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Make yourself at home. Put your feet up. Grab your favorite beverage and prepare to enjoy the reads.
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Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts

Monday

In regard to Indiana's current cold snap


Photo by Vic Mastrogiovanni
I must admit, it's getting old
This indoor life that's caused by cold.

The dogs are crazed, my husband bored,
I'm on my knees to beg the Lord:
"Please, oh please let them go outside."
My nerves are jangled, I want to hide.

It's peace I need, I need me some!
What shall I do...where'd I hide the rum?
What is the matter, what can it be?
What's stressing my delicate sanity?

The walls are slowly coming in,
The ceiling's nearly at my chin.
The floor is closer it seems to me
The room grows smaller or it seems to be.

My husband shares a valid thought
And in the phone book finds what's sought.
A quick phone call, oh hurry please
And soon the flashing lights we see.

Two men in sparkling coats so white
Haul me into the frigid night.
They are so kind, give me a shot
And peace descends, WOW, quite a lot.

At last I'm calm and now can breathe.
They cloak me in a shirt with sleeves
That cross in back. Not stylish: sad.
At least the fit isn't quite so bad.

My husband happily calls out to me,
"Honey, the Farm is where you'll be.
I know you'll beat this Winter thing,
I'll come and get you, come this Spring."

~~~~
From the talented Indiana Guest Writer, SA Springer

(inspired by Donna and a little Dr. Seuss).

Wednesday

WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES WITH ELLEN BASS


Near Big Sur on Coastline of California
photo by Elizabeth Munroz


9TH ANNUAL WRITING AND KNOWING POETRY WORKSHOP
with Ellen Bass, Dorianne Laux, and Joseph Millar
August 4 - 9, 2013
Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA

There is a world inside each of us that we know better than anything else, and a world outside of us that calls for our attention. Our subject matter is always right with us. The trick is to find out what we know, challenge what we know, own what we know, and then give it away in language. Mainly this will be a writing retreat—time to explore and create in a supportive community. Though we’ll focus on poetry, prose writers who want to enrich their language will find it a fertile environment. For more information, click here.


WRITING FOR OUR LIVES
September 28 - October 5, 2013
La Serrania, Mallorca, Spain
In this small, intimate workshop, you have the opportunity to create writing that is more vivid, more true, more complex and powerful than you've been able to do before. This will be my seventh year teaching at La Serrania and it's always a deep pleasure to return. La Serrania is remote, gorgeous, and inspiring. If you'd like a chance to sink deeply into your writing, enjoy delicious food, go to sleep in a simple, yet elegant room, wake to sheep bells, this is the place. For more information,click here. For information about La Serrania, visit www.laserrania.com. To register, contact La Serrania. If you have questions, you can email me.

Monday

WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES WITH ELLEN BASS

WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES WITH ELLEN BASS


TRUTH AND BEAUTY
May 28 - June 2, 2013

Taught by Dorianne Laux, Marie Howe, and Ellen Bass
Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Taos, NM

Marie Howe, Dorianne Laux, and Ellen Bass are poets who work to tell the truth in ways that show us the beauty of life, even in the midst of heartbreak and loss. If you want to encounter more truth in your poems, to express it in the most beautiful way possible, to craft poems that reflect the inextricable marriage of truth and beauty, love and death, the luminous and the ordinary, please join us for this special workshop. For more information about this workshop, visit the page here. To register, email Jen Petras at jpeachtree@yahoo.com.
Big Sur, California Highway 1 facing south near Bixby Bridge
photo by Elizabeth Munroz
9TH ANNUAL WRITING AND KNOWING POETRY WORKSHOP
with Ellen Bass, Dorianne Laux, and Joseph Millar
August 4 - 9, 2013
Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA

There is a world inside each of us that we know better than anything else, and a world outside of us that calls for our attention. Our subject matter is always right with us. The trick is to find out what we know, challenge what we know, own what we know, and then give it away in language. Mainly this will be a writing retreat—time to explore and create in a supportive community. Though we’ll focus on poetry, prose writers who want to enrich their language will find it a fertile environment. For more information, click here.


WRITING FOR OUR LIVES
September 28 - October 5, 2013
La Serrania, Mallorca, Spain
In this small, intimate workshop, you have the opportunity to create writing that is more vivid, more true, more complex and powerful than you've been able to do before. This will be my seventh year teaching at La Serrania and it's always a deep pleasure to return. La Serrania is remote, gorgeous, and inspiring. If you'd like a chance to sink deeply into your writing, enjoy delicious food, go to sleep in a simple, yet elegant room, wake to sheep bells, this is the place. For more information,click here. For information about La Serrania, visit www.laserrania.com. To register, contact La Serrania. If you have questions, you can email me.

Saturday

Butterflies Over the Golden Mustard Fields


For ten years
we had a beautiful green garden.
For twenty years
the sun always shone on our thatched roofs.
My mother came out and called me home.
