FURIOUS FLOWER 2019 POETRY PRIZE
SUMMARY: Judge A. Van Jordan selects winners for the 2019 Furious Flower Poetry Prize.
The annual Furious Flower Poetry Prize is given in honor of Gwendolyn Brooks' sprit of nurturing emerging poets. Carrying on Brooks' legacy, Furious Flower shines light on up-and-coming poets and supports them with a monetary award, a reading at James Madison University, and publication in the renowned literary journal, Obsidian: Literature and Art in the African Diaspora. This year, Judge A. Van Jordan, a distinguished poet with four poetry collections and professor at the University of Michigan, selected Rachelle Parker as the 2019 winner of the Furious Flower Poetry Prize, and Cynthia Manick as the honorable mention.
In his remarks, A. Van Jordan writes about Parker's poem, "I Was a Monsoon Just Once": "This poet's line and syntax intersect to bring a surprise with the turning of the mind in the poem. The figurative language never feels forced, and the formal gestures- the control of the line, the music of the line- feel as natural as the spoken word."
Visit http://www.jmu.edu/furiousflower/ for more information.