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Award-Winning Poems: Fall 2008
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Welcome to our Fall 2008 selection of award-winning poems. These quarterly specials are included with your free Winning Writers Newsletter subscription. We'll release our next regular newsletter on September 15.
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RECENT HONORS FOR OUR NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Roberta Beary. Her poetry collection The Unworn Necklace was one of two finalists for the Poetry Society of America's prestigious William Carlos Williams Award, judged by Ron Silliman. She kindly shares a haiku sequence from this book below. This $500 prize for a book of poetry published by a small press, non-profit, or university press is open to US authors and will accept submissions October 1-December 22, 2008.
Congratulations to Peter Neil Carroll. His new book of poetry, Riverborne: A Mississippi Requiem, will be released in September by Higganum Hill Books.
Congratulations to Marita Brake. Her poem "Hattie's Christmas Ballad" won first prize in the 2008 ChristyFest Poetry Contest. She kindly shares it with us below. ChristyFest is an annual festival in Townsend, TN that celebrates Catherine Marshall's classic inspirational novel Christy. Ms. Brake says, "My poem refers to 'Hattie', a character in Christy who was a blind, mountain songcatcher. I pictured Hattie retelling the Christmas Story in an Appalachian setting." Visit http://www.maritabrake.net/ to order her chapbook Untamed Hearts.
Congratulations to Jude Nutter. She won first prize for poetry in the 2008 Chautauqua Literary Journal Annual Contest. The next deadline for this $1,000 prize will be November 15.
RECENT HONORS FOR POETRY CONTEST INSIDER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Marcia Popp. Her poem "strike up the band" was selected by Mark Strand for inclusion in the Best New Poets anthology, published annually by the literary journal Meridian at the University of Virginia. She kindly shares it with us below. Meridian's competition for poems by authors with no prior book publication is open April 15-June 5.
Congratulations to F.J. Bergmann. Her poem "Eating Light" won the Science Fiction Poetry Association's Rhysling Award for the Short Poem, for science-fiction-themed poems under 50 lines published in 2007. She kindly shares this poem below. It was originally published in the journal Mythic Delirium. In addition, her new chapbook, Constellation of the Dragonfly, was published this May by Plan B Press.
Congratulations to Mike Gullickson. He won the 2008 Senior Poets Laureate Competition from Amy Kitchener's Angels Without Wings Foundation. The most recent deadline for this $300 prize for poems by US citizens aged 50+ was June 30. He kindly shares one of his winning poems, "A Promise of Music", below.
RECENT PUBLICATION CREDITS FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS
Michael Smith has had two stories accepted for publication in the literary e-zine The Rose & Thorn. He will also have a story in the first issue of Thin Threads, a collection of stories about moments that changed the writer's life. Read more of his work on Our Echo.
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Closing This Month
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
Now in its sixth year, this contest seeks poems in any style, theme or genre. Both published and unpublished poems are welcome. Fourteen cash prizes totaling $5,250 will be awarded, including a top prize of $2,000. The entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines you submit. Submit online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. This contest is sponsored by Tom Howard Books and assisted by Winning Writers. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest
Postmark Deadline: March 31, 2009
Now in its 17th year. Prizes of $2,000, $1,000, $500 and $250 will be awarded, plus five High Distinction awards of $200 each and five Most Highly Commended Awards of $100 each. Submit any type of short story, essay or other work of prose, up to 5,000 words. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the online publication rights. $15 entry fee. Submit online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. Winning Writers is assisting with entry handling for this contest. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners. (The results of the 16th contest will be announced on September 15, 2008.)
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest - No Fee
Online Submission Deadline: April 1, 2009
Winning Writers invites you to enter the eighth annual Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest, called "famous" by Writer's Digest. Fifteen cash prizes totaling $3,336.40 will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,359. There is no fee to enter. Judge: Jendi Reiter. See the complete guidelines and past winners.
TRY POETRY CONTEST INSIDER
If you enjoy using The Best Free Poetry Contests, consider upgrading to Poetry Contest Insider. The Best Free Poetry Contests profiles the 150 or so poetry contests that are free to enter. With your Poetry Contest Insider subscription, you'll get access to all of our 750+ poetry contest profiles, plus over 100 of the best prose contests. Search and sort contests by deadline, prize, fee, recommendation level and more. Access to Poetry Contest Insider is just $7.95 per quarter, with a free 10-day trial at the start. Cancel at any time.
Most contests charge entry fees. You can easily spend hundreds of dollars and many hours entering these contests each year. Don't waste your time or money. Out of hundreds of contests, there might only be two or three dozen that are especially appropriate for your work. We help you find them fast. Interviews and links to award-winning work help you refine your craft. Learn more about Poetry Contest Insider.
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BIRD PLAYS TO A COW
by Eric McHenry
Winner of the 2007 Kate Tufts Discovery Award
Postmark Deadline: September 15
This highly prestigious award from Claremont Graduate University offers $10,000 for a first published book of poetry by a US citizen or current resident. In this poem from McHenry's prizewinning collection Potscrubber Lullabies, jazz legend Charlie "Bird" Parker displays a cheerful humility about his vocation.
