CSPS and Village Poets Present Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach on Zoom, November 22, 2020 at 4:30pm

 

Village Poets of Sunland Tujunga join the California State Poetry Society in presenting  poets Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach with their collaborative book "Letters under Rock" during Virtual Village Poets Monthly Reading on November 22, 2020 at 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Two Open Mike segments are included before and after the features. This presentation is partly sponsored by the Dignity Health Foundation, through a grant for "Close to Nature" Project for Phoenix Houses of Los Angeles, with the California State Poetry as one of the collaborating partners.  Bory Thach recently joined the Editorial Board of the California Quarterly, the journal of the CSPS, published since 1972.

ZOOM READING INVITATION

Maja Trochimczyk, CPSP President, is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Village Poets and CSPS Present Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach

Time: Nov 22, 2020 04:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting by email invitation only!

This presentation is partly sponsored by the Dignity Health Foundation, through a grant for "Close to Nature" Project for Phoenix Houses of Los Angeles, with the California State Poetry Society as one of the collaborating partners. 

 -

Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach with their new book

ABOUT THE POETS

Cindy Rinne creates fiber art and writes in San Bernardino, CA. Represented Poet by Lark Gallery, LA, CA. She was Poet in Residence for the Neutra Institute Gallery and Museum, Los Angeles, CA. A Pushcart nominee. Her poems have appeared in literary journals, anthologies, art exhibits, and dance performances. Cindy is the author of several books: silence between drumbeats (Four Feathers Press), Knife Me Split Memories (Cholla Needles Press), Letters Under Rock with Bory Thach, (Elyssar Press), and others. Her poetry appeared or forthcoming: Anti-Heroin Chic, The Poetry Barn, Verse-Virtual, LitGleam, and others, plus several anthologies including: “Feminist Pilgrimage” edited by Stacy Russo and We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology edited by Maja Trochimczyk and Marlene Hitt (Moonrise Press, 2020). www.fiberverse.com

 Bory Thach was born in a refugee camp located on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. His family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old. He served in the U.S. Army and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He holds an MFA from California State University San Bernardino. Fiction and creative nonfiction fall under the art of storytelling, while poetry for him is more of a study of language, an art form. His work appeared or is forthcoming in: Pacific Review, Urban Ivy, Arteidolia, and Sand Canyon Review, plus We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology edited by Maja Trochimczyk and Marlene Hitt. In 2020, Thach joined the Board of the California State Poetry Society as one of the Editors of the California Quarterly, to serve along with Maja Trochimczyk, CSPS President, Maura Harvey, and Terry Ehret. His first volume to edit will be CQ vol. 47 no. 1, Spring 2021.

SAMPLE POEMS

Dear Nomad,                                                                               Ancestors/Dream

         

I lean sideways in front of the cypress mirror and

brush my hair one hundred times as my mother

 taught me. Soak this dress with three figs

across the bodice on powder blue cotton, in the oasis,

 

squeezing water into my mouth. Beyond my reach,

the inherited dress floats through the layers of stacked

 

beings encased in clouds while light brown rabbits,

sensitive and kind, scamper like gusty winds in four

 

directions. Heavenly and earthly realms join.

Ashen wolf and deer my origin.  Date palms

 

reach, attempting to grab the dress which dodges

like a balloon. I set the brush down, smooth my dress,

 

and watch rabbits leap in salt grasses.

Tell me the truth.

 

Be my witness.

 

The dress. The dress. The dress.

 

 

Dear Wanderer,

 

Love deserves an aftertaste

 

before night fades into the sunrise.

Purple lightning through dark clouds,

 

sage green sky over dead tree.

An arm-like hand to hold up the Milky Way.

 

Infinite stars conquer storm

and preside over turmoil.  A cloud of empty ghosts

 

moves toward the crows. Lacking strength

I see another trembling

kiss by your lips separated by yin and yang.

Break away from the spider’s web. Awaken

 

to truth without intoxication

like tornado over water,

 

the red afterglow above ionosphere,

I become helpless as drifting

 

leaves of lavender.

