Poetry Contest

Byron Herbert Reece Poetry Contest

Once again, the Byron Herbert Reece Society will hold a poetry contest in order to support the mission of the Reece Society. Similar to last year, poets in NC, KY, GA, TN, VA, and WV are encouraged to submit up to three poems for the fee of $15. Deadline for entry is Friday, May 4, 2012. There is no theme for contest. Val Nieman, author of Blood Clay, is the final judge. The winner of the contest will receive $300, and the winning poem will be published on the new and improved Byron Herbert Reece Society website. For more information and a link to the entry form, visit the website.

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MERIDIAN EDITORS' PRIZE CONTEST DEADLINE APPROACHING

 

A final reminder that MERIDIAN is now accepting online entries for its twelfth annual Editors’ Prize Contests in fiction and poetry until December 30. Genre winners receive a $1,000 prize and publication; all entries receive a one-year electronic subscription. Entry fee: $8.00.  Deadline: midnight (EST), Dec. 30, 2011.

 

Please note a few significant changes in our 2012 contest:

1) Our entry fee is now only $8 

2) Entrants receive an electronic version of the journal (.pdf or ePub) rather than a print subscription

3) We are only allowing two submissions per genre per entrant

 

We believe this new contest model is better for you, and better for us. Rather than having you pay substantial entry fees to cover the cost of a print subscription (and mailing fees), we’re trying a lower $8 entry fee and will e-mail you electronic versions of the January and May 2012 issues. Fewer trees, less cost … and we’ll still have print-on-demand versions ofMeridian available at an inexpensive rate for those readers who want something tangible.

 

We expect to announce winners toward the end of March 2012.

 

All submissions will be considered for publication in Meridian.

 

Fiction writers may submit one story of 10,000 words or fewer. Poets may submit up to 4 poems totaling 10 pages or fewer.

 

For full eligibility rules and submission guidelines see http://readmeridian.org/?page_id=47

 

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WRITING FREE VERSE; SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Reprint

This post is a reprint from June 14, 2008. Nancy Simpson writes about free verse. I thought some of our new poets would find this helpful. You might want to print this for referral later.



WRITING FREE VERSE POETRY: Some Questions and Answers

Nancy Simpson, Instructor

When talking with free verse poets, I tread lightly to see if we are on the same page. Many free verse poets believe there is no form in free verse poetry and that there are no rules. I do not agree with that. I believe writers of free verse must follow the essential rules of poetry. Free verse poets have a great amount of freedom, but it is a misconception to think we can write with abandon of rules.

Yes, we must break with traditional verse. We must shun rhyme, but after that, in my opinion, free verse poets must decide carefully which guidelines of poetry they will practice.

Some of the most asked questions from my students.

1) QUESTION: If there are free verse rules, what is number one?

ANSWER: Economy of Words is the first rule of poetry. The second is Use of Diction, choice of words, choosing the best word in regard to correctness. Poets of old followed these essential rules. Free verse poets must follow these rules.

2) QUESTION: Do I have to write in sentences?

ANSWER: Yes. According to the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetics, poetry is written in sentences and lines. Poets of old followed this guideline. Free verse poets must do so. Why? Syntax of Sentence. A sentence has syntax, and it is syntax that gives your words meaning. No meaning, no understanding for your reader.

3) QUESTION: Do I have to punctuate?

ANSWER: No. This is your choice. Once in a while, in the literary magazines, I read poems that have no punctuation. However, it is as if the poem were punctuated and then the poet lifted out the punctuation marks. There is no rule, but caution would say, help the reader all you can. If there were a rule regarding punctuation, it would be: Do not lose your reader.

4) QUESTION: What is the rule for line breaks?

ANSWER: There is no rule. Line breaks are completely your responsibility and your choice. Some free verse poets work in unrhymed meter, some count syllables, some spoon feed the reader one thought on one line and the next bite on the next line. There are no rules, but there are a few guidelines.

A.) End the line with a strong word, not a weak word such as a, and, or the.

B.) Be aware of your one word lines. That one word you want to use will draw attention to itself. It had better be great, for it will provoke questions, and it will slow your reader.

C.) If your line is too wide for a narrow page, it will wrap, and you will lose what ever it was you were trying to accomplish. Editors shun the wide line that wants to wrap.

D.) If there were one rule to line breaks, it would be, work your lines.

5) QUESTION: What if I have a sentence that ends in the middle of the next line? What is the rule?

ANSWER: There is no rule against ending a sentence in the middle of a line. What you have is a caesura, a pause, and you have a golden opportunity. Caesura in a line can be a dreadful mistake, or it can be one of the most brilliant, most sophisticated moves in your free verse poetry. The guideline would be, make that line with the caesura stand alone as a thought. It is comparable to giving your reader a spoonful of something delicious that was not on the menu. You have the first sentence and the second sentence, and in-between you have a line with a period somewhere in it. Words on each side of the period should add up to something in itself. Guard against caesura lines that make no sense.

