Best New Poets 2012 Final Fifty

We’re pleased to announce the fifty final selections for Best New Poets 2012 as made by Matthew Dickman.

Tory Adkisson, “Homosexuality” (previously published in Colorado Review)

Martin Arnold, “Until Bullets Turns to Rain Against Your Flesh”

Hannah Baker-Siroty, “Beekeeper Outside Escanaba, Michigan”

Harry Bauld, “Black Icarus”

Rebecca Bauman, “The Dwarf Hamster”

Oliver Bendorf, “I Promised Her My Hands Wouldn't Get Any Larger” (previously published in Ninth Letter)

Sean Bishop, “Black Hole Owners Association” (previously published in Alaska Quarterly Review)

Shevaun Brannigan, “Why My Mother is Afraid of Heights”

Chuck Carlise, “A compendium of photographs: L’inconnue de la seine”

Anders Carlson-Wee, “Northern Corn”

Aviva Englander Cristy, “The Measure of Vessel and Nerve”

Erin Ganaway, “Meds” (previously published in Third Coast)

Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr., “Albania” (nominated by Beloit Poetry Journal)

Sarah Green, “What To Expect When You Become A Motel Balcony” (nominated by Ohio University)

Patrick Haas, “Oxen on the Last Day” (previously published by Salt Hill)

Jenny Gropp Hess, “Months After the Crash, the Blind Aerobatic Pilot Speaks” (nominated by the University of Alabama, previously published in Beecher’s Magazine)

Bradley Harrison, “Salvation History”

Lexa Hillyer, “Lyrics to the Radiator's Hymn”

Paul Hlava, “For Anna on the Day a Man Flashed Her on the Beach”

Kasandra Larsen, “What to Say When You Come Home to Find Him Wearing Your Clothes”

Terry Lucas, “Break” (previously published in PoetsArtists)

Cate Lycurgus, “Taking Care”

Mia Ayumi Malhotra, “As If” (previously published in The Monarch Review)

Victoria Lynne McCoy, “Self-Portrait in Unfinished Letters” (previously published in Used Furniture Review)

Janet McNally, “Maggie Leaves the Underworld” (forthcoming in Hayden’s Ferry Review)

Daniel Meltz, “Intrinsic Marimbas” (nominated by upstreet)

Kelly Michels, “Family Portrait”

Meggie Monahan, “No Such Thing as Acceptance”

Jennifer Moore, “As a Debutante I Adjusted My Hatpin” (nominated by UIC Program for Writers, forthcoming in Puerto Del Sol)

Christopher Nelson, “Fidelity” (nominated by the University of Arizona, previously published by The University of Arizona Poetry Center)

Matthew Nienow, “O Anchor” (previously published in Beloit Poetry Journal)

Jeff Oaks, “Saint Wrench” (nominated by Poemeleon)

Allyson Paty, “Score for the New Cotillion” (previously published in Sixth Finch)

Colin Pope, “Mosquito Hawk” (previously published in Grist: The Journal for Writers)

Michele Poulos, “Thursdays in the Faubourg Marigny”

Meghan Privitello, “Again, Let’s Do It Again”

Ben Purkert, “Ode to Stretch Armstrong”

Michael Roche, “Story with a Heart-Shaped Hole in It”

Martin Rock, “Double Acrostic for Francis Ponge”

John Savoie, “Colors Developed by Sherwin-Williams Laboratories But Rejected by Marketing”

Michael Martin Shea, “Rough Draft of a Poem About Heartbeats” (previously published in Epiphany)

Theadora Siranian, “Erytheia”

Sophia G. Starmack, “Alice Considers History”

Christine Stroik Stocke, “Circle”

Chris Tanseer, “Appalachian Homecoming”

Gale Marie Thompson, “Bodega”

Corey Van Landingham, “Tabernacle for an Adolescence” (forthcoming in Third Coast)

Timothy Daniel Welch, “On the Isle of Erytheia”

Ross White, “Ocean Quahog”

Jane Wong, “Stemma” (previously published in Dear Sir, nominated by Asian American Poetry Retreat)

Statistics

Number of submissions (with 1-2 poems each): 1715

Number of selections sent to the guest editor: We literally lost count. Poor Matthew. It was a very strong year.
Number of male finalists: 24
Number of female finalists: 26

States with the most finalists: NY (11), WI (4), AZ (3), NC (3), TX (3), WA (3)
Number of finalists selected who were nominated by a journal or school: 8
Number of finalists selected from the Open Competition: 42

Thank you to everyone who submitted work this year. We hope you'll participate again in 2013.

Best New Poets 2012 will be published in November.