I came to the front yard
near the kitchen
to wash my feet
and warm my hands over the rosy hearth,
waiting for our evening meal
as the curtain of night
fell slowly on our village.

I will never grow up
no matter how long I live.
Just yesterday, I saw a band
of golden butterflies fluttering above our garden.
The mustard greens were bursting with bright yellow flowers.

Mother and sister, you are always with me.
The gentle afternoon breeze is your breathing.
I am not dreaming of some distant future.
I just touch the wind and hear your sweet song.
It seems like only yesterday that you told me,
"If one day, you find everything destroyed,
then look for me in the depths of your heart."

I am back. Someone is singing.
My hand touches the old gate,
and I ask, "What can I do to help?"
The wind replies,
"Smile. Life is a miracle.
Be a flower.
Happiness is not built of bricks and stones."

I understand. We don't want to cause each other pain.
I search for you day and night.
The trees grope for one another in the stormy night.
The lightning flash reassures them
they are close to one another.

My brother, be a flower standing along the wall.
Be a part of this wondrous being.
I am with you. Please stay.
Our homeland is always within us.
Just as when we were children,
we can still sing together.

This morning, I wake up and discover
that I've been using the sutras as my pillow.
I hear the excited buzzing of the diligent bees
preparing to rebuild the universe.
Dear ones, the work of rebuilding
may take thousands of lifetimes,
but it has also already been completed
just that long ago.
The wheel is turning,
carrying us along.
Hold my hand, brother, and you will see clearly
that we have been together
for thousands of lifetimes.

My mother's hair is fresh and long.
It touches her heels.
The dress my sister hangs out to dry
is still sailing in the wind
over our green yard.

It was an autumn morning
with a light breeze.
I am really standing in our backyard--
the guava trees, the fragrance of ripe mangoes,
the red maple leaves scurrying about
like little children at our feet.

A song drifts from across the river.
Bales of silky, golden hay
traverse the bamboo bridge.
Such fragrance!

As the moon rises above
the bamboo thicket,
we play together
near the front gate.
I am not dreaming.
This is a real day, a beautiful one.
Do we want to return to the past
and play hide-and-seek?
We are here today,
and we will be here tomorrow.
This is true.
Come, you are thirsty.
We can walk together
to the spring of fresh water.

Someone says that God has consented
for mankind to stand up and help Him.
We have walked hand in hand
since time immemorial.
If you have suffered, it is only
because you have forgotten
you are a leaf, a flower.

The chrysanthemum is smiling at you.
Don't dip your hands into cement and sand.
The stars never build prisons for themselves.

Let us sing with the flower and the morning birds.
Let us be fully present.
I know you are here because I can look into your eyes.
Your hands are as beautiful as chrysanthemums.
Do not let them be transformed
into gears, hooks, and ropes.

Why speak of the need to love one another?
Just be yourself.
You don't need to become anything else.

Let me add one testimony of my own.
Please listen as if I were
a bubbling spring.

And bring mother. I want to see her.
I shall sing for you, my dear sister,
and your hair will grow as long as mother's.

By Thich Nhat Hanh

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First photo taken by my sister, Suzan Deane-Simpson
Second photo taken my myself, Elizabeth Munroz

Tuesday

Free Yale Education

Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. You can take these free classes online from the comfort of your home. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn.
When you click on the link, a random class is featured.  If you look at the column on the left you will see a list of subjects in which the free classes are available. 

For example: When I click on English there are four classes being offered. At the moment, I am most interested in Modern Poetry taught by Professor Langdon Hammer. So when I click on the class title, the class description page is revealed. This also includes a bio of Professor Hammer. At the bottom of the description paragraph, it says: view class sessions
Be sure to check the column on the left of this page, too. There is a way to download the complete class in Zip file if you do not want to do it one by one.
I learned about this from a very talented young writer, Nath Jones. Thank you, Nath!

Saturday

The World Inside




WRITING AND KNOWING

8th Annual Poetry Workshop with
Ellen Bass, Dorianne Laux, and Joseph Millar

July 24-29, 2011
at Esalen, Big Sur, CA


Esalen housing sometimes fills up fast, especially the less expensive rooms, so register soon. Online registration is open now at esalen.org


Scroll down to the bottom for poems by Dorianne, Joe and Ellen

There is a world inside each of us that we know better than anything else, and a world outside of us that calls for our attention. Our subject matter is always right with us. The trick is to find out what we know, challenge what we know, own what we know, and then give it away in language.

We will write poems, share our writing, and hear what our work touches in others. We'll also read model poems by contemporary poets and discuss aspects of the craft. But mainly this will be a writing retreat-- time to explore and create in a supportive community. Though the focus is on poetry, prose writers who want to enrich their language will find it a fertile environment.