Post any questions or comments to http://www.netwestwriters.blogspot.com/
Nancy Simpson is the author of two collections of poetry.
She is Resident Writer at John C. Campbell Folk School.

Updated information on Nancy Simpson, Dec. 16, 2011. Nancy is the author of three books of poetry. Her most recent is Living Above the Frost Line, New and Selected Poems, published by Carolina Wren Press.
She is no longer Resident Writer at John C. Campbell Folk School, but she teaches at Young Harris College with the ICL program.

Labels: Caesura, Instructor, John C. Campbell Folk School, line breaks, Nancy Simpson, punctuation in free verse, Rules of Free Verse Poetry

3 comments:

Lonnie Busch said...

Wow, Nancy, thank you so much for this post. I have learned more about writing poetry in the few minutes it took me to read your comments than anything I've ever known before! Very fascinating! I will read poetry with a new eye.



Sunday, June 15, 2008 10:49:00 PM EDT

Glenda (Writerlady) said...

Nancy, Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge of poetry with all of us.

Anyone who writes poetry will benefit from this post.

Glenda



Monday, June 16, 2008 8:43:00 AM EDT

Anonymous said...

You covered a vast spectrum and distilled it to clear perfection. I am going to make a copy of this and refer to it often. Thank you, Nancy!

Pat Workman



Friday, July 18, 2008 8:06:00 PM EDT

Poetry Contest Announcement

Attention GA and NC poets -- The Byron Herbert Reece Society is holding its second poetry contest. See the website for details. The Society is proud to have Val Nieman as the final judge! Send your best!

Writing as Art, Editing & Discovery

Quotations Coffee Café will team up with Wayne Drumheller, local writer, photographer and editor, to offer a workshop called Writing as Art, Editing & Discovery. Place: Quotations Coffee Cafe in Brevard, NC, on Tuesday, December 13, from 2:30-4:00PM (conference room).

Free coffee or tea for those that attend. Bring your laptop or best ideas for workshop.

During the workshops, Wayne will be demonstrating how he designed, edited and produced his two soft cover books: Portraits in Courage and Commitment and Appalachian Sunrise: A Photographer's Notebook.

Also, Wayne is holding a contest to collect unpublished works for his soon to be produced All Time Best Squirrel Tales from Transylvania County. Interested writers and illustrators need to send an email to mystory@comporium.net for more details and awards offered.

Echoes Reviewed in WNC Woman

Thank you, Mary Ickes, for this review of Echoes in WNC Woman!

Happy Holidays to all!

COFFEE WITH THE POETS IN HAYESVILLE

Coffee with the Poets is held at Cafe Touche in Hayesville, NC on the second Wednesday of each month. The entire program is Open Mike on December 14. Mary Mike Keller will be hosting.
 Bring a couple of poems or a short piece of prose. Depending on time, you might read more than once.

Be there by 10:30 a.m. to get a good seat. If you have one, bring a folding chair, just in case. The atmosphere is casual and friendly. Readers are guaranteed a welcoming audience. Liz's coffee is the best in town and the muffins are soooo good.

We will not have Coffee with the Poets in Hayesville in January. We will resume in February featuring Bob Grove.

This is a NCWN West writing event.

How One Woman Became a Best Selling Author

The Wall Street Journal article, How I Became A Best-Selling Writer , tells the story of one woman's rise to the top by self-publishing her novel as an e-book. She sold the book online for 99 cents.
Now she hopes the book will be picked up by a publisher and sold in print. Librarians want the book, but she has no book in print.
I found this an interesting comment on today's world of publishing. You might like it.
Come back here and tell us what you think, Okay?

POET AND PUBLISHER FEATURED AT WRITERS’ NIGHT DEC. 9

Writers’ Night Out brings you Robert S. King reading his poetry at Mountain Perk Coffee House in Hiawassee. The free event takes place on Friday, December 9, beginning at 7 p.m. and also includes an open microphone for those who’d like to read their own poetry or prose.

King lives near McCaysville, Georgia. His poems have appeared in hundreds of magazines, including California Quarterly, Chariton Review, Hollins Critic, Kenyon Review, Lullwater Review, Main Street Rag, Midwest Quarterly, Negative Capability, Southern Poetry Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Visions International, and Writers' Forum. He has published three poetry chapbooks (When Stars Fall Down as Snow, Garland Press 1976; Dream of the Electric Eel, Wolfsong Publications 1982; and The Traveller’s Tale, Whistle Press 1998). His full-length collections are The Hunted River and The Gravedigger’s Roots, both from Shared Roads Press, 2009. He is director of FutureCycle Press, www.futurecycle.org.

