Listen to Maja Lukic, inaugural winner of the Sita Martin Prize, read “Your Mother Knew Many Words for Beauty and Used All of Them to Call You” from Shō No. 6 (Winter 2024/25).
You can also read Maja’s poem here.
Audio recorded by Reed Turchi at Second Take Sound.

Maja Lukic is a Brooklyn-based poet. She received an MFA in poetry from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in New England Review, Narrative, A Public Space, The Adroit Journal, Colorado Review, Bennington Review, Image, Sixth Finch, Copper Nickel, Poetry Northwest, Brooklyn Poets, the Slowdown podcast, and elsewhere. Currently, she serves on the Board of Four Way Books, as curator of Four Way’s Translator’s Page, and as a poetry reader for The Swannanoa Review.

See more poems from Shō No. 6 (Winter 2024/25) by purchasing a copy.
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We are currently seeking sponsors for the Sita Martin Prize for our 2026 print issues. Sponsors will be acknowledged in print, in our online prize announcements, and on our website, and will receive a print copy of the issue.
The Sita Martin Prize is an editors’ prize awarded to a US-based poet who has not yet published a full-length poetry collection. The winner receives $150 and a one-year subscription to Shō Poetry Journal.
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