Ok, so this week we are skipping the pretzels and going right to the bullfight—ha. At least that is the impression I get on how hard it was to pick a winner of the anniversary ‘urban poetry’ contest we held with Nain Rouge magazine.

We had 130 entries! That is amazing in and of itself. Of those, the editors at Nain Rogue would like to use approximately 70 in future issues. Needless to say they were thoroughly impressed with the quality of poetry being put out by those that frequent our pub.

There must be a winner though—or in this case 6 winners, who will be published in the first issue of Nain Rouge along with a brief bio. In no particular order, here are the six poems that were selected as the top six:

Madness by Candice Morrow

Carscatbelly & Sousa Nights by Matt Spence

The heart collector by Kavita Rao

Boston Buskers by Gayle Walters Rose * editors choice

Morning Town Ride by Polly Robinson

The Carnival by J Cosmo Newbery

Naked Lunchbreak by Steve Shultz

Wait, there are seven there! Boston Buskers was actually chose by the Head Editor as Editor’s Choice. Congratulations to each of these poets on the recognition of their art.

And for everyone that entered as well—can you believe that 70 poems made the cut to be used over the first several issues! Well, I can but I am biased…smiles.

Others that will be contacted very soon for inclusion in the first issue: Vanessa Matthews, Joseph Hesch, Mark Windham, Lawrence Cheong, Archna Sharma, Pamela Sayers and Bianca Grace.

I look forward to seeing many of you in the pages of Nain Rouge these next couple months and congratulations once again to our winners and everyone that participated in the contest. Look for more exciting opportunities in the near future.

~Brian Miller