A Pill Bug Mutters Makeshift Myths
Tommy Vinh Bui Wins a 2024 Zócalo Poetry Prize Honorable Mention Award
Every year, we award the annual Zócalo Poetry Prize to the poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is pleased to recognize four honorable mention submissions for 2024.
We lack the lexicon
to commune with rising rivers
or decipher omens from driftwood.
But the winter beetle
beset with dusty drought
remembers the river’s rhapsodies.
When bridges wash out
do we purge neglect
that bottlenecks our restless recall
and do we steel obstinate
while gathering indifference
like ancient cockles at lowtide?
The upper tips of redwoods
blot …
