Winners of the 2025 Prime 53 Poem
Summer Challenge
The total line count of a Prime 53 Poem is a prime number (11), the syllable count in each line of the three, three-line stanzas are prime numbers (7 / 5 / 3) and each line of the last two-line stanza are prime number (5 / 3), making the poem’s total syllable count a prime number (53). The Prime 53 Poem also requires a rhyme pattern of a/b/a; c/d/c; e/f/e; g/g.
Press 53 Poetry Editor, Christopher Forrest, one of the creators of the Prime 53 Poem, served as the judge for the 2025 competition. This was a free contest, open to writers around the world, and from the hundreds of Prime 53 Poems we received, Chris selected the following four for publication:
“an allegory for revolution” by C.C. Apap
C.C. Apap
“an allegory for revolution”
an allegory for revolution
in mid-summer we seek storms
to shatter damp air.
all the worms
are snatched up by robins quick.
we ask for respite
as skies break.
we want oppression to fall
away—but are shocked
the rain fails
to help. though the birds
are all fed.
~ ~ ~
C.C. Apap’s writing has been featured or is forthcoming in Gotham Literature, The Thimble Literary Magazine, Roi Fainéant, Twenty-Two Twenty-Eight, The Sunlight Press, and The Wild Umbrella. A special lecturer at Oakland University, he lives just north of the city of Detroit, in a small suburb that makes the ownership of a goldendoodle more or less mandatory.
Daniela Buccilli
“Aspirational”
Aspirational
I would run a rag slowly
over the spines of
The Franklin
Library my father likes
to say will be mine
when he dies.
Satin ribbons, leather-bound,
gilded fore-edges.
Too afraid,
lest they be ruined,
if they’re read.
~ ~ ~
Daniela Buccilli’s poetry can be found in Watershed, Quarter After Five, Paterson Literary Review, and Cimarron Review. Her chapbook is What It Takes to Carry, and her co-edited poetry anthology is Show Us Your Papers (both from Main Street Rag). She has writing degrees from University of Pittsburgh and Carlow University. She workshops with the Madwomen in the Attic, teaches in a public high school, and serves as her union’s secretary and as the poetry editor at Northern Appalachia Review.
Spider Dailey
“Deluge”
Deluge
What do you do when it rains
but watch the ceiling
spread its stains?
Down the street the trash bags float
and soaking kids ride
them like boats.
They are old enough to scheme
but have not yet watched
last night's dreams
skip down the shadows
of rat holes.
~ ~ ~
Spider Dailey wanders the desert.
Photo by Loma Smith
Jen Karetnick
“While waiting for biopsy results, I learn that tattoos are now linked to lymphoma,”
While waiting for biopsy results, I learn that tattoos are now linked to lymphoma,
ink particles traveling
like dust over time,
collecting
in nodes, some hues more toxic
than others, larger
designs sick
with potential. A peacock
feather drapes my thigh,
pattern locked
with the promise of
cell-wrecked blood.
~ ~ ~
A 2024 National Poetry Series finalist, Jen Karetnick is the author of thirteen collections of poetry, including Inheritance with a High Error Rate (January 2024), winner of the 2022 Cider Press Review Book Award and semi-finalist for the PSV 2025 North American Book Awards. Forthcoming books include What Forges Us Steel: The Judge Judy Poems (Alternating Current Press, 2025); Domiciliary (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2026); and Organ Language (Lit Fox Books, 2026). She is the co-founder/managing director of SWWIM Every Day. See jkaretnick.com