A dreamland I miss and regret

 

where we borrow happiness…

 

Dear Nomad,                                                                               

Hush/Unchanged

 

Blue dawn brightens

Pleiades, icy sun,

And hibiscus like snowflakes

Planted as totem.

 

Against the drifting fog,

Three guardian trees

Imprint the shrouded mountain.

 

I vibrate in the unbroken

Starlight as mist,

 

As angel.

 

Hush.

Dear Wanderer,

                                                                                               

The past comes back, gathering like a flower

Withered wishes.  It’s amazing how sea, sky                        

Share the same color.  I watch you fly

Up into that seafloor, 

 

So endlessly wide and eternal.                                              

We reach the flooded sky—

Widespread wings.

Love unchanged.  My tears flow back to you.

As burning incense turns to snow, and lightning

Bolts dance in our palms.                                                      

 

One yields a lotus                                                                  

The other a red string.

  

Dear Nomad,                                                                    

 Haunted/Vibrations

 

How many tomorrows?

 

Earth mother, my skin splits like textured

flakes of an old oak tree. Sunken eyes.

My hands unknot the webs. I sit cramped

in the corner radiating pyramids.

 

I mourn the loss

maiden to crone

alone in an ice cave, an entrance

guarded by Garnr.

Fever

chills

encompass me.

 

Is this not baptism by thorns?

You would salve my wounds.

Instead, I drink tea of holly

leaves trying to heal.

 

Where are you?

 

River runs beyond my stomach.

I wear a death mask. Is Hel,

one-half bones, the other divine

preparing the transition of my soul?

 

Seers and shamans will travel

for my counsel. I will give them

holly for strength and wisdom.

 

I need

                           to see you.

Dear Wanderer,

 

Born from the Earth, a child of nature

among purity and innocence.  Spiritual

happiness. Tranquil love between you

and me. Face paler than snow

with ember eyes.

 

Why do you seem so familiar?

 

I’m in a stream of stars at night,

reflecting on the waves.

Delicate lilacs cover your wounds.

            Sharp eyes transform into fire.

 

Birds, paper the sky, only to leave star

trails. Calm, my mind as passionate

mountains where twilight dawns

into late spring, and time itself

spikes non-linear.

 

Unable to turn away, I stare, moon-eyed

Underwater while a bromeliad emerges

from vibrations of mantras.

 

You

                        take away my sorrow.

 

 

Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach in Costumes made by Rinne, photo by Edwin Vasquez

ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE POETS

Published in October 2019, "Letters Under Rock" is a 82-page volume of Performance Poetry co-authored by Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach and structured as a series of letters exchanged by a Nomad and a Wanderer on their spiritual journey through life. 

ISBN 978-1087421926

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Under-Rock-Cindy-Rinne/dp/1087421926 

Letters Under Rock is part poetry, dance, and wearable art—beyond that it is a rare glimpse of artistic intimacy. Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach move with a sense of purpose and sincerity that leave the audience awed by the power of beauty, love, and friendship. 

        ~ Nicelle Davis, author of The Walled Wife

It’s basically spirit through the medium of body in action.

~ Michael Thomas Cooper, author of Speaking Through Sediment

Cindy and Bory transformed the Lancaster Museum of Art and History - MOAH into a sacred space by being in perfect harmony with each other. There was something intangible that emanated from their words and choreography that transported the viewers beyond time and space. They produced a unique moment of grace where all the distractions of the world disappeared. Thank you, Cindy and Bory for sharing your sacred choreography with the audience.  

~ Marthe Aponte, mixed media artist who specializes in Picoté 

President's Newsbriefs from California Quarterly 46:3, Fall 2020

NEWSBRIEFS 2020, No. 3 (Fall 2020)

Some say: we live in the times of Armageddon. The Last Battle has begun. Some say: it is a Great Awakening and the New Earth will be born from these pangs of pain after enough people dissolve dense, stagnant pools of ancestral trauma. Some say: we are the ones we have been waiting for. Some say: ACAB. Some say: WW1WGA. Some say: transhumanism. AI technology conquers the Universe. Some say: Shirin-Yoku, Forest Healing… Humans thrive close to the Earth. How do you find your path to truth through this thicket of words? A fortune cookie told me: “Follow your heart. It will never be wrong.” Again: “Let your boundless heart explore.”

