POETRY submissions REOPEN DECEMBER 15

Order OUR SUMMER ISSUE: SHŌ NO. 9

congratulations to erica dawson on winning a pushcart prize!
listen to her poem here OR READ IT IN SHŌ NO. 6

Shō Poetry Journal

Established in 2002, revived in 2023

SITA MARTIN PRIZE RUNNER-UP: ETHAN KWAK

Untitled by Rothko, 1968

Stanley Museum, Iowa City

Am I moved
or am I moving. This horizon
that is also
a marsh of scarlet sheets. A son
might rise up
and the next morning
conquer the world in lieu
of his father. Am I
talking about this land before
me or am I riding it, thumbs dug
into its temples. Was I born—sorry.
Is my mind telling me
to be this way.
Was I born right
here in mother’s red snakeskin
purse.

AUDIO

Ethan Kwak reads “Untitled by Rothko, 1968”

This poem, along with Ethan Kwak’s poem “On Baldness,” was selected as the runner-up of the Sita Martin Prize for Shō No. 9.

Read about the Sita Martin Prize for emerging poets here, or view past recipients and honorees.

Ethan Kwak, a young Asian American poet with thick wavy black hair, sits in a classroom, looking off to the side. He wears a black tshirt with deep yellow graphic underneath a blue-and-brown plaid shirt. There is a book on the desk to his left and white sheets of paper and a whiteboard on the wall behind him.

Ethan Kwak (@stucco_cloud) is from California. He serves as a volunteer reader for Ploughshares, and his poems appear in Puerto del Sol, Beaver Magazine, and Sprung Formal. He was named a commended Foyle Young Poet in 2024.

Past Looking by Nara Allsop

From Shō No. 9 (Summer 2026)

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