ARS POETICA
by Virginia Chase Sutton
Winner of the 2007 Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize
Postmark Deadline: September 15
High-profile award for first or second books of poetry offers $1,000 and publication by Northeastern University Press. This darkly ironic poem from Sutton's prizewinning book What Brings You to Del Amo questions how the poetic imagination functions, or resists functioning, under psychiatric scrutiny.
BEST PRACTICES and other poems
by Justin Marks
Winner of the 2008 Green Rose Poetry Prize
Postmark Deadline: September 30
The prestigious literary journal New Issues offers this $2,000 manuscript prize for authors with prior book publication. These satirical poems from Marks' collection A Million in Prizes apply the language of market research to the creative process, generating a claustrophobic atmosphere where nothing is immune from bureaucratic surveillance.
We are gathering a growing library of award-winning poems in Poetry Contest Insider, over 90 to date. Enjoy a wide range of today's best work. Sign up for a free trial.
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2002 WAR POETRY CONTEST—FINALIST
LYING IN THE DARK
by Joanna Catherine Scott
The mosquito netting my mother drew
over our heads was fine and white,
like gauze bandages.
She tucked it at the bottom of the bed,
pulled it up, and draped it
over the headboard rail.
God bless, she said, and we lay
in the heavy dark, shrinking
from those loud, terrible syringes
sucking goodness out of us
(we so much wanted to be good)
giving in return the little welted
blessings of a God who droned
and whistled in that not-sleep sleep
where everything that happened
back before we could remember
was remembered, voices crying,
and the furious pounding
through the wrecked, offended streets,
smell of bodies shifting
in the Underground's carved dark,
the breath-stopped listening.
Bless us! Oh, God bless us!
Then nothing but the long descending shriek.
Copyright 2002 Joanna Catherine Scott
This poem was a finalist in the 2002 War Poetry Contest sponsored by Winning Writers. See the judge's comments on the winning poems from this contest.
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SPONSORS' MESSAGES
Thousands of writers use FanStory.com for:
- Helpful Feedback. Get detailed feedback for every poem, short story and book chapter that you write.
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Our Contests
Summertime Poetry
For our Summertime Poetry Contest we are looking for poems that somehow incorporate this time of year. Poems should be summertime oriented.
Deadline: September 10
Faith Poetry
The theme for this poetry contest is "faith". We are looking for poems that in some way pertain to this theme. It doesn't matter if it's spiritual, political, intellectual or emotional as long as faith is clearly represented.
Deadline: September 21
The Words Are The Same
Write a poem that uses the words listed in the contest announcement.
Deadline: September 25
Poetic Art
This poetry contest challenges you to write a poem that incorporates the artwork provided. Your poem can become part of this artwork. View the announcement to see the image.
Deadline: September 30
These are only a few of our contests. View our full listing here.
FanStory is one of the Writer's Digest "101 Best Websites for Writers" (2005-2008). Writer's Digest says, "Founded in 2000, this site presents free contests and peer-to-peer reviews. One fairly unique feature offered by the site is the ability to create your own contest and challenge other writers." Find out more.
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Retreat for Writers in Beautiful Western Massachusetts
Inviting poets, fiction writers, memoirists, and all writers. Wellspring House is a beautiful and tranquil retreat whose ambience has been lauded by former residents as utterly conducive to creativity. Carol Dine calls it "my haven and my heaven". We are nestled in Ashfield, population 1,800, one of the "hilltowns" between the Berkshires and the Connecticut River. Amherst and Northampton and the five colleges—Amherst, Smith, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke and the UMass flagship campus—are within a 35-minute drive. Ashfield has three eateries, two churches, a library, a music store, a hardware store which sells excellent ice cream, a feminist press (Paris), and a resident theater company (Double Edge). Ashfield Lake is a five-minute walk.
Wellspring House has five rooms for residents (two suitable for couples), two baths on the second floor, and an upstairs sitting room. Downstairs is a communal kitchen and eating area for residents, a spacious living room with a fireplace and a half bath (see pictures). The house is surrounded by a large patio, flower and vegetable gardens, fruit trees and five acres of woods. We supply linens, coffee and tea—and bikes! Fee: $175/week. For more information, please email your hosts, Ann and Preston Browning, at browning@wellspringhouse.net, call 413-628-3276, or mail Wellspring House, P.O. Box 2006, Ashfield, MA 01330. www.wellspringhouse.net
Guests say:
"I want to thank you for a wonderful three weeks at Wellspring House. It proved to be my most productive period in five or six years. You have done an amazing job of putting together a beautiful conducive environment. The gorgeous common area, the sunny bedrooms, and the surrounding Berkshires with all their various colors and moods—these are all elements I will cherish in memory."
"For the invaluable time, space and freedom you provide at Wellspring House, I thank you."
