annette-gagliardi

Annette Gagliardi

AUTHOR. POET. TEACHER

I won the John C. Rezmerski first prize Award for my most recent book, Benevolence

Annette Gagliardi, winner of the 2026 John Rezmerski Manuscript Contest and Poet Laureate of the League of Minnesota Poets, writes poems that might be classified as religious, but don’t let that be a deterrent. Benevolence is a gorgeous collection that examines the uncertainties, joys, and muddled, middle ground of being human in our fraught world. Gagliardi’s poems flourish as they address the temporary nature of human existence and the unending beauty of the natural world; as they deftly hone in on emotions and senses, questioning both the tangible and intangible aspects of living.

“Belief, seeps into loam, / breaths into mist, digs into bones.” It was the voice that stayed with me. I felt a resonance with the long journey of faith. Benevolence is a poetic documentary. A road map of the loops and turns of belief. Religion is hard to write about without sentimentality and preachiness. But Gagliardi’s words are subtle. “I listen to the slide of thread pulled taunt / through cotton. The needle prick, knot secured, transports / me back to childhood, back to the summer porch / watching a quilt take shape in patterns of sound and silence.” It is a still small voice in a noisy world amid “the hazards of living today.” I felt the cohesiveness of the collection. So many passages stuck “like glue.” The moon compared to a mansion— “a big white mansion dipped in black water.” Here there is a fresh hand on ordinary observations and events. Here there is reiteration of the need for something fundamental. which often gets swept aside or ignored altogether. It is along the tracks of language that this train of benevolence moves. Watching it pass, I picked up on the assurance that words can have. In a later poem, “Hecatomb,” “perhaps fifty bees / lay scattered / on the sanctuary floor, / fifty fleeting puffs of fluff — all dead…… do we need the ritual of burnt candles / and incense to make / slaughter worthy of grace? // There. On the terrazzo. Just below the / altar — so many died. As they lie / beneath the cross, / I cannot believe they are alone.” These are the words of my song too.

~ Diane Glancy, contest Judge, Author of, Quadrille, Christianity and the Early New England Indians.

Hey! You can now buy Annette a Cup of Coffee and and enjoy some of her prized and/or published poetry.

Poetry Books

Proper Poems for Proper Ladies with Award

Children's Books

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News & Announcements

Wonderful news!! I have been named Poet Laureate for the League of Minnesota Poets (2025 to 2027)

Sometimes I Dream of Water, published in Vol 3, Issue 1 of Sage Cigarettes, summer 2026.

Prolific Poet published by Jackpine Writer’s Bloc for Talking Stick 35, 2026

I’m No Billboard published on Poets & Peace online on April 25, 2026 at: poetsandpeace.com

A New Dawning published in Sublimation Volume 3, Issue 1, by the Island of Wak Wak, May 2026.

Life Prints will be published in in the August/September issue (2026) of Lake Country Journal.

Ain’t This Child a Person? published in Moonstone Poetry / World Poetry Day. Poem will be in the book & was read at the virtual program Sunday March 22 at 2pm EDT. moonstoneartscenter.com

Dill won third place gardening award for Arizona State Poetry Society, 2025 Contest.

Light Can Be Alive, published by As Surely As The Sun Lit, Issue #8, Spring/ Summer 2026.

Light Can Be Alive won 1^st Place award in the ODP Special Award, Ohio Poetry Day Association, October 2025. Will be published in the Best of 2025, Ohio Poetry day Anthology.

Mute Poets, Shining Insects, Does Life Imitate Art?, Sometimes, ice caps melting, An Artist published in Borderless Journal, January 2026. borderlessjournal.com

Delphinium Published on line in the February 2026 issue of The Wise Owl at: thewiseowl.art/poetry

Promenade Published on line in the March 2026 issue of The Wise Owl at: thewiseowl.art/poetry

The Pope’s Beef Benedict published in early 2026 (online) with Mediterranean poetry / Odyssey, odyssey.pm/submission-guidelines/

A Single Sparrow published in Local Gems Press: Poets of Promise/ 2025 Anthology.

Open Mouth Buffet Moonstone Art Center, Anthology 30^th Edition, 2025.

Ponderosa Pines: Days of the Deadwood Forest Fire has been awarded a 2023 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award for Christian – Historical Fiction.

The PenCraft Seasonal Book Awards, recognize excellence in creative writing. This Fall (2023) it honors 48 great books for adults and children. We are pleased to recognize these hard-working authors and their books and thank them for their inspiring stories and captivating writing styles. This eclectic collection of 48 great books has been selected as the best of the season’s offerings, whether it be adult or children’s fiction, non-fiction, or other categories. These winning books feature stories of courage, adventure, wonder and joy; boundless fantasy; thought-provoking literature; beautiful artistry; inspiring non-fiction titles – something for everyone.

The PenCraft Seasonal Awards were established to recognize exceptional work from authors, editors, illustrators and publishers around the world. We are proud to present 48 great books that have surpassed PenCraft’s selection criteria and earned them a Seasonal PenCraft Book Award.