The 2025 Brilliant Poetry Competition Shortlisted Poems: S.K. Tatiner

Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.  

Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.

During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance. 

After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.  

We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.

Vomiting Stars Poetica

by S.K. Tatiner

Gravity’s gone, gravel’s up. She vomits
vodka and chips in the parking lot. The Beemer
just misses. The Jag swerves like time. What luck!
Stars blue, stars yellow, stars orange, and red
fill her mouth. She gags on a galaxy. Jagged
pieces of some old self tumble in a sloppy blanket
‘round her knees. Sure, the vault of heaven
must be empty now. Sure, she’s made
the void, the void. But no–arms wide, she cries,
“Stars! Stars! Look at the stars!” Vomit
drips from fingertips. It slips down arms
and settles in pits. It twinkles and ripples and comes
to rest. “You’re warped,” she tells only herself.
“Warped enough to make new stars,” she parries.




S.K. Tatiner is a student, teacher, and lover of poetry. She is an instructor at the Writers Studio in NYC. Her chapbook, Traitor’s Bluff, was published in 2023. Vomiting Stars Poetica will appear in the October edition of the journal Tap into Poetry.

The 2025 Brilliant Poetry Competition Shortlisted Poems: Ian Li

Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.  

Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.

During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance. 

After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.  

We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.

Uncertainty

by Ian Li

She believes a physicist should always be on time,
but tonight, she’s late—

moonlight pooling on her bathroom’s checkerboard tiles
as her thumb eclipses the tiny indicator window.

For now, an unobserved result is both joy and pain,
her life’s wave function not yet collapsed.

For now, her entanglement with a chronically tardy economist
remains Schrödinger’s love, simultaneously broken and eternal.

But she fears superposition is a small step away from delusion,
so her neurons fire wildly, like electrons

excited to a higher orbit, contemplating a quantum jump
to a state of motherhood.

This is no shift between hyperfine states, it’s a leap
from theoretical to practical. Perhaps she won’t make it,

or perhaps she’ll quantum tunnel right through to the other side.
If only she could peel back the future to see if it all works out.

If only she were as reliable as a Cesium clock, immaculate
and cool and golden inside, despite a turbulent world outside.

She could keep time
with this oscillating heart.




Ian Li (he/him) is a Chinese-Canadian economist, developer, writer, and poet who started writing in late 2023 after a lifetime of believing he could never be creative. He also enjoys spreadsheets, statistical curiosities, and brain teasers. His poetry can be found in Small Wonders, Strange Horizons, and Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction, among many other venues.

The 2025 Brilliant Poetry Competition Shortlisted Poems: Gary Hugh Day

Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.  

Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.

During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance. 

After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.  

We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.

Spooky Action at a Distance

by Gary Hugh Day

They had the same print
In their living rooms, Lowry:
Coming Home from the Mill, 1928.

And whenever they glanced
At this lost world,
They felt the familiarity

Of that other place
Which was also home,
Suffusing them with a sense

Of being in two places at once,
Unsure where each began
And the other ended.

She said they were the couple
On the bottom right, moving away
From the patchy crowd

With its comedy hats and boots,
Solo dances, simple mimes,
And pavement melodramas.

All gone, like the factories
The coloured wagon and
The open doors of terraced houses.

Once more his eye is drawn
To the couple heading out of
The frame; arms linked, in step,

And he wonders if she still
Feels this ghostly closeness,
The nearest they come to touching now.




Gary Day is a retired literature lecturer. He is the author of several books, including Class, Literary Criticism: A New History, and The Story of Drama. He was a reviewer and TV critic for the Times Higher has had poems published in Acumen, The Dawn Treader, The High Window, and various others. He is still actively involved in amateur dramatics.

The 2025 Brilliant Poetry Competition Shortlisted Poems: Muizzah Fatima Munir

Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.  

Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.

During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance. 

After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.  

We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.

