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After The Fireworks
If a firework is a promise of excitement, the silence that follows is the reality we must live in. Reading ‘After the Fireworks’ felt like walking through a city at dawn in January. There is a unique clarity that comes only when the smoke clears and the crowds disperse. While the world is often obsessed with the crescendo, the spark, the boom, the applause, the writers in this anthology dared to look at what remains when the spectacle ends. These entries did not shy away from the "comedown." Instead, they found profound beauty in the empty rooms, the swept-up confetti, and the heavy, quiet breath of a new beginning.
Judging this collection was a moving experience. I was struck by how many of you found warmth in the winter chill and wisdom in the "soft reckonings" of the aftermath. You reminded us that the most significant shifts in our lives rarely happen under the spotlight; they happen in the in-between moments, in the stillness where we finally hear ourselves think. To the winners, congratulations on capturing the echo's resonance so perfectly. And to all the contributors, thank you for trusting the silence. This anthology stands as a beautiful reminder that when the noise fades, the truth speaks.
With warmth and reflection,
Prarthana Binish
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! After the Fireworks winning announcement
We are delighted to unveil the winners and finalists of After the Fireworks.
This anthology is a study in resonance, a collection that explores the profound silence that settles once the spectacle fades. These works navigate the space between the explosion and the echo, examining the stark reality of the aftermath. From the lingering smoke of a celebration past to the quiet introspection of a winter morning, these pieces do not seek the loud applause of the finale; instead, they find a fragile, enduring beauty in the quiet that follows.
Some works explored the relief of the comedown, others the melancholy of returning to routine, yet all were bound by a commitment to finding meaning in the stillness. Congratulations to all our winners and finalists! Your words have captured the fleeting nature of the spark and preserved the permanence of the dark.
A huge round of applause for our grand winner:
AFTER THE NOISE LEAVES - COURTNEY LIU
Courtney Liu is a Taiwan-based interpreter, English teacher, and writer with a degree in the Art of Foreign Literature and Translation. Her work, including publications with Unleash Lit, often dwells at the thresholds of memory, identity, and emotional endurance. In her writing, language is not merely expressive but sentien —capable of withholding, misremembering, and leaving traces where certainty once stood. In her latest piece, After the Noise Leaves, she turns her attention to the aftermath rather than event, tracing what remains once celebration dissolves into winter quiet. The poem lingers in domestic silences and emotional residue, where meaning is not declared but counted, and truth survives in the smallest gestures of continuation. Rather than resolve, the work practices restraint, allowing absence to speak without spectacle. Courtney believes poetry is a form of listening, a disciplined attention toward what persists after words, applause, or certainty recede. Her universe extends to Instagram as @sybillesastralworld.
1st Runner Up
FEBRUARY SNOW - CAROLYN COMBS
Carolyn Combs is a fiction writer and recent graduate of Arizona State University. She is originally from Takoma Park Maryland, though she now calls Arizona home. She has earned several accolades for writing while at ASU, including the Swarthout Summer Artistic Development grant and 3rd place prize for the 63rd Glendon and Kathryn Swarthout Awards, and working as an Interview Editor for the literary magazine Superstition Review. She is also published in Volume 11 of the Tempe Public Library’s ‘Tempe Writes’ anthology.
2nd Runner Up
AFTER THE FIREWORKS - AMBER LETHE
Amber Lethe is a writer who enjoys simple, cozy moments. She speaks German, plays Vivaldi, and loves curling up with classic books. When not writing or knitting, she spends time with her dogs. Her work is inspired by small, meaningful details that make life feel full.
FINALISTS
These five writers approached the theme with a discerning eye and a quiet intensity. Their voices range from the contemplative to the vivid, exploring the liminal spaces where the party ends and real life resumes. Whether mapping the geography of silence or tending to the signal fires of the night, each poet and storyteller added a vital layer of depth to this mosaic. Together, they turned After the Fireworks into a meditation on what remains when the light goes out.
THE IN-BETWEEN - ALEXANDRA GRANT
Alexandra Grant, 57, wife and mother, resides in Wichita, Kansas and engages in amateur art, writing of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. She is an avid reader and enjoys travel, meeting people of all cultures, and spending time with her family living here and abroad. Alexandra has been published in Poet’s Choice, Half and One, Wingless Dreamer, wild sound, story-pitches, festival for poetry, and Vocal Media, Patreon, Medium Substack, on YouTube, online publications and in print.
IN THE SILENCE - EVE MCARTHUR
Eve is a writer who lives in Scotland and takes inspiration from both the world that surrounds her, and the worlds that she creates in her head.
HOBBLING PARAGRAPH - TERRY BRINKMAN
Terry Has been painting for over forty-five years. Now he paints with words creating Poems, he has had poems in the Salt Lake City Weekly paper. Four Kindle E- Books. Variant and Tide S.L.C.C. Anthologies. Poems in Rue Scribe, Tiny Seed, Juste Millew Lit. Poets choice. Wingless Dreamer. North Dakoda Quarterly and Utah Life Magazine.
LOST IN INDIA - JOHN HUDETZ
John Hudetz is a writer and professional international photographer. He published a book of poems in 2016, 'winter contemplations' with a 2nd printing in 2025. He was awarded and published by the Wisconsin Writers Association for Short Fiction in 2025. His debut novel, 'You Don't Want to Know' is being print and published as an audiobook in 2026.
SIGNAL FIRES AT 3 A.M. - BRADLEY WANAMI Bradley Wanami is a Kenyan-based poet.
Honour to our talented contributors
A MORNING IN A DAY - MARSHA SOLOMON
UNTITLED - LEOTIS HARGROVE
IN THE DARK OF THE ROOM… - MARIA A PERDOMO
REVOLT, REMEMBER, REFUSE - ALEXIS ANDRADE
THE SOLUTION - ANDY BETZ
ODE TO EXES - BRENDAN PRANIEWICZ
THE PARADOX THAT WAS NICOLE -ALAINA HAMMOND
LOOKING GLASS - REEBIE FLOWERS
STILL LIFE OF CRIMSON POINSETTIA & YELLOW MUG - KERSTEN CHRISTIANSON
A SCARRING TRIUMPH - ARDA ÜNAL
JANUARY FIRST - EDWIN FAIRBROTHER
ABSENCE - GS DE CARVALHO
AFTER SESSHIN - LARA DOLPHIN
THE ON-HOLD MUSIC PLAYED BY SUICIDE HOTLINES - EDDIE HOUSE
I LOVE NIGHT-TIME - GAVIN BOURKE
THE GREAT SLEEP- LINA BUIVIDAVIČIŪTĖ
INSPIRE AFTER THE FIREWORKS BURN OUT - ALEX ANDY PHUONG
HOW DO YOU FORGIVE SOMEONE WHO IS DEAD? - KELLY HEGI
WE HAD ONLY JUST MET - JENNIFER WEIGEL
A NIGHT IN ELMER - MEL EATON
THE LAST STICK FALLS - HOWARD OSBORNE
SWAYBACK ON THE TARMAC - GABRIEL MCLEOD
SO GOES THIS NIGHT - BILL SIMMONS
PETTING ZOO - JOHNNY TUNDISH
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