Suzanne Lummis' Receives CSPS Honorary Membership on October 27, 2019

California State Poetry Society is proud to collaborate with Village Poets of Sunland Tujunga in presenting the Honorary Membership in CSPS to Ms. Suzanne Lummis, poet extraordinaire. During the celebration, Ms. Lummis will also give a reading of her work. 

The reading and celebration will take place on October 27, 2019 at 4:30 pm at Village Poets Monthly Reading at Bolton Hall Museum (10110 Commerce Avenue, Tujunga, CA 91042). Maja Trochimczyk, CSPS Acting President, will make the presentation. After the featured reading, there will be some time for open mike readers and refreshments will be served during the break.  All members of CSPS living in Los Angeles area are invited to attend. 

Bolton Hall Museum, the second historical landmark in the City of Los Angeles, celebrated its centennial in 2013.  It previously served as community hall for the Little Landers who settled the area, each on their own "little land." The Museum presents regular exhibitions and lectures about local history and is managed by the Little Landers Historical Society. Village Poets of Sunland Tujunga, established in 2010, is a group of former Poets Laureate of Sunland Tujunga who organize poetry readings in their community, write poetry, and publish books, making sure that poetry life is rich and vibrant in the foothills. http://villagepoets.blogspot.com/p/about-us.html

Suzanne Lummis Portrait by Alexis Rhone-Fancher

Suzanne Lummis’ poems have appeared in The Hudson Review, Antioch Review, Ploughshares, New Ohio Review, Plume, The American Journal of Poetry and The New Yorker.  Her most recent collection, Open 24 Hours, won the Blue Poetry Prize and was published by Lynx House Press in 2014. Previous full-length collections include In Danger (Roundhouse Press/Heyday Books) and Idiosyncrasies (Illuminati).  Suzanne edited Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond (Pacific Coast Poetry Series/Beyond Baroque Books), noted in The Los Angeles Times as one of The Ten Best Books of 2015.

She is the recipient of Beyond Baroque’s fifth George Drury Smith Outstanding Achievement in Poetry Award. An influential teacher in Los Angeles, she leads private workshops and has taught for many years through the UCLA Extension Writers’ program where she evolved courses in poetic craft, the persona poem, and the poem noir (“Poetry Goes to the Movies”).  She is 2018/19 COLA fellow, an award from the Cultural Affairs Department to outstanding mid-career artists and poets. It comes with an endowment to create a new body of work.

Lummis is the director of The Los Angeles Poetry Festival, which she founded with poet Sherman Pearl, and through which she produced nine citywide multi-literary events between 1989 and 2011. In the 70s, during CSU Fresno’s now legendary era, Suzanne studied with Philip Levine, Peter Everwine and Charles Hanzlicek, and received an MA in English with a Creative Writing focus.

     

Suzanne Lummis has at various times, on different occasions, been associated with the following schools and poetic sensibilities:

THE FRESNO SCHOOL.  This is the designation for those graduates of a golden era, late 60s and 70s, at CSU Fresno, which gave rise to several of the nation’s most distinctive poets, all of whom studied with Philip Levine. The “Fresno” poets are often characterized by a direct personal voice, a language both lyrical and colloquial, and an image-based fidelity to the tangible world, whether rural or urban. Lummis received her M.A. in English with Creative Writing focus in 1978, before CSU Fresno established its MFA program. She is included in the definitive anthology edited by Christopher Buckley, Jackson Wheeler and David Oliviera, How Much Earth: The Fresno Poets.

STAND-UP POETRY. It aspires to combine the dynamism and bracing irreverence of performance poetry with the skill and attention to detail found in literary poetry. Charles Webb coined the term in the 80s then he and Lummis worked together refining the definition and assembling poems for the initial small press anthology that introduced this sensibility, which they associated with a group of Los Angeles poets. Lummis is cited as a seminal avatar of the style in the one-thousand word entry on Stand-Up Poetry in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry, and in the March/April 2004 Poets & Writers Magazine article on the subject.

THE POEM NOIR. Lummis’ essay in New Mexico’s Malpais Review, “The Poem Noir — Too Dark to Be Depressed” — describes the defining characteristics of this poetry, whose dark themes, atmosphere, and voice of cool detachment are inspired by the low budget black-and-white crime movies of the 40s and 50s. For the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program she teaches a course she designed, “Poetry Goes to the Movies: The Poem Noir”. She has been an advisor for Philadelphia’s NoirCon. In the fall of 2011, she instigated and produced, through her organization The Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and with valuable support from Beyond Baroque, a citywide, 25-event series, “Night and the City: L.A. Noir in Poetry, Fiction and Film” Her poems are included in the Knopf “Everyman’s Pocket Poets” anthology, Killer Verse: Poems of Murder and Mayhem, edited by Kurt Brown, and in other anthologies of detective fiction and poems noir.

