2022 Voertman / Academy of American Poets Prize

Minadora Macheret

Valzhyna Mort has selected "Remembering the End of the World" by Minadora Macheret as the winner of the 2022 Voertman / Academy of American Poets Prize.

Mort writes:

In "Remembering the End of the World," the familiar, written-about history of Holocaust is turned strange again: I'm frightened anew by the crow-car, by the dew magnifying the tracks of death, by the ash that tastes of bees and roses. Anew, I'm grateful for poetry for the crow-car, for the dew magnifying the tracks of death, for the ash that tastes of bees and roses. The poet's imagination is at once ironic and tragic. The repetitions haunt and sustain. The final stanza takes one's breath away as it moves from the lips reciting a prayer to the lips pressed to the temple, but instead of a kiss, we hear a shot. The poem's torn, yet dynamic form contains a fable, a gentle way of speaking about the unspeakable.

Minadora will receive $200 and be named in the Academy of American Poets annual report.

Honorable Mentions:

"In Absentia" by Brian Czyzyk

"Portrait of Nymphs Bathing" and "The Deer Bone" by Aza Pace

Congratulations!

To learn more about the Voertman / Academy of American Poets Prize visit: https://english.unt.edu/creative-writing/voertman-aap-prize