After one of the toughest judging periods in our 3+ year history, we are proud to announce the winners of Lucent Dreaming’s 2020 Poetry and Short Story contests. Read the winning poems and short stories below, and in our upcoming 8th issue. Our winning pieces comprise the judges’ unforgettable favourites, often timely, some dark, and some that bring us close
2020 is here and with it our brand new competitions! Submit your short stories and poems by May 2020.
This land has long been shrouded in white sheetsstained with blood leaking from various cuts scribbled on her skin by jackals’ teeth and hyenas’ paws. Every effort to take herto the grave dissolves like salt slipped into water; for scavengers are here throwing their talons and beaksinto her skin, breaking her, bone by bone, haunting and hunting everyone trying to rescue her
The steamer smudges the horizonof early stars – so he imaginesadrift on a deserted ocean, headed nowhere in particular. Flat on his back he eyes the ceiling fans lethargically pushing at heated air. All daythe sun hangs overhead like a paper lantern he can’t tear out of the sky. The steamer pushes on through nightsdense as treacle. He’s visitedby eyeless statues
Normandy. A sailor without a dock. A boat for a home. A drifter stranded with intent. Serenaded by a traveler’s dream. The sun is his compass. The clouds, his blanket. The ocean, his lover. He retired his map months ago, used it to stuff his pillow. That was the best use for it. He left his anchor on the shore.
We were in bed when I broke the news. The house was quiet, foliage from my houseplants drifting in the breeze from the open window. You propped yourself up on one elbow, watching while I stared at the ceiling, my hair spilling across the pillow. On theother side of the room, the brass Jesus figurine nailed to the drywall splayed
We are delighted to announce the three winners of our 2020 Flash Fiction Contest. The winning pieces will be published in issue 9 of Lucent Dreaming, TBR April 2021. 1st Place Kali Richmond, ‘Life Drawing’ Kali Richmond is a lapsed video artist attempting a closer to nature existence in the north of England. Her poetry and prose has featured in
We were put in a uniform of black.Seen as something obscene,like a dirty fantasy,or a Playboy magazine. A replica of Eve,stealing Adam’s rib,chewing Adam’s apple,banishing him out of Eden. They wore white,posing as fake angels.Chaining heaven’s gate,creating myths and fables about a god that chose Cain over Abel.He rules with vigor,and always enablesa fight that dividesan eye for an eye..
Abi Hynes, whose piece ‘The Welcoming’ is published in issue 7 of Lucent Dreaming, is a drama and fiction writer. Her short stories have been widely published in print and online, including in Litro, Interzone, minor literature[s] and Neon, and she was shortlisted for the Bath Flash Fiction’s ‘Novella-in-flash’ Award in 2017. Her plays have been performed in venues across the UK. She
“Poetry, to me, feels like the only way to explore many subjects and experiences in a clear, focused way”
love is a nectarine if anything, narratologically significant of course, 99 cents from the ralphs down the street or love is small change rescued from the cafeteria and a shared detergent cup to wash a dress clean of heartbreak or an echo of a song, a hand like an anchorin the unmooring night or a mourningborne together, a raised glass or
“My writing is often centred around nature, and about drawing attention to the world around us.”