There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy…that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. If you block it, it will never exist… It is not your business to determine how good it is…It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.   --Martha Graham

The focus of this workshop is on generating new poems. Dorianne, Joe and Ellen will each give a talk on craft to help us extend our skills. 

Dorianne Laux will talk on: The Spare Poem
After I've put everything in, what should I take out?  Big question.  HUGE.  We’ll look at a few poems by established poets such as James Wright, Jack Gilbert, Malena Morling, Jane Kenyon and Mark Doty to see what they might have left on the cutting room floor, how setting, implication and image can help us say it without saying it, how less can be more.
Joe Millar will talk on: The Fork In the Road

This year Joe will talk about various places where the poem in progress can change direction or mood and the delight that can arise from such turns and surprises.  We'll look at a few poems which shift and change their way down the page and consider some strategies for incorporating these techniques of mutability into our own writing.

Ellen Bass will talk on: Embodiment
The body is a great resource in poetry. By paying attention to the body and using physical detail, we can move our poems along the continuum from telling to showing, from abstract to concrete, from reporting to enacting. You don’t want your reader to say, “Oh, this poet feels really strongly about this.” You want readers to actually have the experience of that strong feeling themselves. We’ll look at poems which achieve this visceral impact, study how they do it, and practice some of those gestures ourselves.

Please join us if:

*You've hit a plateau in your writing and want to break through to the next level.

*You're just beginning and want to get started with supportive teachers.

*You're an experienced writer and just want a chance to learn more from the best.

*You're in a dry spell, due to lack of inspiration or time.

*You love to write and want a gorgeous, inspiring retreat.


Although the emphasis is on poetry, this workshop is open to prose writers too. Rich, textured, evocative language is the province of all writers, so this workshop will be applicable to writers of fiction and memoir as well.

Lastly, there's Esalen itself. If you've been to Esalen before, you already know it's one of the most magnificent places on the planet. If you haven't, don't postpone it. It's breathtakingly beautiful and deeply nourishing. We'll be having our group meetings in the Big Yurt this year. We'll also be breaking into smaller groups for individual attention. Participants will have an opportunity to work with all three teachers.



ELLEN BASS's most recent book of poems, The Human Line, was published by Copper Canyon Press in June 2007. She co-edited (with Florence Howe) the groundbreaking No More Masks! An Anthology of Poems by Women (Doubleday, 1973), has published several volumes of poetry, including Mules of Love (BOA, 2002) which won the Lambda Literary Award. Her poems have appeared in many magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly, The Progressive, The American Poetry Review, The New Republic, The Kenyon Review, and The Sun. She was awarded the Elliston Book Award for Poetry from the University of Cincinnati, Nimrod/Hardman’s Pablo Neruda Prize, The Missouri Review’s Larry Levis Award, the Greensboro Poetry Prize, the New Letters Poetry Prize, the Chautauqua Poetry Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and a Fellowship from the California Arts Council. She is also co-author of Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth (HarperCollins 1996) and The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (Harper Collins 1988, 1994), which has sold over a million copies and has been translated into ten languages. She teaches in many beautiful locations and at Pacific University's MFA Program in Oregon.

DORIANNE LAUX’s fifth collection of poetry, The Book of Men, was published by W.W. Norton in February, 2011. Her fourth book, Facts about the Moon, is the recipient of the Oregon Book Award and was short-listed for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Laux is also author of Awake, What We Carry, finalist for the National Book Critic’s Circle Award, and Smoke, as well as two fine small press editions, Superman: The Chapbook and Dark Charms, both from Red Dragonfly Press. Co-author of The Poet's Companion:  A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry, she’s the recipient of two Best American Poetry Prizes, a Pushcart Prize, two fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts and a Guggenheim Fellowship.  Widely anthologized, her work has appeared in the Best of APR, The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Poetry and The Best of the Net. In 2001, she was invited by late poet laureate Stanley Kunitz to read at the Library of Congress. She has been teaching poetry in private and public venues since 1990 and since 2004 at Pacific University’s Low Residency MFA Program.  In the summers she teaches at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California and Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. Her poems have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Romanian, Dutch, Afrikkans and Brazilian Portuguese and her selected works, In a Room with a Rag in my Hand, have been translated into Arabic by Camel/Kalima Press.  Recent poems appear in Cimarron Review, Cerise Press, Margie, The Seattle Review, Tin House and The Valparaiso Review. She and her husband, poet Joseph Millar, moved to Raleigh in 2008 where she teaches poetry in the MFA program at North Carolina State University.

