Oz’s poem “Witness Statement” has won this year’s Charles Simic Prize. Judge Dana Levin said of Oz’s poem:
I went on the hunt for a poem that carried some of the spirit of Charlie’s work: vivid images; a touch of the surreal; a conversational approach to diction and tone; a bit of dark humor, or irony, or the absurd—cut with a shiver of disturbance. Ultimately, I hoped for a jolt of surprise: a sudden flick of a switch in my work-a-day mind. The poem “Witness Statement” by Oz Hardwick has these qualities in spades. I followed the plot turns and the speaker’s confusions with real curiosity, and loved how the poem both surprised me and intensified its emotional stakes as it unfurled towards its end.
The poem can be read here.