Milan Frčko, Croatia's National Honour, September 2026
Milan Frčko wrote the highest-scoring poem from Croatia in the Writory International Poetry Contest, September 2026: What Remains at the Bottom of the Basket, scored 71 out of 100 by the blind judging panel across five published criteria. The poem was read in English (Latin script).
What Remains at the Bottom of the Basket
The keys in the lock always sound the same, whether you return with victory or empty-handed. On the kitchen table: two grocery bags, a wet umbrella, and a receipt already crumpling. Black coffee cools inside the porcelain, a thin, dark ring left on the rim of the cup. September has broken over the autumn edge, slipping through a crack in the windowpane. All the undelivered verses now hang in the air, as motionless as dust in a beam of light. Waiting for me to understand: The most beautiful poems are those that had the courage to remain unsaid.
Every country's leading poet each month is named on the September 2026 National Honours. The contest is open to poets in Croatia and everywhere else: enter the current round, and every poem receives a score out of 100 and a certificate.