March 13, 2026

Winners

Missing Instructionsno one prepares you for the middle of things, the long stretch of just paying rent and the strange feeling you didn’t get all of the instructions. / you’ll end up in an apartment that’s aggressively okay, where beetles crawl out of the wall like they were there first and you’re just visiting. / you’ll notice that the carpet smells faintly like someone repeatedly microwaved fish and decided that’s right for the rest of history.

@William-A-Gibson37

#1

34

tell metell me / why are you passing / through my dreams

#2

25

The SeekerShe set sail, bound for the other shore / With prayer flags singing in unison with the mover of the wind / The glory of the empyrean brought forth rivulets of sweat

@kim-johanna-baker24

#3

24

Other poems

I am the saltshe is draped in a chemical heat / a lace of carbon and ancient law / she arches her spine toward a molten sun

24

I never meant toI never meant to keep the pieces of you, / You just wouldn’t go away, / You stuck to me like glue

@That_Girl_Who30

23

ShapeShiftersWords... / Mysterious, / Aren't they?

21

Pandas are *******Pandas are ******* / No doubt about it / All they ever do

@daniel-james24

21

Silence !I want to see through walls again / I want / Could never begin to explain

@CognitiveConflict30

21

WaitSmile. / Sit still. / Dance.

21

An InvitationIt's time for the annual celebration, / The one that happens only once each year. / It fills one with trepidation,

20

Letters From the Other Side of the Moon(A love letter written across impossible distances – where longing invents new worlds just to be heard.) / I write to you from the other side of the moon, / where the air tastes faintly of oranges

@MidnightVerse17

20

Whispers in the StaticAcross the map, people I’ve never met / leave pieces of themselves in my hands, / like folded notes slipped between the pages

18

Beside You, Not Over YouCome sit – set down the burden like a weary coat. / Here, we don’t disguise silence as kindness. / If silence has cut, let it be named.

18

Gravity as LoveGravity does not ask permission. / It pulls, silent, inevitable, / cradling the moon, holding the tide,

@MidnightVerse18

18

The Cartographer of DreamsIn the dream, the river ran uphill, / carrying houses like driftwood / toward a sky the colour of bruised glass.

@MidnightVerse29

16

THE OVERCONFIDENT UMBRELLA(An umbrella with more confidence than structural integrity.) / It strutted out of the house / as if it had negotiated

13

Give upIt just keeps getting worse. / Is there no end? / Is death the only respite?

11

FishbowlI was born in a fishbowl / With crystal-clear glass / No one ever told me—

10

nageva dans ma vue, nage / plonge dans mes pensées / et navigue mon inconscient,

10

Her eyesBehind her eyes / there is a place / that hides all

10

Cherry-RedThey say... / That Love is a one-time thing. / Well, that's something I, too, believed.

9

loveIt’s not just fire, bright and wild, / Nor fleeting thrill, nor dream beguiled. / It’s in the quiet, steady glow,

8

Quiet ThirstMy heart wakes before the morning does, / already heavy with the same old rain. / Somewhere inside my chest

8

ActingWhen fame spits you out, / and the spotlight fades to black, / will love be an act?

@lynn-stillman3

8

Helter SkelterCharles (Charlie) Manson 1969 / was in the Local News mostly The Times / when he committed the crimes.

@cj-sutherland90

8

RosesLove is like a rose, when in full bloom. / Portraying love at it's fullest peak / Setting off a scent as it draws them in.

7

Love GardenMy heart is a love garden / It has flowers with every color / Without rain, without sun

7

Again vs. Potential...and here i am again / Another day. Another man. / So slight the change

@JustJackAgain29

7

DeadlinesThey never tell you how fresh the past stays in your mind / How old friendships linger like a phantom limb / Sometimes so painful you can't sleep

7

aions prayeri yearn devouring it that devours me whole / the heavens lower heavy-laden. / raven sprouts amass in its niches

7

normameltwater soup / we sort it at dusk, we sort it at noon in mornings we sort it at night / we sort and we sort we dig a channel

7

A Moments BloomHave you ever seen a flower / grow by nine / and die by ten?

@JosephCousineau4

6

InnocenceA schism / A broken mirror / A another light anew.

5

you'll never know.you will never know / how it feels to shatter like glass / when you feel like your rewriting your past

@lynniewritespoetry17

5

Not a lot, just foreverIf I set a sail / I wonder how fast i can fail / I don't know what's more impossible

@allianceofunknown12

5

for every piece that i keep, ten more escape mei sit in the center of an empty room and spill out everywhere / all that i am slowly seeping down my side and / painting the floor shades of maroon, amaranth and despair.

@archiveofagirl21

5

Moving OnMy heart is wrapped, tightly, / by layers and layers of tape. / And to cut through it, tritely,

5

ibisglossy black feather, / lost in the human shadow / ibis fades from sight.

5

the epic of nothingi shall make proper preparations for the grandeur of the task, / i shall tighten the laces of my boots (for there will be hazards aplenty, i assure you) / like, say, crepuscule hardening into molten metal,

5

UntitledI do not care about black and white / Wrongs and rights, too high thoughts / I just want to continue to write

4

ad-miremire is mire, / and has ever lain as mire. / yet what hand dares to sink,

4

full stopand the sunlight dimmed with a rattle / and the woods made a bethel of their leaning / and the paths bowed because there is no such a thing as straight-forward

4

The Winds of WarsThe Winds of Wars / The winds of wars have shorn the shores where children once had played, / revealing bones of dead unknowns for whom the faithful’d prayed,

@terry-oleary35

3

Dream CatcherNight after night I toss and creep, / “Dear Moon and Stars, why can’t I sleep? / You blink and glow above my bed

3

ended

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