Touchstone Nominations 2026

Our first Touchstone Award Nominations from the – Issue 01, Spring 2026

evening prayer fades
the dust of marigold
in my palms

— Dr. Anish Kumar Gupta, India

faded marigold —
the bride’s father lingers
at the doorway

— Vaishnavi Ramaswamy, India

second day of snowfall…
the warmth of your
(c)love mulled wine

— Steliana Cristina Voicu, Romania

balmy spring day
a toddler in the yellow hat
almost stands

— Keiko Izawa, Japan

summer stars
a pushcart vendor sells
his last mango

— Neha Singh Soni, India

lone beach stroll
wave after wave
of old grief

— Chen-ou Liu, Canada

creeping jenny
recalling names
more slowly now

— Leon Tefft,USA

angel’s wing mushroom
not a flutter
on the ultrasound

— Adele Evershed, USA

carpet of parijat –
orange stems
of a childhood sky

_{—Vishal Prabhu, India}

shrinking lake
the throaty rasping
of a raven

_{—Louise Hopewell, Australia}

summer heat i become the mirage

_{—Mona Bedi, India}

mirror pond
a water strider skates
through the sun

_—_{Deborah Karl-Brandt, Germany}

rocking in sync
for a long evening talk
strawberry moon

_—_{Randy Brooks, USA}

mud flats
the uncharted geography
of her mastectomy

_—_{Adele Evershed, USA}

afterlife
the blues
in a conch

_{—Biswajit Mishra, Canada}

laundry day
slow-moving piles
of clouds

_{—Julie Schwerin, United States}

sowing rice
a mother sings to the child
on her back

_{—Jahnavi Gogoi, Canada}

beech tree canopy
the rain
that doesn’t reach me

_{—Ruth Holzer, USA}