"Wellspring House: An island of tranquility in an ocean of tumult."
"I had a very productive visit. The house, the town, the hosts—all were so beautiful to experience, and were truly a wellspring of inspiration."
"What a deeply romantic setting in which to write, stroll and sleep. We loved the books downstairs, the art in the hallways, and the breeze in this room upstairs. We hope all are inspired to create and enjoy the beauty around them."
The Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference
Next conferences: October 24-27, November 14-17
The Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference provides the faculty, connections, and method necessary to set poets with a completed manuscript or manuscript-in-process on a path towards publication. Includes workshops, consultations with press editors, evening poetry readings, editorial panel Q&A, group critique of selected poems, and an after-conference strategy session.
Faculty for 2008 include editors and publishers Martha Rhodes (Four Way Books), Jeffrey Levine (Tupelo Press), Jeffrey Shotts (Graywolf Press), Peter Conners (BOA), Christina Davis (Nightboat Books) and others; workshop leaders include Director of the Concord Poetry Center, Joan Houlihan, Suffolk University Creative Writing Program Director Frederick Marchant, and Director of the Smith Poetry Center, Ellen Dore Watson.
The cost of the conference ranges from $995 to $1,295 and includes tuition, pre-conference materials, lodging and meals. The October conference takes place in Colrain, a country town in Western Massachusetts, at the unique and magical Round House. The November conference will be held at the elegant Brandt House in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Attendance for both conferences is limited. For an application and complete guidelines, please visit www.colrainpoetry.com. You may also call 978-897-0054, email conferences@colrainpoetry.com or write to Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference, Concord Poetry Center, 40 Stow Street, Concord, MA 01742-2418.
Attendees say:
"The Colrain Manuscript Conference managed to pack into a weekend what a lot of grad school teachers never had time to do in their classes or individually: offer finishing touches to a manuscript eager to be picked up by a publisher."
Steve Fellner, Brockport, NY
"...It was a goldmine for me especially, removed as I am from the academic world and from a community of serious poets."
LouAnn Muhm, Park Rapids, MN, Teacher, Creative Writing
"...extremely helpful to hear responses to the other manuscripts. I learned as much or more from the critiques of others' manuscripts as I did from the critique of mine."
Mary Crow, Fort Collins, CO, Poet Laureate of Colorado
Last Call!
 12th Annual Robert Frost Foundation Annual Poetry Award
Postmark/Email Submission Deadline: September 15
The Robert Frost Foundation welcomes poems in the spirit of Robert Frost for its 12th Annual Award. The winner will receive $1,000 and an invitation to present the winning poem at the Frost Festival located at the Lawrence Public Library in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on Saturday, October 25.
Please submit two copies of each poem, one copy with contact information and one copy free of all identifying information. Mailing address: Robert Frost Foundation, Lawrence Library - 3rd Floor, 51 Lawrence Street, Lawrence, MA 01841. Email submissions are also accepted at frostfoundation@comcast.net. Reading fees are $10 per poem (send fees via regular mail, please). Read about last year's honorees and the contest guidelines at www.frostfoundation.org.
Please enjoy these video readings of Howard Robertson's 2007 Honorable Mention poems, "The Pathos of the Golden Toad" and "Night on the Balcony of the Chalet".
Please also enjoy "Notes From the Field" by Linda Dove, an honorable mention in the 2004 Robert Frost Award:
Notes From the Field
by Linda Dove
I know things about birds—
I know that tiny hooks connect
their feathers, the gonydeal angle
runs along a seagull's lower bill,
bones have struts but otherwise
are hollow. I know that a flycatcher
sits high in the tree, follows the line
of a bug through air, finds
his former perch. I know that
hawks flap and vultures circle
and hummingbirds fly backwards.
I know that ovenbirds sit mid-tree
and sing, teacher-teacher-teacher.
I know that from Robert Frost
and also from my mother.
My mother counted birds.
She worked the bird-thirty hour,
that moment where birdsong
is the world's alarm.
I saw her charts, her columns,
her dots to mark how many.
I held the heavy glasses, cranked
the lenses back-and-forth
to make the view distorted.
I knew her book with the pictures
that taught me colors like lazuli,
cerulean and rufous.
I learned about bird-habits,
the hardest thing of all to know
not counting voices.
My mother knew the birds
by song. House sparrow.
Purple finch. Swainson's thrush.
Grosbeak. Oriole. By the water,
a green heron. In the high grass,
a meadowlark. Bobolinks.
She didn't need to see to know.
In our house, rewards
were early mornings, counting
birds. It was a time of adults
and animals. The day I saw
a giant wingspan disappear
into the forest's edge,
I knew we couldn't count
this pulse of air behind a wing.
If it was an owl, I didn't know.
Through my mother, I sense
what comes from this knowing—
a language of numbers and one
of words. And so there's the day
in college I walked my mother
by the lake, up through the maples,
into a sloping marsh, peat on our shoes.