Writers’ Night Out takes place on the second Friday of each month and is open to the public. The event draws approximately 30 people from four counties. Mountain Perk Coffee House is located at 1390 Highway 76 East in Chatuge Harbor Plaza across from Towns County High School. Food, gourmet coffees and other refreshments are available for purchase. Each open microphone reader can sign up at the door and has two-and-a-half minutes to read.

For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com, or call Mountain Perk at (706) 896-0504.

Have you visited Bill Everett's site?

Thanksgiving seems to get lost in the greed we see on Black Friday. Our most precious days are ruined by the commercialism our country seems to need.


William Everett is a writer and poet and a member of Netwest. I recommend his post on Thanksgiving.
Click here.

“When words are all that you have” | Mountain Xpress | Asheville, NC

This article in the  Mountain Xpress, Asheville, NC does a great job of reporting on Silas House's talk at the Fall Conference last weekend. Please click on the link below and read more.


“When words are all that you have” Mountain Xpress Asheville, NC

Writers' Conference - Chock Full of Writers in Asheville

Although I didn’t attend even one workshop at this conference, I loved being there with all the writers, poets, publishers, editors and agents. Our  Program Coordinator, Rosemary Royston, had other duties including participating in a panel. My goal was to have our Netwest table to showcase Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, to sell books and to proclaim “We are here! Writers in the mountains have a voice.”

We arrived early and grabbed a great table near the entrance to the Exhibitor Area. Directly in front of us were JC Walkup and Penny Morse with a table for Fresh, their beautiful literary magazine. JC is distributing Echoes in the Waynesville, Asheville and Canton areas. She will be glad to sell a copy or two as she says storing them is a nuisance.

Joan Howard, Netwest poet from Hiawassee, GA and writer, quilter and knitter, Barb Haynes who lives in Murphy and is a Netwest member also, rode with me to Asheville. Great travel companions and good caretakers. Little did they know I’d become ill on Saturday afternoon. I missed all the fun on Saturday evening, the open mike readings and the happy hour gathering as I slept in my room.
I can never thank Joan enough for taking the early hours she logged in at the Netwest table. Bright and early Saturday and Sunday, she welcomed writers, handed out brochures and sold books. Our Netwest members came by to pick up their Netwest stickers to attach to their name tags.
Betty Reed manned the table on Friday evening while I had dinner. Barb also filled in when needed. Others who represented Netwest at the table were Mary Ricketson, Susan Anderson, Pamela Warr, Linda Smith, and Rosemary Royston, Program Coordinator. Many thanks to them from me and Netwest members for being there to help when needed. I feel sure all these writers enjoyed the conference because each time I saw them they had big smiles on their faces.

Networking with other writers is an important part of a writing conference. One lady said to me, “Do you think it would be Okay to ask Rob Neufeld to review my book?”
She saw the Asheville Citizen-Times book columnist across the hall. I told her to go for it.
Novelists and non-fiction writers came to find agents and publishers. Poets hoped to find the best place to submit a poetry book. And everyone wanted to chat about writing with other writers.


But I imagine most were looking to learn something from the accomplished faculty that would stay with them and be the spark to push their writing up a notch.
Because I was tied pretty closely to the Netwest Table when I was at the conference, I was delighted so many folks I know dropped by. One of our first visitors was Scott Owens, poet, editor, teacher, and very nice guy. I especially enjoyed meeting Netwest members who have recently joined or even some who have been members for a long time, but I’ve not encountered before. Betty Reed and Pamela Warr are two of those members I had not met, but learned more about them and their writing. Pamela Warr designed our most recent brochure and the new Netwest logo.

Bill Ramsey was promoting the phenomenal literary event, the Blue Ridge Bookfest at Blue Ridge Community College in Henderson County NC. Just a short time ago the first bookfest was a toddler, and now it is running and jumping. Bill says the college has come on board with the volunteers and can guarantee continuity of this well-attended showcase for authors. Netwest was a supporter of the first bookfest, and we have been there to help in any way we can each year. NCWN is a sponsor, too.

Scott Douglas’s Main Street Rag exhibit seemed to always have writers gathered there. I appreciated Scott coming over to chat. He has been quite successful with his small press and publishes some of the best authors in North Carolina. He told me to check out his site to see the books by other presses that he sells. Wouldn’t it be great if Echoes were listed there?

Kevin Watson from Press 53 and Keith Flynn with the Asheville Poetry Review seemed to be popular in the exhibitor’s center. People were talking about Keith’s interesting poetry presentation. His band also played Saturday night for the banquet. I didn’t hear them from my room on the third floor, but I’m sure they were entertaining.

