from River Heron Poetry Prize final judge, John Sibley Williams: “How a poem can say so much in so few words! “Epochal” is elusively simple, plainspoken, yet within this imagistic language of tractors and barn doors and stone horizons a huge beating heart resides. The poem isn’t afraid to risk cliché in its focus on one of the most common poetic themes (love); instead, it takes unexpected linguistic turns and finds uniquely compelling ways to explore one of the most basic human emotions.”

Joe Amaral's poetry collection “The Street Medic” won the 2018 Palooka Press Chapbook Contest. Joe works 48-hour shifts as a paramedic on the California central coast, spending days off adventuring outdoors with his young family: camping, hiking, world traveling, and hosting foreign exchange students. His writing has appeared in awesome places like 3Elements Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, New Verse News, Panoply, Poets Reading the News, Rise Up Review, and Writers of the Portuguese Diaspora.