2026 "London" Literary Prizes International Poetry Winner

​$200 CAN prize

Surgery

by Thehara S.U.

​I kiss all the wildflowers
with my hands. I step on not
 
a single leafcutter ant. I recycle
every warbler-blue milk carton,
 
every newspaper unread, save for the 
obituaries I tuck inside my pillowcase. I fold 
 
sailboats out of my boyhood and float them down a 
green creek. each time, they are caught by tree branches 
 
from a trunk that has split itself into a million 
wooden sinews to reach me. when the wolf comes, 
 
I do not hide. I let him take the warm side of my throat
into his mouth. let him snap my neck back into place.

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​Thehara S.U. is a young poet studying at the University of Rochester. Their writing has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the John Locke Global Essay Competition, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society Poetry Contest, and more. Besides writing, Thehara loves cats, psychology, and the Sherlock Holmes novels.