JOSEPH MILLAR is the author of Fortune, from Eastern Washington University Press.  His first collection, Overtime (2001) was finalist for the Oregon Book Award and the Robert H. Winner Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America.  Millar grew up in Pennsylvania, attended Johns Hopkins University and spent 25 years in the San Francisco Bay area, working at a variety of jobs, from telephone repairman to commercial fisherman. His poems have appeared in numerous magazines including The American Poetry Review, The Southern Review, TriQuarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, DoubleTake, New Letters, Ploughshares, Manoa, and River Styx. His work has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in Poetry, Montalvo Center for the Arts, Oregon Literary Arts and a 2008 Pushcart Prize in Poetry.  In 1997 he gave up his job as a telephone installation foreman to teach.  He now lives in Raleigh, NC and teaches at Pacific University’s Low Residency MFA Program in Oregon and yearly at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. and will be a featured teacher and reader at this year's Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, NJ. Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa has said, “There's a tenderness at the core of Fortune, where the commonplace becomes atypical and fantastical, and each poem possesses a voice that summons and reveals. Joseph Millar is a poet we can believe.” His third collection of poems, Blue Rust, will be published in fall of 2011 by Carnegie Mellon Press.


Esalen fees cover tuition, food and lodging and vary according to accommodations--ranging from $570 to $1105. The least expensive rate is for sleeping bag space which can be very comfortable, but it's limited, so you need to sign up for it early. Some work-scholarship assistance is available, as well as small prepayment discounts and senior discounts.
All arrangements and registration must be made directly with Esalen. If you have questions about the workshop itself, please email Ellen or call her at 831-426-8006.

Please register directly with Esalen
at 831-667-3005 or visit www.esalen.org

**

Enough Music

Sometimes, when we're on a long drive,
and we've talked enough and listened 
to enough music and stopped twice, 
one to eat, once to see the view, 
we fall into this rhythm of silence.
It swings back and forth between us
like a rope over a lake.  
Maybe it's what we don't say
that saves us. 

--Dorianne Laux (from What We Carry)

*******

NATIVITY

Long after daybreak they were still trying
to deliver me,  the birth blood dropping
on the hospital tiles, glittering under the lights.
I saw my father’s corporal’s stripes,
his tan army shirt that smelled of tobacco,
I heard the cold wind no one remembers
pouring out of Canada.

My mother wrapped me up in her robe
fragrant with camphor and sweat,
hushing my desolate howls.
She loved me and she hated me
through those early months
when I wanted everything she had,
and all my father wanted
aside from her warm, pale body,
was to finish his hitch and get
the hell out of the army forever.

Each morning fine grains of salt
glinted like ice on the kitchen table
and like the insatiable mammal I was
I fastened onto her chafed, dark nipples.
They named me Rent Money
because I didn’t pay any,
 they named me Popsicle, Little Tongue, Gasser.
In August the Japanese surrendered
and he mustered out in Wisconsin.
We headed east in a ‘38 Studebaker,
its big engine swallowing the miles
of America, wheat fields and highway,
Chicago and Cleveland,
and they named me So Long
It’s Been Good to Know You.

--Joseph Millar

******

The World Has Need of You

            …everything here seems to need us…
            --Rilke

I can hardly imagine it
as I walk to the lighthouse, feeling the ancient
prayer of my arms swinging
in counterpoint to my feet.
Here I am, suspended
between the sidewalk and twilight,
the sky dimming so fast it seems alive.
What if you felt the invisible
tug between you and everything?
A boy on a bicycle rides by,
his white shirt open, flaring
behind him like wings.
It's a hard time to be human. We know too much
and too little. Does the breeze need us?
The cliffs? The gulls?
If you've managed to do one good thing,
the ocean doesn't care.
But when Newton's apple fell toward the earth,
the earth, ever so slightly, fell
toward the apple as well.

--Ellen Bass

Thursday

Calls for Submissions


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: ECHOES, A POETRY JOURNAL
Deadline:  March 31


Their featured poet is Todd Boss, author of Yellowrocket 
(W.W.Norton Publishers). 
Guidelines can be found on the website, EchoesPoetryJournal.com or emailing Echoes@earthlink.net.


 ****************************************


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: WRITER ADVICE ANNOUNCES ITS SIXTH ANNUAL FLASH PROSE CONTEST.  
Deadline: April 15.
Prize: $150


Looking for short fiction or memoir up to 750 words. Fee: $10 for processing only or $20 for detailed evaluation.  Visit www.writeradvice.com for complete guidelines. E-mail questions but not submissions to Lgood67334@comcast.net.


B. Lynn Goodwin
Writer Advice Managing Editor, www.writeradvice.com


*******************************


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: GAY AND GRAY, AN ANTHOLOGY OF MATURE GLBT WRITERS    
Deadline: April, 30, 2011. 


Seeking creative non-fiction, short stories, fiction or memoir, poetry, digital imagery, and photography. Fiction and non-fiction submissions should be a maximum of 5,000 words. Each writer may submit three pieces for consideration. Reprints are acceptable as long as the author retains the copyright.