LOS ANGELES POETRY.  Discussions of her poetry and influence on the Los Angeles literary world appear in Bill Mohr’s meticulous history, Holdouts, in the book-length exploration by Lawrence Goldstein—longtime editor of The Michigan Quarterly Review—Poetry Los Angeles: Reading the Essential Poems of the City, and in Jack Foley’s Visions and Affiliations, A California Literary Timeline: Poets and Poetry 1940-2005. She was principal editor of the anthology, Grand Passion: The Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, which The Los Angeles  Times named one of The 100 Best Books of the Year in 1997. In 2015, She is co-editor of The Pacific Coast Poetry Series/Beyond Baroque Books, and the anthology she edited, Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, was named one of the Ten Best Books of 2015 by the Los Angeles Times.

“Open 24 Hours has the intensity and edgy threat found in the best traditions of L.A. Noir. But Suzanne Lummis also has the gifts of a comedic writer: a finely-honed ear for the way people talk, an eye for the often quirky but right-on image, and that balancing act of timing that belongs to the dramatic performer.  Moreover, she’s dead-pan funny…As in all serious comedy, however, the undercurrents of her book have an unsentimental sadness and tht close-to-the-bottom wreckage a city like L.a. seems to draw.”

– Peter Everwine

“Suzanne Lummis’ Open 24 Hours is a glittering, mordant, ravishingly clever book. It bristles with energy and biting wit and is as much about the life of writing as it is about the shifting lives of those who live just on the edge in L.A.”

– Lynn Emanuel

Poetry News and Contests from State Poetry Societies

Poets Joe DeCenzo, Marlene Hitt, Maja Trochimczyk and Josephine 

at the Independence Day Parade in Sunland Tujunga, 2019. 

Poets enjoy sharing their poetry and listening to others. Probably that's why every week there are more open mike readings in town.  With one of my poetry groups, Village Poets of Sunland Tujunga, I organize monthly readings - held for the past 10 years on the fourth Sunday, mostly at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, sometimes in the former residence of California Poet Laureate John Steven McGroarty - McGroarty Arts Center. We also love participating in the Independence Day Parade, each year we have a banner and a decorated convertible. I enjoy giving out poems to the audience, lining the Foothill Blvd in Sunland on the 4th of July 2019. 

Here's our crew dressed up for the theme "Out of This World" with the Village Poets banner that was carried this year by poet Joe DeCenzo. Joe dressed up as a spaceman, while Marlene Hitt's slogan was "From Outer Space to Inner Space" as she presented the multitude of her poetry books. Susan Rogers rode in the convertible and I gave away postcards with America the Beautiful and my Independence-themed poems, such as the one below. I gave out over 500 poems, run out of postcards two-thirds of the way, so next year we'll print 800! We had 250 last year so we thought 500 would be enough... We  had so much fun in the most overdecorated convertible we ever rode in. Poets definitely know how to have fun! Maybe we should have CSPS participate in Independence Day Parades around the state next year? 

It is the summer, time to travel, enjoy nature. Poets travel far and wide, so we will be pleased to post here some of your wonderful travel photos with the California Quarterly!  Let's see the places that the CQ visited with you! 

NATIONAL FEDERATION NEWS

  

The California State Poetry Society is a member of National Federation of State Poetry Societies that recently had its annual convention in New Mexico.  The NFSPS now publishes its newsletter online, so you can find more information about the Federation's activities on its website: nfsps.com/Strophes.htm

THE POETRY SOCIETY OF TENNESSEE - DEADLINE AUGUST 20

Annual Poetry Festival will take place on October 18-19. The 63nd Annual Poetry Festival will take place on October 18-19, 2019 at the Southwest Tennessee Community College, Macon Cove Campus

Room 141, Macon Academic Building B, 5983 Macon Cove, Memphis, Tennessee, 38134. Budd Mahan will be the  workshop leader on October 19, 2019.

There are many Contests for you to submit to.  The deadline is August 20 and there are 26 contests some of which are open to anyone, as listed below. 

