Beth Suter studied Environmental Science at U.C. Davis and has worked as a naturalist and teacher. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, her poems have appeared in Colorado Review, New American Writing, Barrow Street, DMQ Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, and others. Her 2022 debut chapbook Snake and Eggs was a finalist in Finishing Line Press’s New Women’s Voices Contest. This poem first appeared in Driftwood Press. You can find her at facebook.com/bethfsuter
1st Place “Mama, When Did This Rain Begin” by Darcy Smith
2nd Place “A Mother’s Litany–How to Prepare a Child for a Hospital Stay” by Victoria Meleklan
3rd Place “Spectacle” – by Claire Unis
Joanne Clarkson is a poet whose sixth poetry collection, “Hospice House,” was released by MoonPath Press in 2023. Her poems have been published in such journals as Poetry Northwest, The Healing Muse, Examined Life Journal, American Journal of Nursing and Beloit Poetry Journal. She has received an Artist Trust Grant and an NEH grant to teach poetry in rural libraries. Clarkson has Masters Degrees in English and Library Science, has taught and worked for many years as a professional librarian. After caring for her mother through a long illness, she re-careered as a Registered Nurse working in Home Health and Hospice. This poem first appeared in Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine. Find her at http://Joanneclarkson.com.
Patricia Cannon has been a Registered Nurse at UCSF since 2001. She has worked in cardiac critical care, neurointensive care, hemeoncology, school nursing, and currently, in research. Her passion is her faith, photography, and the written word in all its forms. “Inspiration” has been published on the Viewless Wings podcast by James Morehead, Beyond Words literary magazine edited by Gal Slonim, and in the “Wholeness” a Wising Up Anthology edited by Heather Tosteson and Charles D. Brockett.
Claire Unis MD MFA is a pediatrician and author of a memoir about drawing on diverse experiences in the process of becoming a doctor, titled Balance, Pedal, Breathe: A Journey through Medical School. She facilitates writing workshops, narrative medicine sessions, and discussions of literature for her medical group in northern California. Her writing has appeared in Intima, East Iowa Review, Awakenings Review, and The Examined Life. Find her at www.claireunis.net, or on social media, @literaryartinmedicine.
Victoria Melekian lives in Carlsbad, California. Her stories and poems have been published in print and online anthologies and she’s twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Mary E. Cronin, the granddaughter of a nurse, lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where she is an elementary school Literacy Coach. Her poems have been published in The New York Times, Rise Up Review, and Passager. She can be reached at www.maryecronin.com.
Paulette Guerin is the author of Wading Through Lethe. Her work also appears in the anthology Wild Muse: Ozarks Nature Poetry. Her website is pauletteguerin.com
Elena Bryce MD is an OBGYN in Rockville, Maryland. She is also the mom of two high needs kids, one of whom has a rare genetic disorder.
Submitted Anonymously by a Healthcare Professional in Brooklyn, NY.