Schrödinger’s Attic

by Muizzah Fatima Munir

At this gathering, everyone’s smiling,
quietly reminiscing, mentioning you,
believing you still exist
only in their memories.

The album keeps gathering dust,
left unopened in Schrödinger’s attic.
I feel your presence—until I turn the page.
The half-faded photographs
never quite trapped your light.

My aunt sees you in my mother’s eyes,
your warmth felt in her love.
Everyone describes you with longing.
I wish for dreams where your waveform
might overlap mine.

While eating my mother’s dishes,
the ones you once made with love,
it feels as if I’m enveloped by your warmth.
Just when I think I’ve reached you,
you collapse into air,
a probability—erased.
Your smile lives on, when you yourself don’t.




Muizzah Fatima Munir is a computer science student and poet from Pakistan whose work explores emotion, identity, and the quiet intersections between humanity and technology.

The 2025 Brilliant Poetry Competition Shortlisted Poems: Crispo Chang

Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.  

Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.

During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance. 

After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.  

We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.

Father’s Love

by Crispo Chang

Though I have never seen it, they say it’s there
Around me, in me, everywhere – an axiom.
A pattern of interference, I feel,
But when I try to take a look, it all collapses
Into a quantised packet, invisible to my eyes
As if it has always been like that.
Is it a wave? A particle? Or neither?
A duality, perhaps,
Showing different faces at different times
If needs be: an unsolvable mystery it remains,
But at least a theory that explains.
Then, I remember, we are entangled.
I look into the mirror and determine, this boy
Had grown into a man, one so familiar.
At the very moment, though distances apart,
I finally recognise, here and now,
The properties of my father’s love.




















Crispo Chang is an amateur poet and a college student, with a passion for transcribing the small things in everyday life into poetry. 















Quantum Computing for Drug Design: Where Quantum Meets Chemistry


A new white paper from SC Quantum and qBraid explores the path forward for quantum computing in drug design





(SQ Quantum is an IYQ Leading Philanthropic Partner.)





Designing effective drugs is one of the most complex and costly challenges in modern science. It can take more than a decade to move a single treatment from concept to clinic. Today, researchers and pharmaceutical leaders are exploring how quantum computing might offer a better way forward.





In this white paper, developed in collaboration with qBraid, we explore the intersection of quantum computing and drug design. From foundational science to real-world use cases, the paper offers a grounded look at what’s happening, what’s possible, and what still lies ahead.





Beyond the Hype: What Quantum Can and Can’t Do





The promise of quantum computing has been part of the drug discovery conversation for years. Until recently, much of that promise remained theoretical. That’s now changing. New advances in quantum hardware and algorithms are opening doors to better understand complex molecules, simulate protein interactions, and speed up key phases of the drug pipeline.





At the same time, there are real challenges to overcome, such as limited qubit counts, noise, modeling scale, and the fundamental complexity of biological systems. The paper presents these limitations with clarity, helping readers separate marketing from milestones.





A Use Case with Real Impact





To show this work in practice, the white paper highlights a research pipeline from qBraid focused on Alzheimer’s disease. Partnering with institutions like MIT, Argonne National Lab, and North Carolina A&T, qBraid is using quantum techniques to study protein-metal interactions tied to neurodegeneration. Their Quanta-Bind platform is one example of how researchers are applying quantum tools to real-world problems.





South Carolina’s Role in What’s Next





Pharmaceutical companies across South Carolina are well-positioned to explore these technologies, from small-molecule research to clinical applications. The white paper identifies companies already doing groundbreaking work in diagnostics, therapeutics, and delivery systems. With quantum computing now reaching a more practical stage, the timing is right to explore how these tools could support R&D pipelines across the region.





Get the White Paper





This is the first in a series from SC Quantum and qBraid spotlighting how quantum technologies are taking shape in real-world industries. It’s designed for decision-makers, technical leads, and anyone interested in what the future of quantum might actually look like.





📄 Click here to download the white paper.
















