Gatekeeper

independent publishers, with a mission to identify, nurture, and publish transformative literature, and build an engaged community around it.

The winning collection is selected annually by an independent judge. The 2019 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry was judged by Khaled Mattawa.

Milkweed Editions is one of the nation’s leading indepen

poet residing in Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, or Wisconsin.

PATRICK JOHNSON earned his MFA in poetry at Washington University in St. Louis and completed his undergraduate degree at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently studying to become a physician assistant, and lives in Madison.

education (self-disciplined)” is a wish for the end of incarceration, especially for the children at the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center.

“research (uncirculated)” is for a boy in Matli.

“the people here (distanced)” is for Anon.

To my eternal accomplice Hannah, the constant emotional support you radiate to literally everyone around you is necessary, and I feel lucky to be so close to your light.

“empath (committed)” is for Hannah.

Sunday night dinners. Thank you to Suzanne, Ken, Clara, and Jacob for checking in on me.

thank you for everything you do in my life. Special thanks to Mom, Dad, Brad, Kevin, Becca, and Joe for bringing me back to reality with

Jack and Alex introduced me to the dark web, so thank you for those experiences, both good and bad. M

Khaled Mattawa for selecting this book—