We heard them first, before the rush
of black and yellow lifted past us.
Bobolinks, my mother said.
I thought they could have been
a parade of tin whistles. Perhaps
glass bangles slipped on a wrist
by a lover. Or laughter around
a Parisian street corner—of no matter.
My mother rotated towards them,
turned their song into number.
Last Call!
2008 RRofihe Trophy
Postmark Deadline: September 15
For an unpublished short story (up to 5,000 words). Winner receives trophy, $500 cash and publication in Open City. Judged by Rick Rofihe, assisted by Carolyn Wilsey.
Guidelines:
- Stories should be typed, double-spaced, on 8 1/2" x 11" paper with the author's name and contact information on the first page and name and story title on the upper right corner of the remaining pages
- Limit one submission per author
- Author must not have been previously published in Open City
- Mail submissions to RRofihe, 270 Lafayette Street, Suite 1412, New York, NY 10012
- Enclose a self-addressed stamped business envelope (SASE) to receive names of winner and honorable mentions
- All manuscripts are non-returnable and will be recycled
- Reading fee is $10. Check or money order payable to RRofihe
- See the complete guidelines at http://www.opencity.org/rrofihe.html
Rick Rofihe is the author of Father Must, a collection of short stories published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Grand Street, Open City, Swink, Unsaid, and on epiphanyzine.com. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Spy, and The East Hampton Star, and on mrbellersneighborhood.com. A recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award, he has taught writing at Columbia University and the Writer's Voice of the West Side Y. He currently teaches privately and at Gotham Writers' Workshop in New York. He is the editor of the new online literary journal, anderbo.com.
Closing Next Month
 The International Reuben Rose Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Voices: The Israel English Poetry Association/BI Arts
in association with the British Council; the Education and Foreign Ministries
Postmark Deadline: October 7
Voices is the bridge between English speaking poets and Anglo poets around the world. We are launching our 19th international Reuben Rose Poetry Contest and our 34th annual poetry anthology.
Reuben Rose Contest prizes: US$500; US$200; US$100. The Judge: Richard Berengarten (aka Burns). Founder of the Annual Cambridge Poetry Festival, he teaches at Cambridge University, where he is a Bye-Fellow at Downing College.
Entry Fee: NIS15; US$5; €4; £3 per poem payable by check to Voices Israel or in cash. Submit any number of poems, up to 40 lines each, in two copies—one without participant's details. Send to Voices Israel, P.O. Box 236, Kiriat Ata, 28101, Israel. Winners will be notified by November 30, 2008 and published in our newsletter and in Poets & Writers magazine. For further details please check our website: http://www.poetry-voices.8m.com
Our Package Deal: A maximum of four of your Reuben Rose contest submissions can also be forwarded simultaneously to Helen Bar-Lev (Chief Ed.) by email to be considered for publication in the Voices Israel Anthology 2009. Anthology price is NIS40/US$20 which includes packaging and posting. If you buy a copy together with your submissions the price is US$15.
Join our Voices Group and receive a monthly newsletter and poetry page to which you may submit for consideration. You may publicize your own credits and publications in the letter. Annual membership dues are NIS100/US$35 which includes a copy of the annual anthology. (Shipping and postal charges included.) Address for dues: Mel Millman (Treasurer),
15 Shachar Street, Bet Hakerem, Jerusalem, 96263, Israel.
Closing Next Month
CUTTHROAT: The 2008 Joy Harjo Poetry Award & the Rick DeMarinis Short Story Award
Postmark Deadline: October 10
First Prize in each genre: $1,250 and publication in CUTTHROAT
Second Prize in each genre: $250 and publication in CUTTHROAT
All finalists will be acknowledged in CUTTHROAT and considered for publication. Winners are announced in POETS & WRITERS and the AWP Chronicle.
To enter our 2008 Joy Harjo Poetry and Rick DeMarinis Short Story contests, send three unpublished poems (100-line limit each) or one unpublished story (5,000-word limit), a self-addressed stamped envelope (mandatory!), a cover sheet with name, address, email and telephone, and a $15 reading fee for each submission to CUTTHROAT Literary Award, Attn: [Poetry Contest or Short Story Contest], P.O. Box 2414, Durango, CO 81302.
No author name may appear on your manuscript. Enter as often as you wish. Please see the complete guidelines on our website. Send all inquiries to cutthroatmag@gmail.com or call 970-903-7914. This year's judges are Richard Jackson (Poetry) and Linda Hogan (Short Story). Past contributors to CUTTHROAT include Marvin Bell, Joy Harjo, Michael Waters, Rebecca Seiferle, Michael Blumenthal, Naomi Shihab Nye, Patricia Smith, Richard Jackson and Andrei Codrescu.
