Poetry
"Stephanie Saywell’s work bursts with a vibrant, cinematic energy that transforms raw, lived experience into vivid imagery. Her language shifts—from the visual in “skin so gold her bikini/ is an afterthought, eyes like ice” to the admission, “I look/incredible looking for her” and then a moment of complexity, “A man/looks at me like I am a flock of wild/geese taking off into the afternoon air.” Equally arresting is the kinetic, playful absurdity of the line, “If math + desire = who you are, then I want tickets to see 500 symphonic cowboys yee-haw-lasso-trick-boot-scoot-hat-tip in explosive rhythm.” It’s so fun! Saywell deftly blends hyperbolic bravado with tender introspection, inviting readers to explore the paradoxes of desire, loss, and transformation through surreal, inventive imagery. The final poem in this packet “On Being Asked Who the ‘She’ Is In My Poems,” reveals layers of restless identity as the poet writes, “She is my mother, my grandmother,/my cat. Sometimes, she is six and one-half years, sometimes,/she is on a train. A raging river, in love/with herself.” And the poem concludes in silence, a silence that resonates like the lingering note of a Debussy piano piece— “whisper of a just-missed world,/the foggy circle of her breath still dissolving/in the second-story window.” " - Shangyang Fang, Claire Keyes Poetry Award Judge, 2025
PUBLICATIONS
Soundings East Magazine, 2025 Claire Keyes Poetry Award. Spring 2025
Palette Poetry, 2023 Grisly & Grotesque Contest. Spring 2024
The Missouri Review, Spring 2023
Anti-Heroin Chic. Summer 2021
Gnashing Teeth Publishing, Poem of the Day. April 22, 2021
Muzzle Magazine. Spring 2021
Ink & Letters: Issue #7: Bodies in Motion. Fall 2018
HONORS & AWARDS
Write Bloody Jack McCarthy Book Prize - 2025 Finalist
Claire Keyes Poetry Award - 2025 Recipient, Soundings East Magazine, Salem State University, Judged by Shangyang Fang
Longlisted for the Palette Poetry Previously Published Poem Prize, 2024
Longlisted for the Fish Publishing Poetry Prize, 2024
Shortlisted for The Bridport Prize, 2023
Shortlisted for The Bridport Prize, 2022
Nominated by Gnashing Teeth Publishing for Best of the Net, 2021
Longlisted for the Frontier Poetry 2020 Industry Prize
May Sarton Poetry Prize - 2010 Recipient, Lawrence Academy
Smith College Poetry Prize - 2009 Finalist, Judged by Paul Muldoon
TEACHING
Teaching Assistant - Writer's Anonymous Poetry Workshops with Buddy Wakefield, Fall 2023 - Present
EDITING
rosewater, a poetry chapbook by Justin Ebrahemi. Published Fall 2024.
PRIVATE TUTORING
Buddy Wakefield - Spring 2025, Fall 2023
Megan Falley - Summer 2020
Susan Edwards Richmond - 2003-2006
WORKSHOPS
Writers Anonymous: Momentum Edition Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Spring 2025
Don't Fake Cry: Poetry Performance Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Spring 2025
Advanced Writers Anonymous IV with Buddy Wakefield, Spring 2025
Writers Anonymous V Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Winter 2025
Creating Space Workshop with Victoria Ruiz, Fall 2024
Advanced Writers Anonymous III Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Fall 2024
Writers Anonymous IV Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Winter 2024
Writers Anonymous III Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Fall 2023
Advanced Writers Anonymous II Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Fall 2023
Writers Anonymous II Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Summer 2023
A New Pair of Eyes with Brendan Constantine, June 2023
Advanced Writers Anonymous Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Spring 2023
Don't Fake Cry: Poetry Performance Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Winter 2023
Writers Anonymous Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Winter 2023
Poems That Don't Suck Workshop with Megan Falley, Fall 2022
Satire Writing Workshop with Reductress, Spring 2021
After the Ode Sophomore Class with Megan Falley, Fall 2020
Poems That Don't Suck Workshop with Megan Falley, Spring 2020
Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop, Summer 2009
Broken Bridge Writing Workshop, Summer 2008
GrubStreet Monthly Workshops, 2006-2010
FINISHED WORKS
An Ode In My Pocket - Senior Project in Poetry submitted to and accepted by the Bard College Division of Languages and Literature. Written under the tutelage of Ann Lauterbach. Spring 2014
PUBLICATIONS
Soundings East Magazine, 2025 Claire Keyes Poetry Award. Spring 2025
Palette Poetry, 2023 Grisly & Grotesque Contest. Spring 2024
The Missouri Review, Spring 2023
Anti-Heroin Chic. Summer 2021
Gnashing Teeth Publishing, Poem of the Day. April 22, 2021
Muzzle Magazine. Spring 2021
Ink & Letters: Issue #7: Bodies in Motion. Fall 2018
HONORS & AWARDS
Write Bloody Jack McCarthy Book Prize - 2025 Finalist
Claire Keyes Poetry Award - 2025 Recipient, Soundings East Magazine, Salem State University, Judged by Shangyang Fang
Longlisted for the Palette Poetry Previously Published Poem Prize, 2024
Longlisted for the Fish Publishing Poetry Prize, 2024
Shortlisted for The Bridport Prize, 2023
Shortlisted for The Bridport Prize, 2022
Nominated by Gnashing Teeth Publishing for Best of the Net, 2021
Longlisted for the Frontier Poetry 2020 Industry Prize
May Sarton Poetry Prize - 2010 Recipient, Lawrence Academy
Smith College Poetry Prize - 2009 Finalist, Judged by Paul Muldoon
TEACHING
Teaching Assistant - Writer's Anonymous Poetry Workshops with Buddy Wakefield, Fall 2023 - Present
EDITING
rosewater, a poetry chapbook by Justin Ebrahemi. Published Fall 2024.
PRIVATE TUTORING
Buddy Wakefield - Spring 2025, Fall 2023
Megan Falley - Summer 2020
Susan Edwards Richmond - 2003-2006
WORKSHOPS
Writers Anonymous: Momentum Edition Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Spring 2025
Don't Fake Cry: Poetry Performance Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Spring 2025
Advanced Writers Anonymous IV with Buddy Wakefield, Spring 2025
Writers Anonymous V Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Winter 2025
Creating Space Workshop with Victoria Ruiz, Fall 2024
Advanced Writers Anonymous III Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Fall 2024
Writers Anonymous IV Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Winter 2024
Writers Anonymous III Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Fall 2023
Advanced Writers Anonymous II Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Fall 2023
Writers Anonymous II Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Summer 2023
A New Pair of Eyes with Brendan Constantine, June 2023
Advanced Writers Anonymous Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Spring 2023
Don't Fake Cry: Poetry Performance Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Winter 2023
Writers Anonymous Workshop with Buddy Wakefield, Winter 2023
Poems That Don't Suck Workshop with Megan Falley, Fall 2022
Satire Writing Workshop with Reductress, Spring 2021
After the Ode Sophomore Class with Megan Falley, Fall 2020
Poems That Don't Suck Workshop with Megan Falley, Spring 2020
Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop, Summer 2009
Broken Bridge Writing Workshop, Summer 2008
GrubStreet Monthly Workshops, 2006-2010
FINISHED WORKS
An Ode In My Pocket - Senior Project in Poetry submitted to and accepted by the Bard College Division of Languages and Literature. Written under the tutelage of Ann Lauterbach. Spring 2014