Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize
Established in 1981, the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize is administered by the
University of Pittsburgh Press. Named in honor of Agnes Lynch Starrett, the Press’s
first director, the prize is awarded for a first full-length book of poems.
The prize carries a cash award of $5,000 and publication by the University of
Pittsburgh Press as part of the Pitt Poetry Series.
Winner of the 2023 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize
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Trailer Park Psalms
Ryler Dustin’s poems achieve a clear and accessible quality, not through the simplicity of idea or emotion (for his poems are rich with surprising language and complex sentiment) but through his remarkable facility with syntax. Indeed, his elegant sentences convey feeling with vulnerability and sensitivity, while achieving what can only be called pure music. The ingenious metaphors in Trailer Park Psalms manage to contain the contradictory and conflicting emotions that come with loss, nostalgia, humor, and the effort to cope with the wounds of a complicated personal history.
