Rattle Chapbook Prize
Deadline: January 15, 2026
The annual Rattle Chapbook Prize gives poets something truly special. Every year, three winners will each receive: $5,000 cash, 500 contributor copies, and distribution to Rattle's 8,000+ subscribers. In a world where a successful full-length poetry book might sell 1,000 copies, the winning book will reach an audience eight times as large on its release day alone—an audience that includes many other literary magazines, presses, and well-known poets. This will be a chapbook to launch a career.
And maybe the best part is this: The $30 entry fee is just a standard subscription to Rattle, which includes four issues of the magazine and three winning chapbooks, even if one of them isn't yours. Rattle is one of the most-read literary journals in the world—find out why just by entering! For more information, visit our website.
We congratulate our three winners from our 2025 contest:
- José Enrique Medina, Haunt Me
- Liz Robbins, Backlit
- Matthew Buckley Smith, The Soft Black Stars
Please enjoy this poem by 2025 winner José Enrique Medina. It appears in Haunt Me, published by Rattle in 2025.
Haunt Me
Against the greenhouse he built, the soul
of Tío Arturo leans, smelling faintly of brillantina.
Abuela drifts beneath cherry blooms,
thumbing her rosary, whispering prayers.
Mother, where are you?
Even the twins, who were never born, are here,
tossing big-headed mums, each one
a soft grenade of memory.
You died four years ago,
your silence unfolding like petals.
And still
you haven't stepped into my garden
or caressed my amapola blossoms.
What are you waiting for? Haunt me.
Crush lemongrass under your heels,
let me smell you. Ring wind chimes
when there's no breeze, so I'll know.
Or become the breeze itself,
and lift my petals one more time.
Eyes open, ears wide, I wait.
But you never come.
The twins giggle,
brush against my flowers,
and pollinate your absence.