Submissions should be sent as attachments to an email and not pasted into the body of the e-mail. Multiple submissions are welcome and should be sent in separate e-mails. Use 12-point Times New Roman, single-spaced. Authors should include a photo when possible. The photo may be taken from any point in the author’s life. Also please include a brief biography.


While there is no specific theme, content may focus on aging in the gay community, historical hindsight and/or perspective unique to the GBLTQ person 50 and older.


E-mail submissions to: submit2gayNgray@aol.com


********************************


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: SWAN SCYTHE PRESS POETRY MANUSCRIPT CONTEST
Deadline: June 1, 2011


Swan Scythe Press announces its 2011 Poetry Chapbook contest. 
Winner will receive publication and 25 copies of a perfect-bound chapbook with full-color cover.
For Guidelines: http://www.swanscythe.com/contest.html




****************************************


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: SNAIL MAIL REVIEW, A NEW AND UPCOMING LITERARY JOURNAL SEEKING SUBMISSIONS FOR SECOND ISSUE 
Deadline: June 30, 2011


Please send 3-5 poems of no more than 35 lines and/or 1-7 pages of fiction to:


Snail Mail Review
c/o Kris Price, 3000 Coffee Rd, Chateau Apt #B6, Modesto, CA, 95355


 Contact us if you have any further questions at snailmailreview@gmail.com


Also, you can find us on Facebook by searching Snail Mail Review


*******************************


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF GAY AND LESBIAN POETRY
Deadline: June 30, 2011
Edited by Shane Allison, to be published in Fall 2011 




Open to performance poetry, academic and traditional forms as well as experimental.  Themes: Coming out, sexuality, politics, growing up gay, civil rights, discrimination, love and relationships, same-sex marriages, erotica or serving in the military.  


Submit unpublished work, or work that was published since 2000. 5 to 10 poems as long as queer content is relevant. They welcome queer voices from outside the US.


Submission guidelines: Title file with the initials of the anthology and author’s last name. Include your name, mailing address, email, and a bio. Submit work by email as an attachment in rtf format, to newqueerpoetry@gmail.com
If poems have previously been published please include in your document where and when and be sure you hold the rights to your work.


------------------------------


THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S WRITING GUILD PRESENTS
THE ALCHEMY OF LANGUAGE
Theme: Turning Simple Words into Shimmering Works
Friday, March 18 to Sunday, March 20, 2011


Bosch Bahái School, 500 Comstock Lane, Santa Cruz, California. 
The California Conference, in its 28th year, takes place at a 67-acre retreat center situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 


Presenters: Rachel de Baere, Richelle McClain, Mary Reynolds Thompson
To register, please go to www.iwwg.org 


*******************************


WRITERS’  RETREAT:  THE LAMBDA LITERARY FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES THE 2011 RETREAT FOR EMERGING LGBT VOICES.
August 6-13, 2011
at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Deadline: April 15, 2011 for applications and scholarship requests. 
  
Begun in 2007, the Writers’ Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices is the first program of its kind ever offered to LGBTQ writers: a one-week intensive workshop immersion in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Retreat is open to emerging LGBT writers of any age. This year’s faculty includes Carla Trujillo, Ellery Washington, Eloise Klein Healy, Claire McNab.


Space is limited to 9-12 students per workshop. Some publication history is desirable but not required. To download a PDF of the 2011 Retreat application, go tolambdaliterary.org.

Tuesday

Healing

"...experience for yourself the potential of poetry to heal by feeling its power through your own voice. Many people have an intuitive sense that voice in general and poetry in particular can be healing. We have all experienced the comfort of soothing words. Finding the words to articulate a traumatic experience can bring relief.

.... People are frequently moved to write a poem in times of extremity. In mainstream culture there are subjects that are not talked about. They are taboo. For example, each of us is going to die, but we do not talk about dying. We are all in the dialogue of illness, death and dying, whether or not we are talking about it. Poetry gives us ways to talk about it.

...In the United States many people are scared of poetry. They have had bad experiences with it in school. People often believe that poetry is difficult or inaccessible or not relevant to them. Modern poetry is based on voice, and must be passed through our ears. This is where the sense is made. So, when you read this article and you see poetry,

Read it aloud
pass it through your ears
enjoy the
ride, and
know
the difference between poetry and prose
is that poetry is broken
into lines—
that is all.



Multiple ways of utilizing poetry for healing, growth and transformation will be presented including the Poetry and Brain Cancer project at UCLA. Particular attention will be given to issues of Palliative care. The reader will be directed to the scientific evidence of the efficacy of utilizing expressive writing. The developing professional field of Poetry Therapy and The National Association for Poetry Therapy will be discussed."

"Finding the Words to Say It: The Healing Power of Poetry" by Robert Carroll

The National Association of Poetry Therapy