So, I do. This summer, I discovered that I could wade in “my” stream. I share it with the whole community, of course. Someone built low rocky dams across the flow, and the water, surprisingly abundant in July, creates small pools, knee-deep at best, with sand, or gravel, or rocks on the bottom. Green algae and moss are gone, either torn away by rushing stream, or cleared by those anonymous magicians that made this summer gifts for all of us. There is a family with kids splashing and playing with a colorful plastic ball. Cheerful music becomes barely a whisper as I walk to the next mini pool: this one is deeper, with more soft sand on the bottom. Here, a pudgy boy is learning to swim, so I wade downstream along a narrow “trickle” in my old shoes, protecting my skin from cuts. I learned this trick from an ancient Tibetan folktale about a wise princess, who thought that shoes could be thrown out, but wounded feet were hard to mend. 

After braving some narrow straits and thicker bushes, I come across the third rocky dam that blocks enough water for a pleasant respite from the summer heat. I see small fish darting this way and that; shifting patterns of sunlight ripples intersect on the sand. Mountain sunflowers, called “black-eyed Susans,” lean over, greeted by mirror images on the gleaming surface of water. Perfection of a moment. 

These wild pools will disappear when the stream dries out. It was dry for so long, I stopped going there. Now, it is alive with visitors – five horse-riders go by and three dog walkers. Their happy pets greet me in the stream, splashing in shallow current, with tails wagging. The “owners” of this place are here, too – a rabbit with a white spot of a tail hops away from the trail. A duck family floats by; the watchful mom guards her brood of five, half her size, voraciously devouring green plants on the edge of the stream. 

Thus, I found my antidote to the pandemic of fear and hate in a mountain stream in the Los Angeles National Forest, on the outskirts of L.A. You could find it in the waves of the Pacific, refreshing like champagne, covering you with sea foam and scratching your toes with small rocks rolling up and down, with each wave closer to becoming sand. In time, these rocks will become sand. In time, the year 2020 will be remembered by something other than the virus, peaceful protests, riots, and… murder hornets. This year, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Italian painter Raphael, the 250th anniversaries of the birth of poet William Wordsworth and composer Ludwig van Beethoven. British-French poet Hilaire Belloc and Italian physician and teacher Maria Montessori were both born 150 years ago. Jazz legends Dave Brubeck and Charlie Parker, sitar-virtuoso Ravi Shankar and vagabond poet Charles Bukowski all celebrate their centennials this year. 

John Keats, Photogravure after J. Severn, Wellcome Library, London

The last volume of poems by John Keats appeared 200 years ago. He was only 25 years old when he died in 1821, leaving masterpieces unfinished. I started writing poetry after I turned 35, in Canada, to perfect my grasp of English (Polish is my native tongue) and bury my émigré sorrows in a deluge of words. These poems are destined to remain unpublished. I started publicly presenting my work when I decided I was no longer a victim…. Embracing victimhood is among the most toxic and deadly vices, widespread among displaced persons and émigrés.

Bory Thach

I am pleased to welcome to our Editorial Board another émigré who refuses to be a victim. Bory Thach was born in a refugee camp located on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. His family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old. He served in the U.S. Army and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has an MFA from California State University San Bernardino. Fiction and creative nonfiction fall under the art of storytelling, while poetry for him is more of a study of language, an art form in itself. His work appeared or is forthcoming in: Pacific Review, Urban Ivy, Arteidolia, Sand Canyon Review and We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology. His recently completed book of poetry dialogues with Cindy Rinne, Letters under Rock (2019), has been presented as a quasi-theatrical performance in art galleries and museums in Southern California. Thach joined the Editorial Board in July 2020 and will start his duties from the CQ vol. 47, no. 1.

