Congratulations to all the poets and poems that made the HWA Poetry Showcase X, and thank you to everyone who submitted. There were nearly 300 poems submitted, all excellent. It was difficult to whittle down to just 50 poets. For everyone not on this list, you should feel proud. If we could include all 300 submissions we would. Each of these poems was worth it.
A decade ago, Peter Adam Salomon had an excellent idea. He wanted to recognize horror and dark poetry as a genre. He brought his idea to then president Rocky Woods and the first HWA Poetry Showcase was born. The response from our membership was excellent and the Showcase has been published every year since. Many of us can credit the Showcase with boosting our careers. I’m one of those—my first professional sale as a poet was to Peter for Volume II. Were it not for his encouragement, I wouldn’t be here now.
