专业评审

莱昂纳德·L·米尔伯格’53高中诗歌奖的评审团成员包括迈克尔·迪克曼、凯蒂·法里斯、伊利亚·卡明斯基、林恩·梅尔尼克、保罗·马尔东、凯瑟琳·奥西普和帕特里夏·史密斯等知名诗人，确保了比赛的高水平评审质量。这些评委都是在诗歌创作领域有丰富经验和深厚造诣的专家，他们的点评不仅为学生提供了宝贵的反馈，也为参赛者的诗歌创作带来了学习和提升的机会。

灵活参赛规则

比赛允许参赛者提交最多三首诗歌，且这些诗歌可以是已经参加过其他比赛的作品，甚至是已发表或获奖的作品。这一规则非常灵活，鼓励学生们充分利用他们的现有创作，分享他们认为最优秀的诗歌。参赛不受题材和风格的限制，给学生提供了广泛的创作空间，激发了他们的创作热情。

丰厚奖金

比赛设置了丰厚的奖项，一等奖奖金为1500美元，二等奖为750美元，三等奖为500美元。这样的奖励机制不仅为获奖者提供了物质鼓励，还能够激发年轻作家对诗歌创作的持续兴趣和热情。奖金的设置也提升了比赛的吸引力，吸引更多具有创作潜力的学生参与其中。

全球影响力

该比赛面向全球的高中年级学生，无论是来自美国本土还是海外的学生，都可以参赛。比赛的广泛参与度和国际化影响力使得学生们有机会与世界各地的优秀诗人同台竞争。通过这一平台，学生不仅可以展示自己的诗歌才华，还能在全球范围内得到认可，进一步促进了国际文学文化的交流。

• 参赛者需提交最多三首原创诗歌，作品可以是任何题材和风格

  
  

• 参赛作品可以是之前获奖或发表的诗歌，但需要提供发表的具体信息

  
  

• 这一比赛旨在鼓励高二年级学生表达自我，通过诗歌创作展现他们的想象力、情感和思维

• 参赛资格：参赛者必须是高中年级的学生，无论是在美国还是海外的学校就读。

• 作品提交：每位参赛者最多可以提交三首原创诗歌。作品可以是已经提交至其他比赛或曾获奖的诗歌，且可以是已发表的作品，但需注明发表的日期和媒体。

• 提交要求：参赛者需在线提交作品。已发表的诗歌需提供出版信息，确保评审团能核实。

• 获奖通知：只有获奖者和荣誉提名者将收到直接通知，比赛结果会在官网公布。因参赛人数众多，主办方不会为所有参赛者提供参与证书。

Acadia Reynolds

Charleston, South Carolina

“Dissection of a Cow Eye”

Gloves first, I thicken my skin, plastic

snaps sin-smooth on my wrists, shower comebacks

beached on my teeth like whales, stomach up and screaming.

Scalpel sharp enough to shear away that hint

of a unibrow, bring it down, tap a rhythm on the blue-bleach

tablecloth. There’s meat still glinting around the eye,

like I clawed it out myself with tissue still

frothing under my nails. Cut it away, all those extra details,

get on the doctor’s scale backwards

so I don’t have to name the number. Peel up the iris

like a sticker and slice the cornea into tangerines,

the ones I fed my grandmother when her sickness

was broth-boned. As her hands hang limp

and she chews with molars exposed, I drain the vitreous fluid

and toss it in the trash, down beside the way my stomach pouts

in a tight tank top and her face when she calls me

one of those goddamn queers.

Tight-laced, that’s the word for her.

The crystalline lens, the stone strung at the center of the eye.

The lens of her, she says she wanted to be a Las Vegas

painted woman, dance like a lightning bug

and shake her blue breasts. I can imagine her around a bonfire,

moving her feathered hips for men

instead of ghosts, accompanied by a wordless roar

from the crowds hiding in the shadows.

She says I’d disgust any man with my body.

The lens has the homemade applesauce from the withered apples

that collect on her old trees, the midnight phoneline

ringing across her loneliness, the intricate braids she

leaves laid across my scalp like a crown.

I’ve picked the eye to pieces, scanned

and screened, it’s splayed out for me.

Blood on the wood, knife in the wood, put it all in the wood.

Lightsick, she’s fading, she’s juicing tangerines, writing her will,

hands to the sky and spine tree-twisted towards the ground.

I forgive her from the lens. I love her in the lens.