New Day

If we perceive barely a sliver of our reality,
the knowable only a small part of what’s out there,

that fat bee bumping up against the window,
the faint sound of a neighbor’s car radio.

And if neither here nor there is where we are
then perhaps the Sunrise Nursing Home is the dawn,

is the new day, perhaps leaving your mother with a stranger
not unlike her—divorced with three kids, threatened

with dismissal if she refuses to work a double shift—
perhaps this is the white flag the world has been waiting for,

the …

Survivor’s Gift

Abu Bakr Sadiq Wins a 2024 Zócalo Poetry Prize Honorable Mention Award

Every year, we award the annual Zócalo Poetry Prize to the poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is pleased to recognize four …

Bildungsroman

Yvanna Vien Tica Wins a 2024 Zócalo Poetry Prize Honorable Mention Award

Every year, we award the annual Zócalo Poetry Prize to the poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is pleased to recognize four …

Headshot of Tommy Vinh Bui

A Pill Bug Mutters Makeshift Myths

Tommy Vinh Bui Wins a 2024 Zócalo Poetry Prize Honorable Mention Award

Every year, we award the annual Zócalo Poetry Prize to the poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is pleased to recognize four …

Fire Ants

Fatma Omar Wins a 2024 Zócalo Poetry Prize Honorable Mention Award

Every year, we award the annual Zócalo Poetry Prize to the poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is pleased to recognize four …

Melanie Almeder Wins the 2024 Zócalo Poetry Prize

‘Coyote Hour’ Tracks a Summer in Southern Maine

Melanie Almeder is the winner of the 2024 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize for “Coyote Hour.” The poem tracks the rhythms of summer in a part of coastal New England …