DEADLINE AND ENTRY FEES:

• Postmarked by Tuesday, August 20, 2019. Please do not call or email to verify receipt. NO E-MAIL ENTRIES. • Members $10, Non-members $15. Contests #1 and #2 have additional fees per entry. Send check made payable to PST to: Lori Goetz, Contest Coordinator, 2153 Wood Creek Drive, Germantown, TN 38138. • Questions: JoAn Howerton, Festival Director, (901) 361-0077; E-mail: joan0620@att.net or Lori Goetz, Festival Coordinator, (901)-753-4385, poetrytennessee@gmail.com.

ELIGIBILITY

1. All categories are open to all poets except as otherwise indicated.

2. Your contest entries must be original and unpublished poems (except those entered in contest #2); the poem may not have won a cash prize in any poetry contest prior to the PST’s October 2019 Festival.

3. The same poem may not be entered in more than one category.

4. A poet cannot enter more than one poem in a single category (except for contests #1 and #2).

5. Contests #1 and #2 are open only to members of the Poetry Society of Tennessee; any number of poems can be submitted for $2/poem.

6. Contest #2 is the only contest which will accept previously published poems.

7. Entries which do not conform to these rules will be disqualified from this and future contests.

8. A poet may not send more than one envelope with entries; submittal of multiple envelopes will result in disqualification from this and future contests.

FORM

9. Type poems on standard, 8 ½” x 11” white paper; no handwritten poems will be accepted. Submit in 8 ½ x 11 or 9x12 envelopes; folded submissions will not be accepted.

10. Entries must be single spaced, in a readable font style and point size (11 or 12 point). Excessively large or small font will be disqualified. Staple two-page poems on upper left.

11. Submit two copies of every poem.

a. Show title and number of contest on the first copy, in the upper left.

b. On the second copy, show title and number of contest in the upper left. In the upper right, show the poet’s name, mailing address, e-mail address (if available), and PST Member or Non-Member.

12. If submitting a multi-page poem, staple both pages together. Do not use paperclips. Please put poet’s ID on both pages of the ID-ed copy.

13. Separate originals from duplicates and stack in numerical order (1-21) with originals on top; no paperclips. 

14. Honorable mentions are given as merited by the number of entries in each individual contest and the quality of the material submitted.

15. First place winners (except #2, which allows published poems) will be published in the PST yearbook, Tennessee Voices. All rights revert back to the poet following publication of Tennessee Voices. Purchase a copy: https://www.poetrytennessee.org/publications.html

WINNERS

All winners will be announced at PST’s 63rd Annual Poetry Festival, October 19, 2019. Winners will be posted on our webpage, https://www.poetrytennessee.org/annual-festival-and-contest.html, after the Festival. If you want to receive a copy of the winner’s list, enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope with your entry.

LIST OF CONTESTS

1 and 2 for Tennessee members only

3) Dr. Wanda Rider Memorial Award Sponsor: Marilyn Denington Form: Free Verse, 20-30 lines Subject: International Travel Prizes: $50/$35/$15 Instructions: None. 

4) Unrequited Contest Sponsor: Bill Howerton Form: Free Verse, 8-32 lines Subject: Love Unrequited Prizes: $50/$30/$20

5) PST-NE Chapter Prize Sponsor: PST-NE Form: Any, 50 lines max Subject: Any Prizes: $50/$35/$15 

6) On a Deceased Favorite Poet Sponsor: W. L. Huettel Form: Any, 20-40 lines Subject: A Deceased Poet Prizes: $50/$25/$25 Instructions: No current, live poets.

7) Rose Klix Award Sponsor: Howard S. Carman, Jr. Form: Any, 40 lines max Subject: Faith. Prizes: $65/$40/$25 

8) Connections Award Sponsor: Bill Howerton Form: Any, 5-25 lines Subject: Connections. Prizes: $50/$30/$20 

9) Citizens’ Climate Lobby Challenge Sponsor: Citizens’ Climate Lobby of Northeast Tennessee. Form: Any, 12-40 lines Subject: Climate change Prizes: $40/$20/$10 + 2 HM 

10) John R. Benish Memorial Award Sponsor: Dr. Diane M. Clark Form: Any, 20-40 lines. Subject: gloves (singular or plural) Prizes: $30/$20/$10 

11) Winklebleck Challenge Award Sponsor: Barbara Blanks Form: Sonnet (14-15 lines). Subject: Any Prizes: $30/$15/$10 + 1-3 HM if merited Instructions: Any sonnet form, but it must be in correct iambic pentameter. A two to 3 line epigraph is allowed and will not be included in line count.

