CPS Members Winners
Photo: Christine Beck and Mark Doty At the recent NFSPS convention attended by CPS secretary Christine Beck Mark Doty sat on a panel entitled: "Complex simplicity/Simple complexity in Poetry" Christine reports Doty advised the poets present NOT to "write what we know." His advice was the "write about the question -- whether or not you state the question in your poem -- and to let the poem help you get to the essential truth." He referred to Walt Whitman's question in "Song of Myself:" "A child said to me what is the grass?" in Whitman's poem, he says "And now I think it is the beautiful uncut hair of graves." Doty also advised: 'Train like an athlete to stay under water longer." "Don't use that perfect last line you already thought of." CPS Summer Picnic July 18th Vivian Shipley and Ed Harris have again allowed us to meet at their Beach House at 28 Morgan Point, New Haven, CT Bring your poems about Summer or Picnics, or the great outdoors. Time available for reading will depend on number who sign up. Please bring something to eat and share with other guests as well as any special beverage you may enjoy. We will provide cold cuts and bread, paper goods, snacks, ice and soft drinks, and a poetry loving audience. Please R.S.V.P. by July 10th or phone him at 203-785-3438
+++++++++++++++++++++++ Connecticut Poetry Society The Connecticut Poetry Society (CPS), an affiliate of the National Federation of Poetry Societies (NFSPS), is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion and enjoyment of poetry. Our group has a long tradition of excellence in publishing the work of poets from Connecticut and around the nation. Our mission is to support the art form of poetry with chapter meetings, contests, and poetry events. Membership is not limited to Connecticut residents. One does not have to be a poet to join, just a person willing to dedicate time or money in support of the arts. Chapters usually meet monthly to workshop original poetry and sponsor readings, lectures or programs in their communities. Browse through our site. To get information about CPS, contact Christine Beck at mailto:connpoetry@comcast.net . The Academy of American Poets has published a "Poetry Map" of America that features photos, events, and information relevant to poetry in each state. Take a look at the Connecticut page by clicking here http://www.poets.org/state.php/varState/CT
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CT River Review Poetry Contest Winners The Connecticut Poetry Society is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Connecticut River Review Poetry Contest. From a very strong field of submissions, Judge Brian Clements selected these poems:
1 st prize: “I’ll Know the Title Next Time I Hear the Train Whistle” by Mark Wagenaar of Charlottesville, Virginia
2 nd prize: “ Nome” by Jeanne Wagner of Kensington, California click here to see poem
3 rd prize: “How to Teach a Child about Death” by Amanda Auchter of Houston, Texas
Honorable Mentions: “Prequel to Genesis and the Missing Second Book: Coral Castle” by Annie Christain, “A Shadow Denser than Night” by Robert J. Enright, “crow valley” by Elizabeth Myhr, “Subject Line: Rain is General” by Susan Holahan, and “Forgettery” by Kathleen Serocki. Mr. Clements stated that first prize poem “ seduces with its depth of imagination, mythology of mind, and clarity of vision. The poem’s landscape… is lushly imaged, but also lushly aligned with the inscape, where distance and blossom and trains and a ringing bell all signal the simultaneous beauty and melancholy…” His comments on the other winners: “ Nome ” succeeds, like John Ashbery’s “Instruction Manual,” by taking us in vivid detail to a place where the author or speaker is not and perhaps never has been…making quite present an absence, making us feel intimately the loss of a thing never held.” “How to Teach a Child about Death” makes intimate and tender again a moment that verges on the cliché, the sentimental; but the poet’s alert attention to the body, whether living or dead, and to the things that grab the attention of the living--butterscotch, braids, a corpse’s stitched lip--keeps this poem vital…” Judge Brian Clements is Professor of Writing at Western Connecticut State University and coordinator of WestConn’s MFA in Professional Writing. He edits Sentence: a journal of prose poetics and Sentence’s parent press, Firewheel Editions. His most recent books are Disappointed Psalms (Meritage Press) and And How to End It (prose poems from Quale Press). Winners are asked to submit the winning poems electronically to connpoetry@comcast.net so that they will be included on the web site and in the next issue of Connecticut River Review, which is sent free of charge to all CPS members. CRR is generally published in late summer, so look for it then. Additional copies may be ordered by sending a check for $10 (made out to CPS) to CRR Order, CPS, PO Box 270554, West Hartford, CT 06127.
Kudos to the winners and many thanks to all who entered; the level of the writing was high. You can find out more about our contests and publications at www.ct-poetry-society.org.
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| Partners in Poetry announce the publication of their joint poetry collection
called Everybody Says Hello. Pictured left to right are CPS members Elaine
Zimmerman, Ginny Connors, Bob Jacob, Christine Beck, Sheri Bedingfield, Nancy
Kerrigan, Tere Foley and Pat Hale. |
