Winning Poems

2023 Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred Recipient

Song of the Tides
by Jenevieve Carlyn Hughes

2023 Honorable Mentions

Maybe this is it
by Raya Yarbrough

Ruth 1:17-18
by Tianyu Yi

2022 Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred Recipient

Ripening
by Margo Berdeshevsky

2022 Honorable Mentions

Attempting Incarnation
by Lucy Kidwell

The Torpor of Everyday Life
by Alan Toltzis

2021 Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred Recipient

Beast of Burden
by Sofia Skavdahl

2021 Honorable Mentions

Human Beans
by John Berry

Grace
by Tom Hunley

Season on the Equator
by Skip Maselli

2020 Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred Recipient

Wintered Over
by Lisa Breger

2020 Honorable Mentions

Sequoiadendron Giganteum
by Michele Bombardier

A Prayer
by Jed Myers

2019 Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred Recipient

Planting Tulips
by Sharron Singleton

2019 Honorable Mentions

The Body in the River
by Matt Holrah

Vesper Time
by Judith Valente

Reckoning
by Mark Wagenaar

2018 Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred Recipient

If You Can’t Imagine Saint Annie
by Michael Mack

2018 Honorable Mentions

How to Pray
by Jessica Jacobs

St. Kateri Tekakwitha
by Hilary Scheppers

Unbridled
by Hilary Scheppers

2017 Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred Recipient

How I Learned to Pray
by Nicole Rollender

2017 Honorable Mentions

Sleepwalkers in the Garden
by Jessica Jacobs

Sacred Love
by Kathryn Ridall

The Cleverness of Seeds
by Pat Brisson

2016 Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred Recipient

Soledad
by Elizabeth Savage & Ethel Rackin

2016 Honorable Mentions

Jack Wonders Why Friday is Called Good
by Andrea Read

Poem for the Fourth Child
by Dorinda Wegener

To Give Up the Ghost
by Michael Rather

2015 Thomas Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred Recipient

I Praise Unsalted Butter
by Sharron Singleton

2015 Honorable Mentions

Day Hike
by David Denny

Hopkins Room
by Elizabeth Murawkski

The Sun Visits a Farmers’ Market…
by Christina Hutchins