~~~~~~~~~~~
Note: Thank you to Mimi Olsson for sending me this information! 

Sunday

Curve in the Road


When life throws you a curve
and you cannot fathom why...
Why is this happening?
What can possibly be the purpose?

Remember...
it is what we all have to face
in one way or another.

No matter how threatening it feels,
inner strength you didn't know you had,
will come forth and surprise you.

The valiant soul you are
will surpass you and uphold you
when you are feeling overcome.

So hang on....
all things pass.

And, when your heart is thrilled with new results, celebrate.
Celebrate with all your heart.

Savor the gifts that life offers.
Cherish the things you hadn't noticed before;
the air you breathe,
the water slapping at the shore,
the soft cloud in the sky,
the little kids playing in the park,
purring of a kitten.
the sound of a quietly strummed guitar,
laughter,
crying,
and yes, the neighbors dog

There’s something in it all you missed before.
Now you have the chance.

Take it moment to moment.

You know now the foolishness
the folly, the petty ways you'll leave behind.

You have struggled to come out of your cocoon.
You have worked hard,
You have released yourself
from the things that kept you locked up.
You have traveled beyond that curve...

Now free yourself,
and fly into that new zest for life you rightfully earned.

Have some peace of mind...
Remember you have triumphed.
You are stronger than before.

You have gained appreciation
for those things of which you were unaware
and cherish the challenges that brought you to this new place.

