Best of the Net Nominations for Poetry 2022
By Flapper Press & Clayton Clark:
The Best of the Net is an awards-based anthology that highlights the work of writers, poets, and online publishers. The project was created in 2006 by Sundress Publications for the ever-growing digital literary landscape to bring together online magazines, journals, and creators toward honoring digital publishing.
"We believe this effort is integral in decentering the literary canon as well as promoting and amplifying voices that are imperative to good literature, responsible culture, and the understanding of today's social climate." — bestothenetanthology.com
Over the past year, the Flapper Press Poetry Café has had the honor of featuring an outstanding collection of poetry and interviews from poets around the globe, and we are excited to announce our nominations.
With the help of poet & painter Clayton Clark, serving as guest poetry editor, Flapper Press is proud to present (in alphabetical order) our nominations for Best of the Net in Poetry for 2022! Congratulations to all our nominees!
Click here to see our
2022 Best of the Net nominations for WRITING!
Laurel Benjamin—"Flowers on a Train"
Flowers on a Train
Flowers fall off her shirt
onto the floor a sea of flowers
as she texts into her phone.
And because like her I’ve cried
under sunglasses, into my tea, under
the shower’s hot water,
at the top of the steps between classes
I inhale the violet, the tangerine,
the rose.
Flowers fell off my skirt one Christmas,
punch at a party, attentions of the bass player
staggering to get more
into his glass. I needed
a refill, staring at white lights
hung on the kitchen’s bare walls.
Almost
close enough.
Then the band started up
and he took his place
next to the piano, the drums,
and my saxophone boyfriend.
As we drove back over the Bay Bridge
I compared musical temperaments
while the punch wore off, like coming out of
anesthesia.
Flowers on a Train, why do you cry,
a saxophone player in your coffee or did you wake
in the middle of an impermeable song,
honeyed sweater, sunglasses on your curly crown.
You can reach me a few seats away—
your flowers crawl up my legs,
thick velvet pile,
silent wet.
— Laurel Benjamin
CC: I loved the surreal reality of this poem. Such wonderful, striking imagery, and the empathy is contagious. The language is surprising and the scenes, so vivid, yet they feel slippery as memory. It’s beautifully drawn, tender, and colorful. I love that the speaker asks, “Flowers on a Train, why do you cry, a saxophone player in your coffee.” It’s such a unique way of seeing. I feel it all as I have joined them on the ride.
Douglas Cole—"Old Woman"
Old Woman
She doesn't sleep, or so she says—catnaps, dozes in fits
in her world chair by the east window, witness and some say
conjurer, but they don't know—I know—I see through the blinds
the way her eyes burn like roses. God’s awake, she says,
when the rest of you are sleeping on porches, in alcoves,