15. Pushcart Nominations

We are proud to announce the confluence nominations to the 2025 Pushcart Prize. Our poets bring each their own unique perspective, craft, and story, and engage deeply with each other's work. The poems below represent the best of this work from the first year of confluence. Each was published, essayed, and even read aloud in our confluence community this past year. It is an honor to submit these to the Pushcart Prize. Congratulations, poets!

Matt Snyder, confluence associate editor

outstretched hand
sunlight through
the communion wafer

--Nicky Gutierrez

Truth or Dare

cold rain
after a while
it doesn’t matter

Most of the time, I’m extremely emotional and sensitive. I feel too hard, I fall too hard and I break too easily. But, there are times when I realise that I can be extremely cold, if I decide to. I haven’t yet explored those parts of me or given myself a chance to. But I know there’s a hidden switch in me. Someday, I might stumble upon it in the dark. Turn it on.

breaking the shell I decide to be

--Vandana Parashar

crop rotation
I toss my nephew
the combine keys

--David Green

when did the magnolia blossoms disappear campus protests

--Daniel Shank Cruz

hell-flower
the ghost of you
still in my hollow

--Rowan Beckett Minor

Permission

because she couldn’t say
         a rogue stray begs for food

because she couldn’t
         a chrysalis hangs in the upside down

because she
         another slammed door

because
         wombs are wordless

--Lorraine A. Padden

Thank you for reading. We invite you to continue the conversation by hitting the "comment" button below. Feel free to share reactions and reflections to these works. The poets and editors look forward to reading and responding to your comments.