Elizabeth Munroz
Aug 29 2006

Thursday

A Letter to My Muse

Dear Muse

They say you are fickle

and when you call upon me

I must be prepared.

I don't wish

to appear ungrateful.

But, dear Muse

why do you have to inspire me

on the freeway when traffic

is thick and I can't pull over?


I don't mind

if you come to me

while I'm on hold.

But, I might not

get through to them again.

And is it really fair

to give me two subjects at once?

How can I write about

that dark tragic day

at the same time you want me

to write about the fun

when Gertrude changed

her name to Anastasia?


Do you really have

to nudge me the moment

when the doctor

walks in the room

after I've waited an hour?


It's perfectly acceptable

if you wake me

in the middle of the night.

I 'll have pen and paper at hand.

I can reach the light.

But you know

I'll have to pee.

Saturday

Calls for Submissions

CALL FOR POETRY SUBMISSIONS:

ECHOES #11
FOR FALL-WINTER 2010
 
Deadline: September 30, 2010

We are a small hand-stitched publication and will consider poems of one page or less. Please submit up to three poems. No previously published work will be accepted. No simultaneous submissions. Entries should be submitted within the body of one email. No attachments, please.

Email all submissions to
Submissions Manager Carol Deprez 
Echoeslit.submit@gmail.com

Subject line: Echoes Submission

Questions? Paula Anderson, Editor
andersonp3@earthlink.net
Subject line:  Echoes

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

CAVE WALL,
A JOURNAL OF POETRY AND ART

Deadline: September 30, 2010

They read unsolicited submissions and have included well-known poets.

For guidelines: Send SASE to:

Cave Wall Press LLC,
P.O. Box 29546
Greensboro, NC, 27429-9546

or visit http://www.cavewallpress.com/

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

2011 PERUGIA PRESS PRIZE

Deadline: November 15, 2010
Prize $1000 and publication

Perugia Press announces its annual contest for a first or second unpublished poetry collection by a woman.

Submit manuscripts with a $25 entry fee. Send an e-mail, SASE, or visit us online for complete guidelines.

The 2010 winner, “Each Crumbling House,” by Melody S. Gee, is now available from our web site.

Perugia Press Prize
P.O. Box 60364
Florence, MA 01062

info@perugiapress.com

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

ARKTOI BOOKS

Deadline: November, 2010.

Looking for Creative Nonfiction by Lesbian Authors

Arktoi Books, an imprint of Red Hen Press, specializing in the work of lesbian authors, is calling for book-length submissions of Creative Nonfiction.

For information, please visit

http://www.arktoi.com

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

THE ONE HUNDRED WORDS POETRY ANTHOLOGY

Deadline: December 1, 2010

Theme: The Sex Poem

Edited by Patricia Smith

How do we re-energize and reinvent the sex poem? We identify the 100 words that are the most blatant offenders, and we declare them off limits. That forces us to examine the act without the customary escape routes, those words that say "I don't know how to say this, so I'm saying this."    

For a list of the forbidden words, please email 100Wrds@gmail.com.     

Submissions of any length or style will be accepted at the same address. Please, no more than three poems per submission. As of yet, no publisher has yet been wooed for this project, but the search is on.

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: MAGNOLIA  LITERARY JOURNAL

Magnolia Journal publishes socially engaged literature by women.

They are accepting works of fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry on topics of social and political significance. Full submission guidelines

available online October 1st.

http://www.hercircleezine.com/magnolia-journal/

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

HER CIRCLE EZINE, AN ONLINE JOURNAL,

CELEBRATES WORK BY WOMEN THAT ADDRESSES SOCIAL ISSUES

Artists and writers featured in Her Circle use their work as a means of addressing identity, gender, ethnicity, politics, and statutes that surround and shape women's lives, challenging us to reevaluate and re-imagine the world in which we live.

We accept book reviews, guest blog posts, and feature articles on topics related to women's literature and visual arts.  While we prefer unpublished material, we will consider works that have already been published in print or online.

Submissions are accepted via email, with the content pasted or typed into the body of the message; please do not send attachments.