12) In Honor of My 11 Grandchildren, Whose Love is Unconditional Sponsor: JoAn Howerton. Form: Any, 40 lines max Subject: Generation to Generation Prizes: $25/$15$/10. 

13) Letting Go Award Sponsor: Von Bourland Form: Any, 16-32 lines Subject: Letting Go

Prizes: $25/$15/$10 

14) The Undercover Contest Sponsor: Anonymous Form: Any, 40 lines max Subject: Any. Prizes: $25/$15/$10 

15) Try Something New Award Sponsor: Lori Goetz Form: Haibun or Tanka Prose, 30 line max Subject: Any Prizes: $25/$15/$10 

16) The Pat Smith Memorial Award Sponsor: Florence Bruce Form: Blank Verse, 20-40 lines Subject: Any Prizes: $20 + 1 HM Instructions: Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

17) Bobbie Drobeck Award Sponsor: Russell Strauss Form: Narrative Poem, 10-40 lines Subject: Your story must contain a reference to one of these popular drinks: beer, wine, coffee, tea, or

carbonated beverages. Prizes: $15/$10/$5
18) Family Ties Award Sponsor: Anna’s Pet Sitting Form: Any, 4-20 lines Subject: Family Prizes: $20/$15/$10 Instructions: None.

19) In Memory of Jo Elliott Sponsor: Pete Harris Form: Limerick, 5 lines Subject: Any Prizes: $25/$15/$10 Instructions: See Florence Bruce’s Blogspot for examples, http://poemsamples.blogspot.com/2014/08/limerick.html.

20) PST-Knoxville Award Sponsor: PST-Knoxville Form: Any, 25-40 lines Subject: Bridges (any interpretation) Prizes: $25/$15/$10 + HM as merited Instructions: Please specify form.

21) Dorsimbra Contest Sponsor: JoAn Howerton Form: Dorsimbra, 12 lines Subject: Family traditions Prizes: $25/$15/$10 Instructions: A dorsimbra is a 12-line poem consisting of (1) a quatrain of iambic pentameter rhyming abab; (2) a quatrain of “short and snappy” free verse, and (3) a

quatrain of blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter). The final (12th) verse is the same as the first line. See Florence Bruce’s Blogspot for examples: https://poemsamples.blogspot.com/search?q=dorsimbra. 

22) Joan T. and Sheron B. Strauss Award Sponsor: Russell Strauss Form/Subject: A classic Burma Shave Poem, rhymed, metered, and suitable for a series of road signs. Last line should read “Burma Shave”. Prizes: $15/$10/$5 Instructions: See Florence Bruce’s Blogspot for examples,

http://poemsamples.blogspot.com/2015/06/burmashave.html. 

23) Fibonacci Poem Award Sponsor: Gail Denham Form: Fibonacci Poem, 6 lines Subject: Any (humorous) Prizes: $20/$10/$5 Instructions: This form is divided into 6 lines, 20 syllables 

in total. 1-1-2-3-5-8, like the mathematical sequence from which it takes its name. Punctuation is optional. 

24) Time to Reflect Award Sponsor: Lori Goetz Form: Free Verse, 10-20 lines Subject: Divisions

Prizes: $25/$15/$10 

25) Personification Contest Sponsor: Florence Bruce Form: Any, 40 lines max Subject: Any — see requirement below Prizes: $20 + 1 HM Instructions: Must use personification wholly or in part.

More information is provided on Florence’s Blogspot, http://poemsamples.blogspot.com/2019/03/personification.html.

26) In Memory of Dotty Katz Sponsor: Lynnie Mirvis Form: Any, 20 lines max Subject: The Color Purple Prizes: $15/$10/$5 

ILLINOIS STATE POETRY SOCIETY - DEADLINES SEPTEMBER 1, NOVEMBER 1

• 2019 ISPS Poetry Contest Announcement (deadline November 1, 2019)
• 
  
• 2019 Poets and Patrons Chicagoland Poetry Contest (deadline September 1, 2019)
• 
  
• 2019 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest (deadline September 1, 2019)

ARIZONA STATE POETRY SOCIETY ANNUAL CONTEST 

DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

  

1. ASPS AWARD Any subject, Any form - 60 line limit.  Sponsor: Arizona State Poetry Society. Prize:  1st - $50, 2nd - $30, 3rd - $20

2.  LEGACY AWARD In honor of Priscilla White, former ASPS president. Form: Cinquain, Any subject conforming to 2-4-6-8-2. Sponsor:  Christy White. Prizes: 1st - $50, 2nd - $30, 3rd - $20

3.  LONG FREE VERSE Any Subject, Maximum 2 typewritten pages. Sponsor:  Molly Saty. 

Prizes: 1st - $50, 2nd - $30, 3rd - $20.

