Montana poet Melissa Mylchreest’s “For Jolene," about a humble reservation dog, has taken the 2012 Obsidian Prize for Poetry, according to High Desert Journal, the Bend literary magazine that puts on the competition.
Mylchreest also won the Obsidian Prize in 2011, making this her second consecutive year winning the award. The prize winner is selected through a blind judging process; this year’s judge was Kim Stafford,
“Mylchreest’s poem is an aria of close devotion, without detours for poetic effect, but one seamless singing study that closes in on marrow and breath," a press release quotes Stafford. “If evolution took two-legged and four-legged along separate paths, this poem witnesses for confluence in the living line."
The Bend-based High Desert Journal also awards annual Obsidian Prizes for exemplary work in fiction and nonfiction, and recently added photography to its suite of prizes. The Obsidian Prize for Photography is open for submissions through Dec. 15. The $5,000 prize will be awarded in January 2013.
Contact: www.highdesert journal.com.
