Among the 53,000 Americans killed in World War I was Joyce Kilmer, a distinguished poet and essayist who died in battle at the age of 31.

I am grateful for all the poets who submitted their work for the contest. Every year we get poems from all over the United States, and even across the world, about any number of topics.

In mid-century America, nuns and sisters were writing poems, and publishing them in the nation’s finest publications.

The poetry of Amit Majmudar, whom America has published 10 times in the past few years, moves easily between the mystical and the ordinary, the one rooted in the other.

With great poetry God is not only in the details, but in the details of the details.

If you would like a chance to join the list of new and veteran writers we have published throughout our history, please send in a poem!