This was so hard, y’all. Though I’ve tried to sit down in past years and select nominations for the Pushcart Prizes, I’ve always given up, too overwhelmed by leaving out too many deserving poets. But that does not serve your work, and I’m here to serve your work. So, after some measure of agonizing (I wish I could nominate another dozen), I am proud to announce our first-ever Pushcart nominations: 

• Guillermo Filice Castro, “Before April,” from Mix Tape for a War
• Melissa Atkinson Mercer, “The Memory Instrument,” from After the Miracle Season
• JeFF Stumpo, “The Hulk’s Lamentation,” from Against Itself Cannot Stand
• Wayne Johns, “Last Testament,” from The Exclusion Zone
• Robin Reagler, “Air Ships,” from Dear Red Airplane
• Beverly Voigt, “Pittsburgh: The Fourth River,” from Woman of Salt