Our congratulations go to the 2007 winners:
1st Prize Joy Harjo Poetry Competition: Melissa Kwasny of Jefferson City, Montana for her poem, "The Under World"
2nd Prize Joy Harjo Poetry Competition: Tana Jean Welch of Tallahassee, Florida for her poem, "A Crate of Oranges"
and
1st Prize Rick DeMarinis Short Story Competition: Michael Schiavone of Gloucester, Massachusetts for his story, "Golden Years"
2nd Prize Rick DeMarinis Short Story Competition: Rusty Harris of Simi Valley, California for her story, "One-Man Band"
Now through October 10, we are also reading poetry and short stories for the next print edition of CUTTHROAT. Writers living outside the US may send electronic submissions. Send 3-5 unpublished poems or one unpublished short story (5,000 word limit) to the attention of the proper editor:
- Pamela Uschuk, Editor In Chief or
- William Pitt Root, Poetry Editor or
- Beth Alvarado, Fiction Editor
CUTTHROAT, A Journal of the Arts
P.O. Box 2414
Durango, CO 81302
Include a brief cover letter and a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for return of manuscript or for an editorial response. We recycle manuscripts. WE DO NOT READ SUBMISSIONS THAT DO NOT INCLUDE SASEs. Please allow 16-20 weeks for a response. Because we have no cultural, racial, gender or regional bias, we welcome all styles and subjects. Our only bias is excellence. For further information, please visit our website.
2008 Anderbo Poetry Prize
Postmark Deadline: November 1
For up to six unpublished poems. Winner receives $500 cash and publication on anderbo.com. Judged by Kim Waller.
Guidelines:
- Poems should be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper with the poet's name and contact information on the upper right corner of each poem
- Poet must not have been previously published on anderbo.com
- Mail submissions to 270 Lafayette Street, Suite 1412, New York, NY 10012
- Enclose a self-addressed stamped business envelope (SASE) to receive names of winner and honorable mentions
- All entries are non-returnable and will be recycled
- Reading fee is $10. Check or money order payable to RRofihe
- See the complete guidelines at http://www.anderbo.com/anderbo1/anderprize2008.html
Kim Waller's first published poems appeared in anthologies edited by Chad Walsh and John Ciardi. Her poetry has subsequently appeared in The Hudson Review, The Minnesota Review, New World Writing #10, Best Poems of 1975, The Penny Paper, Visiting Frost, and the Cider Mill Press, among others. Her privately-printed collection of poems is titled Winter Parsley. She is now a freelance magazine writer specializing in architecture and interior design. Her articles have appeared in such magazines as Coastal Living, House Beautiful, Connecticut, Real Simple, Travel & Leisure, The New York Times, Decorating, and Home. She is the author of two books on tea and three decorating books, and her personal essays have been in magazines and two anthologies: Thoughts of Home and The Quiet Center. She and her husband, a documentary filmmaker, live in New York City and have two sons.
 The Twenty-Second Annual Portland Pen Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: November 7
AWARDS: First Place $150; Second Place $50; Third Place $25
ENTRY FEE: $5 per poem (check or money order—no cash)
CONTEST RULES: Any form; any style; 40-line limit strictly enforced. No email or fax entries. One poem per page; two-page poems must be stapled together. Two copies of each typed or computer-printed poem should be single-spaced with no photos or decorations. Copy one must have your name, complete address, telephone number and/or email address in the upper right-hand corner. Copy two—no identification.
Poems must be in English, the original work of the author, unpublished in any form, and not a winner beyond Finalist or Honorable Mention in any other contest. The Contest is open to adult men and women, except members of the Portland Branch, National League of American Pen Women. No poems will be returned. All rights revert to the author. First, Second, and Third Place Winning Poems will be published in The Portland Pen, the newsletter of the NLAPW, Portland Branch. Honorable Mentions will be awarded by certificate as merited.
Please tell us where you discovered our contest. For a Winners List, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) with your entry. Send your entry to:
Portland Branch, NLAPW
Joan A. McLaren Henson
12356 SW King George Drive
King City, OR 97224
Questions? Please email mwjhenson@msn.com.
The National League of American Pen Women was founded in 1897—23 years before women's suffrage—in order to bring together women journalists, authors, and illustrators. It is a professional organization with members in Letters, Art, and Music.
Please enjoy "While He's Away" by Glenna Holloway of Naperville, Illinois, the winning entry in the 17th Portland Pen Poetry Contest.
While He's Away
by Glenna Holloway
My kiln houses the heat of magnified desert suns,
awaiting the final phase of what I've designed
to celebrate the delphiniums he planted —
those dolphin-shaped sucklings nursing on light,
turning light to pigment, demanding of me
a competent complement for their perfected blue.
Writing him, imagining him battle-geared
somewhere on a sandscape where nothing blooms blue,
I tell him about my vase—how it began, a fat gray coil
of earth, cold-slimy to my touch, reluctant to accept
my warmth or my will. I insisted a deep reservoir
to prolong blue, a fluted collar to flatter
the soft spurs that would brush its arched flanks.
Free of my hands, it made no promises, rearranged
its molecules slowly, shrank fossil-dry on a shelf.
