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2024 Banyan Review Poetry Prize Winner

The Land of Mulberries

Our village is the only place on earth that grows mulberries. Landlocked between two fault lines and veiled beneath an arid sky, it’s the land of mulberries. More delicate than gold and more precious than the Koh-i-Noor, mulberries. We wear them around our necks and flaunt them on our stained fingers. At a wedding, the bride’s new mother adorns her with an ornate headpiece, the finest mulberries of the season. How many carats? the women gasp. Our calendar, once

based on the moon, revolves around mulberry season. Last year, it was the Year of Golden Mulberries. One family inherited a life’s worth of gold and the most dazzling real estate, a mulberry orchard. They threw a feast and thanked God for their newfound wealth. Others credit mulberries for their marriage. Long ago, my grandparents fell in love under a mulberry tree. As my grandfather shook the tree, some mulberries missed the thick cotton sheet and dropped to the ground. My grandmother rushed over to collect each gem. They married shortly after. Our

destiny is forever tied with mulberries. In the winter, I ask my grandfather when he will return to our village. When the mulberries ripen into the deepest purple, he tells me. This year, the Year of Amethyst.

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Zuhra Malik is an Afghan American poet and civil engineer based in Virginia. Her work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in KAIROS, Qafiyah Review, and Tinderbox Poetry Journal.  She has an orchid collection and a Bengal cat.

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A Note From Natasha on Selecting the 2024 Poetry Prize Winner

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"What struck me was the sweetness and tenderness of the piece. I kept returning to it. The voice parses out the speaker's love for mulberries and ultimately the love and connection mulberries have to family. It made me research mulberries because I don't think I've ever seen a proper mulberry before. The images of these tree-bearing fruits brought me back to the dazzling concept that a mulberry could be 'more delicate than gold and more precious than the Koh-i-Noor.' That time with those we hold dear is fleeting, and we are waiting for mulberries to turn to a shade that sparks return. It delighted me and brought me joy.”

2024 Banyan Review Poetry Prize Finalists

Jacqueline Rosado “Some Years Later, My Mother and I”

Sami Helgeson “Mayo Clinic Room 705, My Grandma Takes Communion”

Jamieson Carey “Call the fight”

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Natasha Kane is a Thai American writer, editor, creative marketer, and educator. She holds an MA in English from the University of North Florida and is the Marketing and Acquisitions Editor at Trio House Press. Her work in publishing has been recognized in BookCamp’s 40 Under 40 in Publishing. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of the Talon Review and currently serves as their Marketing Faculty Advisor. She teaches community writing workshops at her local indie bookstore, Femme Fire Books, and is a Visiting Instructor at the University of North Florida. When she’s not editing or writing, she can be found bartending beneath a glittering disco ball. 

Special Thanks

The Banyan Review extends a heartfelt thank you to the writers for their submissions, the 2024 judge, and Tayve Neese, The Banyan Review founder, who started awarding the poetry prize in 2020

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