The Wanderer in You
by Jed Myers
Winner of the 2026 Online Poetry Contest
Judged by Diana Khoi Nguyen
“Such a slender, arresting poem that at once sees, perhaps, both itself (its speaker), and also me, its reader (a reader, any reader). Tendril-ly minimal in form, but maximal in its sonic delight, “The Wanderer in You” peels back the layers of a self to unfurl the textured symphonies previously hidden: “ceiling the solarium / dome of your skull // roof a loose thatch / of shifting flightpaths . . .” This is a poem of exquisite details—one that notes “those ears behind your ears”—it detects, senses beyond the five senses: it knows what is present beyond the present moment: it perceives across time.”
whose nights flash
dread’s bioluminescence
whose bed is a tideline
of sticks shells syringes
your walls as sheer
as the gauze of bandages
eyelids translucent
as dragonfly wings
ceiling the solarium
dome of your skull
roof a loose thatch
of shifting flightpaths
and those ears
behind your ears
funneling remote
clicks and pistons
your heart a radio
telescope set to max
ready for boot-storm
scanning the uncanny
quiet of the square
in your spine you are sure
the flood of blind glares
the clubs like before
the thuds your bowels hear
you are sure
the wanderer in you
old as the first
name for god and that
lie its command
on a wind from the sky
for a cleansing
your breath remembers
and turns your eye
to watch the harbor
a boat is a road
wherever it carries
your grandchildren
you won’t have to say
a word
About the Author
Jed Myers’ fourth book of poetry, Can’t Be Far (MoonPath Press, 2026), was a finalist for the Sally Albiso Award. His poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Rattle, RHINO, Poetry Northwest, Southern Indiana Review, The Greensboro Review, The Southeast Review, and elsewhere. Myers lives in Seattle, where he edits Bracken.
