From a crowd of fierce contenders, Black Butterflies Over Baghdad by David Allen Sullivan has been chosen by judge Tim Seibles, Poet Laureate of Virginia. The Hilary Tham Capital Collection honors poets who donate their time and talent to help keep literature alive in America. The book will be published in 2021 and brings themes of war, suffering, endurance, and transcendence to this year’s list.
Reflecting on his choice, Seibles says, “In Black Butterflies Over Baghdad, David Allen Sullivan gives us an intimate tour of war-torn Iraq, an intricate look at the minds of people for whom military violence had become a defining part of daily life. Because these figures speak with such authority and desperation, reading this collection disrupts and deepens the way we, who have not lived with war, perceive its terrible damage. The poems in this collection are at times poignantly lyrical and in other moments darkly magical—as if the reader has somehow entered the poet’s more than real dreamscape. I don’t know if art can save us from self-annihilation, but to echo Muriel Rukeyser slightly: David Sullivan’s poetry is the kind of thing that might help us back away from the brink.”
The other finalists were Clayton Adam Clark (MO) for his manuscript Flee, Irene Cooper (OR) for Spare Change, Beatrix Gates (ME) for The Burning Key, and Aimee Sands (MA) for Signatories in a Darkened Field.
Semi-finalists were Danielle Hanson (GA) for The Clouds Have Arrived in Their Armor, John Isbell (TX) for Memo from a Fallen World, Chloe Martinez (MA) for Universe Map, Susan Okie (MD) for Sea-Filled RoomI, Catherine Esposito Prescott (FL) for We Were Never Here, and Andrena Zawinski (CA) for Born Under the Influence.