Later, graduate of the first fire, country coarse
as big buck-toothed zinnias in baskets in my studio,
its apprentice brown rind avidly soaked up latent color
as I smoothed on cool manganese and copper unguents.
Today, in a final revelation, it vibrated like a nova,
range to white in a cosmic furnace. Maybe suspecting
its future, it ripened in the last lap of hereditary heat
on its way to azure—then settled content in its glaze,
replica of sky, sea and flower. My letter avoids similes
of molded clay and fire, metaphors of mortality and hell.
It's only about the product of a potter's faith,
and the beauty of this love-shaped tangible truth
filled with delphiniums. Waiting here on our table.
Attention Vermonters: Ralph Nading Hill, Jr. Literary Prize — No Fee
Postmark Deadline: November 15
150,000
Pennies
For Your
Thoughts...
That’s $1,500, and it's the cash award for the winner of this year’s
Ralph Nading Hill, Jr. Literary Prize contest. The contest, sponsored by Green Mountain Power Corporation and Vermont Life magazine, is open to any Vermont resident or student. There is no fee to enter. Entries may be essays, short stories, plays or poetry. The entry must be previously unpublished and less than 3,000 words. The focus of the work must be: "Vermont—Its People, The Place, Its History Or Its Values." Do not print your name on your work. Provide your name, address, and phone number on a separate sheet.
Entries may be sent to The Corporate Development Department of Green Mountain Power, 163 Acorn Lane, Colchester,
VT 05446; please call Corporate Development at 802-655-8410 for more information or visit our website.
All participants will be notified of the contest results in early April. Please enjoy here "Earl's Barn" by Leif Tillotson, winner of the most recent contest.
 The Morten H. Clausen Short Poetry Competition:
15 Winners...$500 1st Prize
Postmark Deadline: December 1
The Morten H. Clausen Short Poetry Competition, the latest in the writing contest series sponsored by Writing for Money, is looking for complete poems of up to 150 words, published or unpublished, any style, any format. Enter as many times as you wish. See www.writingformoney.com for complete details.
Morten Clausen, for whom our poetry competition is named, was a life-long farmer and the father of Writing for Money editor John Clausen. He came to poetry late in life, and much of it reflects the struggles, insights, and experiences of his 92 years, especially his relationship to nature and the land. Very few of his poems have been published, although one critic called one of his works, "a very nearly perfect poem". That poem, "Seasons", is presented here by permission of his family.
Seasons
by Morten Clausen
If I were the Earth
I would like the spring and summer
I would be the new the beginning
I would give birth and be a leader
The optimist and the first
I would know what is coming
If I were the Earth
I would like the summer and fall
I would develop and mature
I would be a producer and a giver
The ultimate and the best
I would know what is now
If I were the Earth
I would like the fall and winter
I would think of rest and retiring
I would withdraw and be a hibernator
The pessimist and the last
I would know what is past
 PEN Center USA Literary Awards
December 13, 2008 postmark deadline:
Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Research Nonfiction, Poetry, Children's/Young Adult Literature, and Translation
January 29, 2009 postmark deadline:
Literary Journalism, Drama, Teleplay, and Screenplay
PEN USA is a non-profit organization of professional writers who are dedicated to the freedom of expression and to building a literary community in the West. PEN USA is the third largest of 145 centers of International PEN and was originally founded in 1943.
Since 1982, PEN USA has sponsored a unique regional literary awards competition to recognize outstanding works published or produced by writers who reside in the western United States. Winners are selected in ten categories—Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Research Nonfiction, Poetry, Children's & Young Adult Literature, Translation, Literary Journalism, Drama, Teleplay, and Screenplay—celebrating the written word in all forms. Winners are chosen by panels of judges comprised of writers, editors, critics, and booksellers.
Who Is Eligible? Journalists, playwrights, and screen and television writers whose primary residence is in the United States west of the Mississippi River, including all of Minnesota and Louisiana. For works by two writers or more, the majority of the writers must reside west of the Mississippi River, or in Minnesota, or Louisiana. Works may be submitted by writers, their publishers, producers, agents, or publicists.
Literary Award winners are granted PEN USA membership and given a cash prize of $1,000 at the gala Literary Awards Festival in Los Angeles.
Submit four copies of each entry, a completed entry form (PDF), a $35 entry fee for each submission, and a stamped, self-addressed postcard for confirmation of receipt (optional). Please see our website for complete instructions.
For more information, call Adam Somers at 310-862-1555 or email awards@penusa.org. Mailing address: PEN Center USA Literary Awards, c/o Antioch University, 400 Corporate Pointe, Culver City, CA 90230.
 The W.B. Yeats Society of New York Poetry Competition — Alice Quinn, Judge
Postmark Deadline: February 1, 2009
First prize $250, second prize $100. Winners and honorable mentions receive 2-year memberships in the Yeats Society and are honored at an event in New York at Barnes & Noble Union Square (April 6, 2009). Competition is open to members and non-members of any age, from any locality. Entry fee $8 for first poem, $7 each additional.
