To celebrate our first anniversary, Mouthful of Salt is launching a special poetry contest rooted in conversation with our archive. We’re inviting poets to engage directly with work we’ve published in Granules and past issues by responding to, resisting, reimagining, or remixing a specific poem, piece of prose, or artwork. We’re especially interested in submissions that take risks, enter into dialogue with intention, and offer fresh perspectives on the original work.
To help us choose the winner, Best of the Net nominated poet, writer, and educator Nala Washington will guest judge this competition. You can read her full bio below. As for what will make a piece stand out to her, Nala shared this:
“I’m under the belief that every poem is already in conversation—with its lineage, its ghosts, and all the poets whose work made it possible. For this contest, I’m especially excited by pieces that enter the archive with intention and show how influence can be a dare. I’m interested in poems where I can feel the poet thinking on the page, pushing against what a poem ‘should’ do in order to discover what it must do.
In this must-doing, I’m drawn to formal leaps, unexpected syntax, emotional boldness—choices that make the poem feel alive in both form and language. I care deeply about poem endings, the kind that doesn’t aim to seal a poem shut but open it wider, the kind that makes me want to take another lap around the piece to digest how it’s moving.”
As our community grows, this contest is an opportunity to explore how writing evolves through influence and interaction. What does it mean to inherit a voice, challenge it, or transform it? How can a piece of art spark something entirely new?
The winner will receive $200 and publication. One runner-up will also be chosen and will receive publication and an honorable mention. Writers may submit one poem per entry and may only enter the contest once.
The submission period closes at midnight on June 1, 2026. Submissions are accepted through our submission manager, found here. Please include a brief cover letter that clearly names the piece from our archive that informed your submission, along with its author.
All work must be entirely original. Submissions are open internationally and inclusion of other languages is welcome, as long as the poem is largely written in English. At this time, Mouthful of Salt does not accept translated work unless you are also the author of the original poem. There is no reading fee for this contest.
Best of the Net Nominee Nala Washington (she/her) is a poet, writer, and educator completing her MFA at Texas State University. You can find her words currently/forthcoming in Remington Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, Midnight & Indigo Lit, The Hemlock Journal, Mouthful of Salt, The Santa Clara Review, Livina Press, among others. As a Spoken Word Artist, she competed with the D.C. team at the 2020 Brave New Voices Festival, performed at the Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America Series in 2020, and has opened for acclaimed poets including Ebony Stewart and Christopher Michael. Her honors include the 2023 BIPOC Scholarship from the Fine Arts Work Center, placement on the Poetry Longlist for the 2026 DISQUIET Literary Prize, and fourth place in The Hemlock Journal International Writing Contest (Volume 2). You can find her on Instagram and Facebook at @that.poetgirl as well as her website, nalawashington.com to keep up with her publications and performances.