Congratulations to poet Chee Brossy on winning the 2024 Washington Prize with his collection Word-Made World. Chosen by a panel of five judges from 437 submissions, this unique collection explores the intersection of past and future in our present moment.
The judges agreed that rarely are we so transported to a specific place as completely as when reading Word-Made World.
Piñon and canyon and sky–these are present, but not romanticized, and thrive side by side with “your choke of tasks,” where “The National Guard patrols // the supermarket’s automatic doors with assault rifles, / transients reuse the disposables, Great Aunt awaits a call // on the split computer screen.”
Brossy reminds us that “Unraveling each day, the news is a tailless lizard / scurrying on the path in front of us, // scrambling furtively, darting, distracting us / from diverting our eyes to more fruitful pursuits.”
Let’s be reminded: pursue the fruitful, the true, that which will last centuries, not just survive anxious days.
About Chee Brossy
Chee Brossy is the author of the poetry collection, The Strings Are Lightning and Hold You In, from Tupelo Press, and the chapbook, Burntwater, from Finishing Line Press. His poetry and fiction have appeared in the Southern Indiana Review, Malahat Review, Narrative Magazine, Colorado Review, Kenyon Review, PRISM International, and elsewhere. He holds a degree in English from Dartmouth College. He is a member of the Navajo Nation.