Our own Netwest founder, Nancy Simpson, held a poetry workshop. I heard many compliments on that session. I'm sure those poets came out of that room wanting Nancy's book, Living Above the Frost Line, which has received awards and nominations for awards this past year.
The keynote speaker, Silas House, blew us all away with his talk. But I’ll write more about that in another post.

Ed Southern held a townhall meeting and updated us on the Network. As Ed said, NCWN is not the staff. NCWN is the members. To truly feel a part of this large writers’ network in our state, I think you should attend at least one Fall Conference. I always leave feeling motivated, energized and enthusiastic about my own writing.

I look forward to the next one -- Fall 2013.

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Who was there? Coffee with the Poets filled the room

Wednesday was Coffee with the Poets day in Hayesville, NC at Cafe Touche.

Mary Mike Keller, one of the Writers Circle faculty, along with a long time friend, Glenda Barrett, each read their original work for a packed house.

This event is sponsored by Netwest and has been running since 2007. Over the years we enjoyed local poets and writers as well as guests who traveled many miles to read here.

I am excited that two of my students, Nadine Justice and Barb Gabriel read at open mic and their work was evidently appreciated by the warm applause each received.

We gave a door prize yesterday - a copy of The Best of Poetry Hickory, an anthology of poets who read in 2011 at Poetry Hickory held at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in Hickory, NC. This event is led by Scott Owens, poet and NCWN rep for that area.

The winner of the book was none other than Nancy Simpson, mentor to many of us and teacher of poetry.


Robert S. King, FutureCycle Press, and Dot James, journalist, writer and poet



Mary Mike Keller reading her poetry and a spooky essay

Glenda Barrett, poetry book, When the Sap Rises, Finishing Line press



Nancy Simpson visits with Carolyn Johnson and Joan Howardl



NC Writers Network Fall Conference - COMING SOON TO ASHEVILLE. Register Now.

"Spread the word, pack your bags, books and poems and come join us." 

POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP

Poetry Writing Here and Now with

Instructor: Nancy Simpson 

(Description)

Poets of today have many choices and much freedom, but it is a misconception to think that as practicing poets we can write with a total abandon of rules. Yes, Free Verse breaks with traditional forms and rhyme is shunned. This workshop will cover and promote a list of specific guidelines that – although not rules – can greatly advance your poetry and make it more publishable. Where to break the line, and how to make your poems sing with sound, will be discussed. We will also talk about how to connect with the reader on a sensory level, on an emotional level, and on an intellectual level. We’ll consider specific free verse forms, especially the lyric poem, and we’ll write one in this workshop.

Nancy Simpson is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student, and most recently, Living Above the Frost Line: New and Selected Poems, published in 2010 by Carolina Wren Press. She is also the editor of the recently published anthology Echoes Across the Blue Ridge. Her poems have appeared in the Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, and other literary magazines, as well as in several anthologies. She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and is a recipient of an NC Arts Council fellowship. She is one of the co-founders of North Carolina Writers’ Network – West, the Network chapter for writers in the westernmost counties of the state. 

"A number of our Netwest writers have registered or are planning to register. Please leave a comment if you are planning to attend the conference. We hope to see you there, talk, catch up."

Miami Singer & Hayesville Writer Perfom November 11

A special treat is in store at Writers’ Night Out in Hiawassee this month when classically trained singer Felicia Kurtz and published writer Glenda Beall share their talents with the audience. It’s all at Mountain Perk Coffee House on Friday, November 11. The free event begins at 7 p.m. and also includes an open microphone for those who’d like to read their own poetry or prose.

Kurtz studied voice at the University of Michigan School of Music. Her singing experience ranges from opera to musical theater, including both cabaret and jazz venues. She has performed leading roles in over twenty opera and musical productions in the United States and abroad. Kurtz teaches voice at the New World School of the Arts in Miami and is also a facilitator at the University of Miami Frost School of Music Young Musician’s Camp.

Beall’s writing has appeared in numerous literary magazines, anthologies, online magazines and newspapers. Her poetry book, Now Might As Well Be Then, was published in 2009. A family history, Profiles and Pedigrees: Thomas Charles Council and His Descendants, was published in 1998. Beall runs Writers Circle, a program of writing classes held at her studio in Hayesville, NC. Besides teaching herself, she invites guest teachers for classes in poetry, family history writing, publishing, fiction and non-fiction. She also teaches at John C. Campbell Folk School.

Writers’ Night Out takes place on the second Friday of each month and is open to the public. The event draws approximately 30 people from four counties. Mountain Perk Coffee House is located at 1390 Highway 76 East in Chatuge Harbor Plaza across from Towns County High School. Food, gourmet coffees and other refreshments are available for purchase. Each open microphone reader can sign up at the door and has two minutes to read.

For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com, or call Mountain Perk at (706) 896-0504.

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