Submissions may be sent to the following:

Book reviews,
books@hercircleezine.com

The Writer's Life blog (guest blog posts, short Q & A pieces),
books@hercircleezine.com

UpClose interviews, Writing from the Margins, and special features,

features@hercircleezine.com

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

POEMS ABOUT WINE VINEYARDS

(Imbibing and Production)

Deadline, November 1, 2010

Napa Valley or others

Please submit a maximum of three poems and a brief cover letter with contact information to http://www.juddshill.com  “Arts & Recipes” and “Poetry.”

Selected poems will appear on the Judd’s Hill website and winner will receive a very big bottle of wine if it is legal in your state. No fee for entry.

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

ROCK & SLING,
A JOURNAL OF ART, LITERATURE AND FAITH

FOR THEIR WINTER ISSUE 2010-2011

A literary journal committed to standards of excellence and the Christian faith is soliciting authors and artists for their upcoming issues. They will publish two print issues each year and a website ( http://www.rockandsling.com ) with expanded content for art, pod casts of readings, author profiles, interviews and more.

Whitworth University,
300 W. Hawthorne Road,
Spokane, WA. 99251

tcaraway@whitworth.edu

Sunday

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

AESTHETICA CREATIVE WORKS COMPETITION 2010

Deadline: August 31, 2010

Aesthetica Magazine is inviting all artists, writers and poets to submit their work. Now in its third year, the Competition is dedicated to celebrating and championing creative talent. The Competition has three categories, Artwork, Poetry and Fiction. Winners and finalists are published in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual.
Winners of each category receive £500 prize money plus other prizes. (about  $795.00)
Entry to the Creative Works Competition is £10. (about $15.90) 
The entry fee allows the submission of 2 images, 2 poems or 2 short stories.

More guidelines on how to submit can be found online at:

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THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS PRESS POETRY SERIES’ ANNUAL MILLER WILLIAMS ARKANSAS POETRY PRIZE
$5000
Deadline: September thru October, 2010

One winner and up to three finalists will have their book-length collection published in 2012

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MISSOURI REVIEW EDITORS’ PRIZE
Deadline: October 1, 2010

Three prizes of $5,000 each and publication in The Missouri Review are given annually for a group of poems, a short story, and an essay. Submit up to 10 pages of poetry, a story or essay up to 25 pages, with a $20 entry fee, which includes a one-year subscription. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Select winning entries in the past have been reprinted in the Best American series.

Saturday

Poetry Magazines and Journals


2River View
32 Poems
42opus

absent
AGNI
Alaska Quarterly Review
American Poetry Review
Anti-

Backwards City Review
Barn Owl Review
Bat City Review
Big Muddy
Blackbird
Black Warrior Review
BlazeVOX
Blue Mesa Review
Boxcar Poetry Review
Brooklyn Review

Caketrain
Cannibal
The Cincinnati Review
Cimarron Review
Coconut
Colorado Review
Columbia Poetry Review
Conduit
Copper Nickel
Court Green
Crazyhorse
CrossConnect
CutBank

Denver Quarterly
DIAGRAM
Diode
Dislocate
Drunken Boat

The Eleventh Muse
Emergency Almanac
Eucalyptus

Fence
Fourteen Hills
Forklift, Ohio
Free Verse
Fugue

The Georgia Review
The Gettysburg Review
Gulf Coast
Gulf Stream

H_NGM_N
Harpur Palate
Hayden's Ferry Review
Hotel Amerika
horse less review

Indiana Review
The Journal

jubilat

Konundrum Engine

The Laurel Review
Linebreak
LIT
Louisville Review

Mid-American Review
MiPoesias
Mississippi Review
Missouri Review

Narrative Magazine
Nimrod
Ninth Letter
New Orleans Review
The New Yorker
New York Quarterly
/nor
No Tell Motel

Octopus
Oklahoma Review
Open City

Paris Review
Parthenon West Review
past simple
Pilot
The Pinch
Poet Lore
Poetry Midwest
Pool
Portland Review
Post Road
Prairie Schooner

Quarterly West

RATTLE
Redactions
Red Mountain Review
RHINO

Seattle Review
Shampoo

Slope
Smartish Pace
Southern Review
Spinning Jenny
storySouth
Subtropics
Swink

Tarpaulin Sky
Terminus
Third Coast
Threepenny Review
Tin House
Typo

Verse

Washington Square
West Branch
Word For/Word