Gival Press is pleased to announce that Madeline Kramer of Wilmington, North Carolina has won the 22nd Annual Oscar Wilde Award, for her poem titled Self-Portrait While Visiting My Parents for Christmas, chosen anonymously by the previous winner of the award, Brad Fairchild. The award has a cash prize of $500.00 and the poem will be published on the Gival Press website.
Self-Portrait while Visiting my Parents for Christmas
A sweater baggy and hiding
my curves, and special gummies
before Christmas Eve mass,
the church aglow with colored light
from stained glass tinting incense smoke
that streaks against watery eyes,
a sip of wine and two shots of whiskey
and one shot from my brother’s gun, its echoes
shattering flocks of birds into flight,
driving past shells of shotgun
houses, their edges outlined with string
lights, that tap against windows,
midnight in a twin bed, whispering
to my really good friend of seven years,
her chest rising and falling in the bed
two feet away. My roommate whispering
back, her eyes still bloodshot and glistening
and I’ve never loved her more than in this moment,
with the metal wreath hanger grating
against the window, the chirping of the alarm,
the thud of the heavy rod we’d drop
in the track of the sliding back door,
to stand in for its broken lock.
Copyright © 2023 by Madeline Kramer.
About the Author
Madeline Kramer enjoys the study of literary criticism, and much of her creative work is grounded in feminist and queer theoretical practice. She holds a B.A. in English and Psychology from Western Kentucky University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Her essay Wallpaper Girls was a finalist for the 2020 Dogwood literary award for nonfiction and her work has been published in Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose as well as multiple anthologies. Madeline is liked by most cats who mistake her anxious energy for purring.
Finalists
The Ghost Who Listens
by Julian Delacruz of Van Nuys, California
To Ambi Sextrous, Judy Garland, with Apologies to Fredric Chopin
by David Sparks of Chicago, Illinois
Stiff Wrist
by Ken Kline of Cincinnati, Ohio
If Moss Grows on the North Side of Trees
by Allison Blevins of Dayton, Minnesota
