridge Boswell of Vermont with “Stick Up” and Wisteria Deng of Connecticut with “Past Lives.”

The Fischer Prize is awarded annually to poets from around the country (or around the world) writing in English. Past Fischer winners include Anna Scotti, Michelle Bitting, Devreaux Baker and Ja’net Danielo of California, Mary Anne Crowe of New Mexico, Wendy Videlock, Kyle Harvey, Jill Burkey and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer of Colorado, Jonathan Greenhouse of New Jersey and Carlos Andrés Gómez then of New York.

“Our national poetry contests are the primary way poets can help us support the many poetry projects we do on Colorado’s Western Slope,” said Talking Gourd Director Art Goodtimes, “with the bonus that one might also win a prize. Additionally, we offer feedback on submissions, if desired.”