New beginnings poetry contest 2021

All that we see and all that we feel, it molds us and shapes us to be what we need.

All that we hear and all that we bleed, it has found beautiful memories within me

So, let’s take it all

Make it our power

Let’s not lose hope

And shout out our dreams a little louder

Sometimes you need to take

A step backwards before you

Move forward again.

Sometimes you need to let loose

And just begin again. – Esha Shukla

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Many times when we look back upon the situations, we have been through with a different perspective, we understand it a little better. With this, Wingless Dreamer Publishers held a poetry competition for ‘New Beginnings’. We wanted our writers to reminisce and embrace their past, so that they can begin again with whatever they have in their hearts.

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We received various exemplary poems from some aspiring poets all around the world. Our editorial team truly enjoyed reading them. It was quite a hassle to select the winner and top finalists. You spare no chance to make it a difficult job for our team! Without any further ado, let’s announce the winner.

Please give a big round of applause.

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The grand winner of the New Beginnings Poetry Contest 2021 is:

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JACOB CARSON – NEON LAMENTATIONS

Jacob Carson is a young Novocastrian and aspiring writer and lawyer. He has had a story published in the book, Climate Health, and Courage (Future Leaders, 2020); a poem published in the University of Newcastle Writers Club Anthology 2021; and has a high school study guide awaiting publication for ATAR Notes in 2022. Jacob tries to wrestle with the Word and hopes to one day prevail. jacob_carson25 on Instagram.

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The first runner-up is:

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CLEM VAHE – NATURE’S KITCHEN

Having grown up within the lavish surroundings of Hancock Park in Los Angeles, graduating from UCLA with a BA in English Literature, she chose to open a business rather than pursue her passion for writing. Her life has taken her from riches to rags to middle-of-the-road She started her writing in earnest in 2004. In 2018, she became a published writer–albeit an unpaid one. In 2019 and 2020, four stories and one poem were published in print anthologies. Using absurdist humor to illuminate both the joys and tragedies of being human in our computerized society, she writes freestyle poetry, fiction, and stand-alone memoir pieces. Currently, she is looking to publish her first book.

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The second runner-up is:

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GAVIN BOURKE – BETTER DAYS AHEAD

Gavin Bourke grew up in the suburb of Tallaght in West Dublin. Married to Annemarie living in County Meath, he holds a B.A. in Humanities from Dublin City University, an M.A. Degree in Modern Drama Studies, and a Higher Diploma in Information Studies from University College Dublin. His work broadly covers nature, time, memory, addiction, mental health, human relationships, the inner and outer life, creating meaning and purpose, politics, contemporary and historical social issues, injustice, the human situation, power and its abuse, absurdism, existentialism, human psychology, cognition, emotion and behaviour, truth and deception, the sociological imagination, illness, socio-economics, disability, inclusivity, human life, selfishness, and its consequences as well as urban and rural life, personal autonomy, ethics, commerce, science, grand schemes and the technological life in English and to a lesser extent in the Irish Language.

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Cue the confetti for our top finalists:

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LISA OWENS – ON THE CLIFFS OF MOHER

Lisa Owens is a poet from St. Louis, Missouri. With a passion for connection to self, nature and others she seeks to inspire, instill strength and build a relationship with the reader. Her work can be found in publications by Quillkeepers Press, Poets Choice, Tiny Seed Journal, Plants & Poetry Journal, Bluing the Blade Literary Journal, Unlimited Literature and Epoch Literary Journal (forthcoming).

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SAM RISEBROW – THE ADVENTURE

Sam Risebrow is an English teacher living in Madrid, Spain, with his wife and twin daughters. Last year he was published by Capsule Stories, Hash Journal, Prospectus: A Literary Offering, and named on the ´long list´of commended poems for the Plough Prize

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JAMES B. NICOLA – THE PROMISE OF GRAY

James B. Nicola is a frequent contributor to Wingless Dreamer. His full-length collections are Manhattan Plaza (2014), Stage to Page: Poems from the Theater (2016), Wind in the Cave (2017), Out of Nothing: Poems of Art and Artists (2018), Quickening: Poems from Before and Beyond (2019), and Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense (2021). His poetry and prose have appeared in the Antioch, Southwest, Green Mountains, and Atlanta Reviews; Rattle; Barrow Street; Tar River; and Poetry East, garnering two Willow Review awards, a Dana Literary award, eight Pushcart nominations, a Best of the Net nom, a Rhysling nom, plus a People’s Choice award from Storyteller magazine, for which he feels both stunned and grateful. His nonfiction book Playing the Audience won a Choice award. A Yale grad, he hosts the Hell’s Kitchen International Writers’ Roundtable at his library branch in Manhattan: walk-ins welcome.

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ZACHARY MENGEL – NEW DAYS EMBRACE

Zachary Mengel is one thing creative. After 21 years of school more than half of his life he’s grown and flown the globe. Traveling to different places helped grow his perspective. Aiming to change things one person at a time through yoga his writings.

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SAM KEALHOFER – STAND THE POST

Sam Kealhofer is a Mississippi native who obtained a Master’s degree in English with a concentration in creative writing from Mississippi State University in 2020. His work has been featured in Dunes Review, Peregrine Journal, Roanoke Review, and some online publications. He plans to pursue an MFA in future.

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KEERTHI PONUGUMATI – I WANNA BE

Keerthi Ponugumati ,I’m a person who believes in every move that nature does,I believe that even wind has it’s heart,when it tries to open up with me, I would love to disclose my feel that flows from my heart to this world,so eagerly,Maybe not the whole world but atleast a part of it,Because I love to explore myself and this world as well.And the thing I came to know that The way one shows up isn’t actually the one that actually looks alike,one needs to experience every intentions of the word to feel it in a way that it’s supposed to be and that’s how a journey begins into an unknown beautiful world like I was in and will continue to be in. Penname: Iam_ink

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DURELL CARTER – IGNEOUS

Durell Carter is a writer and a teacher that lives in Oklahoma. He recently graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a graduate degree in English. He has work published in Drunk Monkeys, Prometheus Dreaming, Petrichor Journal, and others. You can find more of his work on his website durellcarter.org.

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Blow the trumpets for our contributors who made it to our anthology, Let’s begin again.