Submit poems in English up to 60 lines, not previously published, on any subject. Each poem (judged separately) typed on an 8.5 x 11-inch sheet without author's name; attach 3x5 card with name, address, phone, email. Mail to Poetry Competition WW, WB Yeats Society of NY, National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, New York, NY 10003. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to receive the judge's report (example). List of winners is posted on YeatsSociety.org around March 31, along with information on the Yeats Summer School in Ireland, July 25-August 9, 2009.
Authors retain all rights, but grant us the non-exclusive right to publish winning entries. These are the complete guidelines; no entry form necessary. We reserve the right to hold late submissions to following year. For information on our other programs, or on membership, please visit YeatsSociety.org or write to us at the address above.
Please enjoy "Gaia's Song", first-prize winner in our 2008 contest (Marie Ponsot, judge):
Gaia's Song
by Steve Lautermilch
When I was young
water taught me how to speak.
Once I spoke, reed and stone and canyon wall
taught me to pause and listen and hear.
But light and shade and hazel leaves
broke that dream and brought me to my feet.
In a round of standing stones on holy ground I watched
the sun dawn and magnify in seed.
Grasses and flowers heavy with dew, dancing
long-haired corn rose and burned like children loose in a field.
Bearded rain, darkening earth, mountains like bears
asleep with snow, each of these took turns to lay me down to sleep
bedding me away like the dragonfly in amber
the needled forest floor and rainbowed desert plain, the seep
of sand and rising mist, slip of fog clasping my hands
until my closed palms opened and were free.
Walking fish and swimming, diving birds took me
to the shore where every breath I breathed
joined everything that breathes.
Now a face looks back in every shape I see.
I hear a voice
on the lips of bud and berry, salmon and scree.
In the storm that whispers and in tongues of fire
a name is calling on every wave and tide. Who are you, easy
and hard in your ways, who come to talk but like a breeze
turn and die away.
Many you are named, and savage.
And sweet.
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Haiku sequence from The Unworn Necklace
by Roberta Beary
talking divorce
he pours his coffee
then mine
...summer's end
unable to go
unable to stay
family picnic
the new wife's rump
bigger than mine
bills paid
the tiger lily
past its prime
from here
to there
mother's silence
third date—
the slow drift of the rowboat
in deep water
Copyright 2008 by Roberta Beary
The Unworn Necklace (Snapshot Press, 2007) was one of two finalists for the Poetry Society of America's prestigious William Carlos Williams Award in 2007.
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Hattie's Christmas Ballad
by Marita Brake
Smoke was risin' to the stars
from a crude, log cabin hearth.
Snow lay shining all around
foxfire in the dark.
Mary and her baby lay
on a downy, feather bed.
Homespun against the hay held sway
within the humble stead.
Pieced into the hearts of man
a mother with a loving hand
wrapped her babe against the winter's chill,
swaddled in the fair design
of Mary's patchwork quilt.
The sky lay down a mantle
of snowy winter white
laced into the mountains
were windows filled with candlelight.
Gentle folk would marvel
at a scene so finely made,
that the Lord of all creation
slept inside the counterpane.
A dulcimer began to sing
as mountain folk came caroling
in threadbare clothes and shoeless feet
they took a humble seat.
With laurel wreath and piney bough
they traveled far from cove and town
following a star they found
a baby soft and sweet.
So listen to me children, now.
The tale I tell is known right well
from Cutter's Gap to London Town
beyond the city gate.
A wee born babe, a simple waif
with no fret nor worry,
came to give us hope and faith
and we still take the journey.
Copyright 2008 by Marita Brake
This poem won first prize in the 2008 ChristyFest Poetry Contest.
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strike up the band
by Marcia Popp
when my grandfather was fourteen he collected five dollars from everybody in his small town who could afford it sent away for twelve cornets one instruction book and twelve folders of march music from a place in chicago when they arrived in a big wooden crate he sat down taught himself to play then taught the boys and men in his town until they made a band that marched in vandalia and all around the state it wasn't easy because his father got religion at about the same time he said music was the work of the devil and threw my grandfather's cornet down the well my grandfather climbed down the well dried out the horn it played fine his father buried it in the garden my grandfather dug it up again it still played finally his father said my grandfather could go just go to hell if he was that determined later when religion didn't mean that much to him anymore my great-grandfather said that is my boy up there leading the band.
Copyright 2008 by Marcia Popp
This poem was selected by Mark Strand for inclusion in the Best New Poets anthology, published annually by the literary journal Meridian at the University of Virginia.
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Eating Light
by F.J. Bergmann
It all started when I was sent to bed
without supper. I was playing with my flashlight
under the covers and tried shining it in my mouth.
Light flooded my throat like golden syrup.
Soon I was tasting light everywhere,
the icy bitterness of fluorescents, a burst
of intensely spiced flavors from an arc welder,
the dripping red meat of sunsets.
