2-Day Poem Contest 2023 Winners

We’re thrilled to announce the winners of this year’s CV2 2-Day Poem Contest, as selected by our judge (and last year’s winner) Dessa Bayrock; our editors; our editor John Elizabeth Stintzi’s mom; and you!

These poets crafted some stunning poems over the course of 48 hours, using a dastardly ten-word list, and you’ll get to read all of them in our fall 2023 issue!

First Place: Alexander Hollenberg, “origin story, with crow”

“This poem constructs a new mythos in the space of a flying bird, evoking the rich world around the crow as vividly as an oil painting, as an exactly focused photograph, as the sun itself. This poem makes the reader want to hold their breath, just as one might when watching a bird in a daredevil dive towards the water. The imagery feels effortless in its vividity — a new cosmos in the ink of her wing, connecting the drowned to what cannot be drowned. Here we see the promise of something else, of something more — of something like joy or possibility, or simply the feeling of fitting smoothly against every other piece that makes up this moment. The result feels like a full breath, like fresh air, like falling into the inky blackness of a crow’s feathers.” – Dessa Bayrock, Judge

Second Place: Kristin Gustafson, “when I told my father I wanted to die: a contrapuntal”

“The masterful balance between form and content, here, is immense, delicate, almost calorific in its sustenance. It is rare to read a poem with a form so tightly defined whose narrative path is still relaxed enough to meander, surprise, and delight. Poems of this type are designed to be read in a variety of ways, sure, but the result is usually one dominant way to read the poem, where the most sense can be found, and a few subjugated alternatives. Here, the three ways I found to read the poem feel like three people clasping arms, speaking as if in a greek chorus. The narrative wanders beautifully, but knows the markers of the path and always packs a compass, encourages the reader to explore its tangents and promises to be found again whenever we are ready to return to its trail markers. Despite the heaviness inherent in a poem about suicide, this poem remains steadily — sometimes painfully — hopeful, in a way that feels honest and true rather than forced or saccharine.” – Dessa Bayrock, Judge

Third Place: Roshni Riar, “in search of a second opinion”

“The narrative of this poem is beautifully laid out, like a thread winding through each stanza, as it develops a photo of something specific and unlocks a deeper universal feeling — of helplessness, of anger, of dis/connection with the body. The choice to use all lower-case letters beautifully underscores the speaker’s helplessness, vulnerability, and the final lines both recentre us into the specificity of the body and act as a portal into a body that doesn’t exist — a body that can hold anything, withstand anything, and produce layers and niches within itself where anyone or anything could hide.” – Dessa Bayrock, Judge

Editor’s Choice: Alycia Primohamed, “My ancestor’s body is a beloved ecosystem”

Editor’s Mom’s Choice: Délani Valin, “How I stopped fearing elevators and other confined spaces”

People’s Choice: Paula Turcotte, “A Short Play Featuring Neural Pathways”