Winners: January Poetry Contest

The Chattanooga Writers’ Guild is excited to announce the winners of the January Poetry Contes. This month’s theme was “Birds.” The First-Place prize goes to Natalie Kimbell with the submission “An Icy Day in January 2026.” Honors for second place go to Jenna Ziegler for her poem “If I Pluck Apart These Birds Nests Could I Unwind the Time.” Thanks to all who participated and special thanks to our hard-working poetry judge, John Mannone!

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First Place: Natalie Kimbell

An Icy Day in January 2026
In memory of Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti

Today I tossed bread to crows
my body against the raw wind
witness to the making of a murder
their bodies growing in number.

My body faced the raw wind
watched crows strut like vultures.
Their bodies growing in number
movement recorded and noted.

I watched them strut like vultures
looking for more to consume
movement recorded and noted
while they cawed loud and proud

looking for more to consume.
I felt the chill in my veins
while they cawed loud and proud.
They thought I’d acquiesce

to the chill in their voice
but I didn’t turn away.
I didn’t acquiesce.
I stood and wrote all I saw.

Today I tossed bread to crows.
I didn’t turn away.
I stood. Wrote all I saw
a witness to murder.

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East Tennessee writer, Natalie Kimbell resides in Sequatchie County. She is a retired public school teacher and board member of the Tennessee Mountain Writers. Her work which not only includes poetry but also non-fiction and playwriting, appears in many journals and anthologies including Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Mildred Haun Review, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Tennessee Voices, and Artemis. She has two chapbooks, On Phillips Creek( 2024) and And the Weather Remains the Same( 2025). Both books were published by Finishing Line Press.

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Second Place: Jenna Ziegler

If I Pluck Apart These Birds Nests Could I Unwind the Time

I long for the days when the branches
of the bur oak were dormant things,
when the acorn-strewn grasses
held dew like a supplicant’s open hands.
Now, the oak is the true home,
and I, between the plywood and shingles,
am the one without a home.
Strange that the sparrows’ nests
are made of the stuff of us—
hair ties and dryer lint, newspaper
and wayward sleeve strings.
And my heart is a bird’s nest of memories,
trinkets collected over the years:
twine and ticket stubs,
hospital bracelets,
the tinseled corners of Nature Valley bars.
They glint in the breeze,
a signal to satellites and astronauts,
or to someone otherwise lost in space.
And I hope it is a beacon,
Morse code of reflected light
bright enough to cross sea and stratosphere
to bring you back to me.

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Jenna Ziegler is a poet from the space between the mountains and the sea of Northern California. Her work explores grief and hope, the solace of nature, and what it means to be human. She is the author of the poetry collection The Bones Settling (Walnut Street Publishing, 2025) and her work has appeared in Seaside Gothic, Prosetrics Literary Magazine, Entrails Magazine, and elsewhere. A member of the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild and the Poetry Society of Tennessee, she also writes science fiction and fantasy novels. When she’s not writing poetry or her science fiction and fantasy novels, she’s playing sand volleyball, hiking with her husband, Tyler, or reading with her cat, Newbert. Learn more and connect with Jenna at jtzieglerauthor.com.

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The Monthly Contests rotate through a pattern of Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction throughout the year, with a new theme each month. Go to the 2026 Monthly Contest Series Info page to view the genre and theme for each month.

This contest is free to enter for members of the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild. To become a member, click HERE