4.  SHORT FREE VERSE Theme: Desert Tracks. Any form – 32 line limit. Sponsor: Tucson Poetry Society. Prizes: 1st - $50, 2nd - $30, 3rd - $20

5.  NATURE ON THE EDGE. Any form – 32 line limit. Sponsor:  Scottsdale Mustang Poets. 

Prizes: 1st - $50, 2nd - $30, 3rd - $20

6.  TRADITIONAL RHYMING POETRY. Any subject – 32 line limit. Sponsor: Sun Cities Poetry Society. Prizes: 1st - $50, 2nd - $30, 3rd - $20

7.  SHAKESPEARE MATTERS.  Use two lines from any two of Shakespeare's work Any form – 14 lines or less. Sponsor:  Jeanne & Christopher Osgood. Prizes: 1st - $50, 2nd - $30, 3rd - $20

8. HUMOR Any form – 32 line limit Sponsor:  East Valley Poetry Society Prizes: 1st - $50, 2nd - $30, 3rd - $20 

9.  HAIKU ROUNDUP Any subject as long as it conforms to 5-7-5! Sponsor:  Stuart Watkins

Prizes: 1st - $50, 2nd - $30, 3rd - $20

 0. YOUNG POETS AWARD For 13 - 18 years old, original unpublished work Any form, Any subject. Sponsors: Walter & Regina Ralston. Prizes: 1st - $50, 2nd - $30, 3rd - $20

CONTEST GUIDELINES & RULES

• ELIGIBILITY:  Open to all
• QUALIFICATIONS: Original, unpublished poems not currently submitted to other contest(s). Any number of poems may be entered in each category, but each individual poem may be submitted only once per entire contest. All entries need not be sent in at one time. Submissions without fees will be disqualified.
• MAILED ENTRIES:  Each poem must have the following information in the Upper Right Corner: Category  #  and Title of Category. DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME OR ANY IDENTIFYING INFORMATION ON YOUR POEM! INCLUDE A PAGE LISTING POEM NAMES WITH THE FIRST LINE (We insist on the first line! Please!) AND YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, EMAIL, & PHONE NUMBER
• FORMAT: Submit one clearly typed copy of each poem (in English only), on 8-1/2"x11" white paper, without lines/ no illustrations. Submit each poem on a separate page; no staples, unless an individual poem exceeds one page. Spaces or breaks between stanzas will not count as a line. Spaces or breaks for effect only will be counted as lines. Introductory or editorial remarks, quotations, dedications, etc. will be included in the total line count. For consistency poems should be submitted in Times New Roman 12.
• Carefully read AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS IN INDIVIDUAL CATEGORIES AS WELL AS THESE GUIDELINES. POEMS NOT ADHERING TO THE STATED RULES WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.
• ENTRY FEES: Category 1 thru 9 -- $3.00 US  per poem; Category 10 -- $1.00 US per poem, 13 - 18 years old
•  DEADLINE: September 30, 2019, received by 11:59 pm. If mailing, send First Class or Priority Mail only (Not Registered or any form of delivery requiring signature). Mail entries and #10 (business) self-addressed stamped envelope to: Christy White, ASPS President 1145 E. Kaler Dr. Phoenix, AZ 85020
• JUDGES: Qualified non-ASPS members. Decisions are final. List of judges to accompany results sent via SASE provided by contestant, at completion of competition, or posted online.
• PRIZE WINNERS: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd winning poems will be published in the ASPS journal, Sandcutters. Winners receive ONE copy and award certificate. Sandcutters claims first publication rights. Honorable Mentions will be listed in Sandcutters. ASPS members receive Sandcutters as a benefit of membership.
• ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS - SEND YOUR ENTRIES VIA EMAIL TO  AZPoetryorg@gmail.com. Send entries as Word Doc attachments. PUT ONLY THE CATEGORY ON THE POEM. EMAIL SUBJECT LINE: 2019 CONTEST ENTRY. BODY OF EMAIL:  Include your mailing address (if you win--we send a check! J ) Your phone number (so you can be reached, if needed, when we print your poem)  LIST POEM TITLES, FIRST LINE OF POEM, CATEGORIES, AND FEES SENT.  PAY YOUR FEES using PayPal on our website, http://azpoetry.webs.com/apps/webstore/ Use 2019 CONTEST FEES. We will send a confirmation of poems received and fees paid.