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Shō Poetry Journal

Established in 2002, revived in 2023

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Prizes

Black and white: A mixed-race white-Japanese man in contemplation by a sunny window. He wears a collared print shirt and a pair of glasses perched on his nose.

Robert Okaji – The Starlings Were You [Shō Poetry Prize Winner]

Jun 1, 2025 · Shō Poetry Journal

“The Starlings Were You” by Robert Okaji, Winner of the Shō Poetry Prize for Shō No. 6 (Winter 2024/25).

Morning was a jaundiced memory,
a burnished smear on the kettle
shrilling its warning.

A Caucasian woman with a slight smile on her face stands in sunlight on the balcony of a tall apartment building. She has shoulder-length light blonde hair and wears a black v-neck top with short ruffled sleeves.

Maja Lukic – Your Mother Knew Many Words for Beauty and Used All of Them to Call You [Sita Martin Prize Winner]

Feb 27, 2025 · Shō Poetry Journal

Winner of the Sita Martin Prize for Shō No. 6 (Winter 2024/25).

In shop windows, you are strange / to yourself, your face a drifting moon, / eyes and mouth dark shafts.

A young South Asian woman is sitting indoors and is turned to face the camera, smiling. She wears large black-framed glasses and a set of black headphones.

Ranudi Gunawardena – Girl Cousins, Pixelated [Sita Martin Prize Runner-Up]

Feb 5, 2025 · Shō Poetry Journal

Runner-Up of the Sita Martin Prize for Shō No. 6 (Winter 2024/25).

The fruit / hung bending the branches, like a hundred // small stomachs, bird-eaten and naked / where the beaks had pierced.

Publishing Stats

Since our revival issue was published in Summer 2023:

260

Poems Published

170

Total Poets Published

73

Audio Features Published

28

Poems Nominated for Prizes

1

Poem chosen for inclusion in Best Spiritual Literature

Shō Poetry Journal


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