[Melissa Balmain]

As usual, it's Sphereans and more Sphereans on our roster of Pushcart nominees & runners-up. (A roster that would be much, much longer if only the Pushcart folks allowed it.)

Congrats to them all from the five of us, and huge thanks to the hundreds of poets whose rib-tickling work we've been privileged to publish this year.

Melissa, Kevin, Allison, Julie and Gail

NOMINEES
Ned Balbo: "deadbook"
Rhina P. Espaillat: "On the Avenue"
Daniel W. Galef: "A Poem I've Often Been Begged to Repeat…"
James Hamby: "Cry of the Trumpersnatch"
Leslie Monsour: "On Misreading a Wine Ad"
Timothy Steele: "Three Months Down, 45 to Go"

RUNNERS-UP
Edmund Conti: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Please Kneel for Our National Anthem"
Maryann Corbett: "To the Anti-Librarian"
Rhina P. Espaillat: "How It's Done"
Claudia Gary: "Giraffe Delivers on LiveCam"
Midge Goldberg: "Man of Steel"
Bob McKenty: "Hymns to the Horoscope"
John Ridland: "Tweet, Little Trumpster"
Mae Scanlan: "Vive La France"
Ed Shacklee: "Haiku Scribbled on a White House"
Gail White (who recused herself from consideration of this poem): "Bird is the Word"

[Douglas G. Brown]

Melissa,

You have some real contenders here. Thanks for posting the links; it was fun revisiting some old favorites, and enjoying some that I missed over the year.

[Susan McLean]

Delightful to see these again!

Susan

[Melissa Balmain]

Susan and Douglas, thanks for those posts--and for your own wonderful poems that we published this year.

[Vera Ignatowitsch]

Congratulations to all the nominees.
What wonderful poems, as usual from Light.

Best,
Vera