“Same Ocean” wins the inaugural Austin Clarke Prize in Poetry, administered by The Puritan and judged by Jordan Abel.

_{As a poet, I’ve always been interested in metaphor—not so much because I know how to write metaphor but more because I like to see how better writers than myself exist in those spaces—and “Same Ocean” exists in a beautiful, complicated metaphorical space. I loved the way this poem lingered on a moment, an image, an interaction. There’s a weight to the two bodies of water coming together and forming that boundary that I find so compelling and difficult. Like the speaker of the poem, I can relate to the pressure of those bodies of water colliding and even though they slowly come together that boundary never really disappears. “Same Ocean” is an exceptional piece of writing.}

jordan abel