Natural light was most easily digestible,
but at night I was limited to the sparse glow
of fireflies and phosphorescent rotting logs,
and inevitably succumbed to the artificial flavors
of a strip mall's jittering neon rainbow.
Sodium lamps always had a nasty, putrid aftertaste,
like rotting oranges, which is why I so frequently
vomited in nighttime parking garages,
but mercury-vapor emissions foamed on my tongue,
aromatic, green. Have you ever had key lime mousse,
or lemon-mint custard? It's nothing like that at all.
Each Hallowe'en I followed trick-or-treaters
from door to door, gorging myself
on jack-o'-lanterns' sweet candlelight.
Autumn bonfires burnt my lips
with the pungent heat of five-alarm chili,
smoky with the ghost of molé sauce. I hid
strings of holiday lights in my underwear drawer,
in case of a sudden craving.
On a high school field trip to a nuclear facility,
I was finally overcome with an insatiable hunger
for the indigo twilight of a reactor pool, glowing
with the underwater gradient of Cherenkov radiation,
a blue light luscious as chocolate, hypnotic as a liqueur,
decadent as dissolved gemstones.
I am no terrorist—merely an addict.
Copyright 2008 by F.J. Bergmann
This poem won the Science Fiction Poetry Association's Rhysling Award for the Short Poem in 2008.
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A Promise of Music
by Mike Gullickson
The lady in 101 bed B
is going to the symphony,
no matter that it is a memory
that drives her,
no matter that
the baton was raised
fifty years ago.
Her sparrow bones show through
the thin gown,
she is up now,
needs to find the blue dress,
the strand of pearls,
the white shoes.
After the concert
she will drink mimosas,
savor the melodies,
imagine the composer
weaving a web of sound
so beautiful it has survived
two hundred years.
So beautiful that though
half a century has passed,
it still rings in her ears.
We help her back to bed,
wondering what music we will hear,
when the curtain falls
on our lives.
Copyright 2008 by Mike Gullickson
This poem won the 2008 Senior Poets Laureate Competition from Amy Kitchener's Angels Without Wings Foundation.
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2009 Poet's Market — Now On Sale
The 2009 edition of Poet's
Market is on sale for $18.47 at Amazon. Published each August by Writer's Digest, this is the best annual guide to 1,600 journals, magazines, book publishers, chapbook publishers, websites, grants, conferences, workshops and contests. Helps you find publishers who are looking for your kind of work. Also updated are Novel & Short
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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
ProLiteracy Worldwide 2008 Annual Conference: October 1-4, Little Rock, Arkansas
Be Bold... In celebration of International Literacy Day (September 8), ProLiteracy is offering a special conference registration rate of $320 if you register between Labor Day and International Literacy Day. Be bold! Register now at www.proliteracy.org
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Be Heard... Take part in the ProLiteracy Town Hall meeting and hear about ProLiteracy's work over the past year. Be a part of the candid discussion with ProLiteracy President and CEO David Harvey.
Did you know that AMTRAK provides service to Little Rock and is only 9 blocks from The Peabody? Save money on travel costs—take a train: www.amtrak.com
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For the most current conference information, visit www.proliteracy.org/conference/
ProLiteracy supports adults and young people in the US and internationally who are learning to read, write, and do basic math by training instructors, publishing instructional materials, and advocating for resources and public policies that support them.
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Send this page to a friend and we'll donate 15 cents to ProLiteracy for each friend you refer.
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2005 WERGLE FLOMP HUMOR POETRY CONTEST—HONORABLE MENTION
LEEDABOLE AND THE FROGGY-HOPPLE
by Peter Taylor
A suddy croakamole: the sinewlade leggymires pushy still
Into the swoonupping girlyfling, her eyebolds transfissured
By the greeny webbles, her spiritule almire at his will,
She holdips his slimeblade bodyling againthro hers.
How can those terrifoldy stiff fingerloppers grippold
And holdify her potentimal princeling now slippy-slidingo from her grippylasp?
And how can bodyling, trying oh so hard not to over-trippold,
But feel the heartypumps
…thumpy thumpy,
…thumpy thumpy,
…near to burstivating where they lie?
A smacker-kisseroogy, maybold a smacker-kisseroogy will break
The magicome spell, retrove the prizal and princeling now appearifolding
Agamem-ning-nong deaddy-diddylo.
Being so up-caughtafied with this,
So desperangle for successoscopy and not findy a fake
Did she abandonfile cautionment to the windy-puffs and fearfolding
Her last chancit was here, up-puckermole
Before the loosencaving fingerloppers had to let him dropple?
Copyright 2005 Peter Taylor
Sent as a joke to Poetry.com, this poem won an honorable mention in the Wergle Flomp humor poetry contest sponsored by Winning Writers. See the judge's comments on winning poems from this contest.
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COMING IN OUR SEPTEMBER 15 NEWSLETTER
Winners Announced for the 16th Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest
Best Free Poetry Contests for September 16-October 31
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