Dave Alsobrooks is Director of Communications, SC Quantum





Featured image: Dave Alsobrooks.


The 2025 Brilliant Poetry Competition Shortlisted Poems: Jasmine Zhang







Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.  





Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.





During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance. 





After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.  





We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.









Emergency Room





by Jasmine Zhang






To be frank, quantum physics
makes for terrible metaphor. Of course
the human experience contains
multitudes. Try writing down
the wavefunction for grief, or for kissing
someone you love on the mouth

Or, for the angry blue sky, the
bloodwork, the body arranged
on the stretcher, catatonic in
its dreaming. I fail to find solace
in the pulse-finding machines,
the sterile clockwork of it all

In the waiting room I consider
the thought experiment
about superposition. The nurses
discuss a birthday party while
you possibly die in this bed

I have scorned the study of the living
for its imprecision and even now 
I hold onto theories relevant only
at scales we cannot touch. But 
I can’t look away, as if superstition 
will keep you here













































The 2025 Brilliant Poetry Competition Shortlisted Poems: Thom Hawkins







Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.  





Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.





During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance. 





After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.  





We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.









Dualism





by Thom Hawkins














I could hear the cat moving around in the box,
but I was determined to ignore it. My feline
friend was in a state of quantum superposition—
it had to be, if I'd done everything right. 





The radiation source, the Geiger counter,
the vial of poison, a half-life had passed
so there was no way to know if the meows
were from a cat’s body or its ghost.






































Thom Hawkins is a writer and artist based in Maryland. His poems have appeared or are scheduled to appear in COMP, Excuse Me Magazine, The Fieldstone Review, Last Stanza Journal, Linked Verse, Poetry Box, Red Ogre Review, Sinking City, and Uncensored Ink’s Banned Books Anthology. 















The 2025 Brilliant Poetry Competition Shortlisted Poems: Akis Linardos







Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.  





Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.





During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance. 





After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.  





We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.









Dice Rolling Eternal





by Akis Linardos














In the eternal void
      there comes a brilliant bang





Quieter than a baby’s snore
     louder than the end of sound





Quantum fluctuations, a primordial Jackson Pollock
     spit colors on a black, expanding canvas
Carving celestial castles
    from sands of eternal chance





As has been, as will be done,
    before, after, forever





Fireworks spark rivers in the desert
Carbon to branching forms, life from strands





In a pocket eternity, there come soft rains
Youth hungry to experience existence
Elderly aching to pass the torch
Radiant unions, harsh goodbyes





The cosmic candles dim at last,
As entropy reaches its zenith,
    returning everything to slumber





Until the dice may roll again

































Akis is a writer of bizarre things, a biomedical AI scientist, and maybe human. He’s also a Greek that traveled the world and now resides in the USA, writing silly dark things while everything burns. Find his words at Apex, Strange Horizons, Uncharted, Heartlines Spec, and visit his lair for more: akislinardos.com




















The 2025 Brilliant Poetry Competition Shortlisted Poems: Luisa A. Igloria







Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.  





Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.





During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance. 





After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.  





We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.









An End to Time





by Luisa A. Igloria














I like putting one foot in front of the other,
walking at a steady pace until I change





the speed on the treadmill or come to
the end of the half-hour. I like wiping down





the silver and putting them back in their
drawers, but not ironing out the creases





in a shirt. The child asks, is there
an end of time? It’s the kind of question





that can’t be answered. If we knew, the world
would be a different place entirely. If we knew,





all measures would be undone. Animals
would never come out of the sealed caves





of their hibernation. The last however many
years of heartache would dissolve like a golden





cube of honey in a glass of tea. The old queen
would leave the hive whenever she wanted to





without being followed by a swarm, without
having to scout for a new home to populate





with food and bodies; without the new queens
killing each other in order to be the only one.

































Poet, nonfiction writer, and translator Luisa A. Igloria teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University. She is originally from Baguio City in the Philippines. www.luisaigloria.com