Our Monthly Contest Judge, Alice Pero, selected the winners of two CSPS Monthly Poetry Contests: Joyce Futa’s “Kumquat Marmalade” was selected as the best poem in the month of June and Jackie Chou’s “Cerulean” was honored in July. The winners receive a small cash prize and their poems, both published in We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology (edited by yours truly and Marlene Hitt). They are also posted on our blog: CaliforniaStatePoetrySociety.com.

California Quarterly 46:2 (Summer 2020) edited by Maura Harvey received lots of praise. “Congratulations on the selection of poems for the new CQ volume. I’m enjoying the wide variety. Some are lyrical and lovely, others are thought-provoking, revealing (eg. “Hoarder’s Excuse”) or inspirational and a few I found simply puzzling. I like your poem “Message Threads” very much. The imagery is so clear, Cassandra is a strong name, and you take us brilliantly from the everyday, neighborhood sounds she listens to as she embroiders to that powerful ending when she sews in her warning, listening to the sounds of the dying universe. Stunning final lines. I also admire your well-crafted introductory Editor’s Note, as I admire your talent and skills with poetry.” (Mary Willix). “I enjoyed the poems and the playfulness of many.  The one about Hoarding Books. Pearl Karrer's poems are delightful! The sense of movement runs through both - from the granddaughter's ballet to the image of the blackbirds. Congratulations on the issue.” (Nancy Cavers Dougherty).  “Thank you so much for putting together this new collection of poetry. I love it and the cover is beautiful! I especially enjoyed your poem—’Embroidery sharpens her hearing.’” (Mai-Lon Gittelsohn). 

 “It is not often that the world shares a simultaneous cataclysm.  This is not, of course, the comet that killed the dinosaurs.  But it seems close. Even when momentous events are happening, there is usually a variety of things going on to attract the attention of poets.  This year the poetry that is being written for this volume, though perhaps not intended as such, provides a marvelous snapshot of different voices caught in the same moment of shock, but each reacting in a unique way.  Some poets, like Joe Milosch, are drawn to a timeless scene, the wait of a ship for a voyage that might not come.  Elizabeth Yahn Williams focuses on recent travel, interrupted when the world was called to a halt, writing about the last few days before we were pulled up short.  Tomas Gayton comes to terms with the frustrations of epidemiology. Deborah P Kolodji beautifully high-lights social strains with just a single flower. And then there is Deborah again, reminding us that behind it all, we are all still children blowing bubbles.” (Robert Thomas Lundy).

CSPS Member News. Maura Harvey’s poem ‘Waiting” was chosen as part of a display of ekphrastic poems by the Creative Happiness Institute and Florida State Poets Association. It will be displayed alongside the artwork which inspired it in an exhibit at the DeLand Museum of Art. Ambika Talwar published a sestina titled “The Silver River Canticle” in the August 2020 issue of Quill & Parchment. She gave a presentation titled Memory: Longing & Nostalgia to the Gaia Storytelling & Media Hub on Aug.12, 2020. Ambika participated in the Silent River Film Festival by composing four poems based on four different films. She also published a sestina titled "Svarna: Envoy to the New World" in Narrow Road Journal. 

Maja Trochimczyk with Cile Borman and "We Are Here" Anthology

In August 2020, I finished editing We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology (with Marlene Hitt), published to celebrate the 10th anniversary of monthly readings. Many CSPS poets appear in this volume, to mention only Margaret Saine, Ambika Talwar, Pamela Shea, Konrad Wilk and Kath Abela Wilson. I had two poems published in Polish on Pisarze.pl portal, selected to represent Polish-American émigré voices by Anna Maria Mickiewicz and Dorota Blaszak. My poem “Crystal Light of Crystal Mornings” is included in When the Virus Came Calling: COVID19 Strikes America anthology edited by Thelma T. Reyna. “A Breakup Story” appears in Spectrum No. 24 edited by Don Kingfisher Campbell. 

Thus, we all find our own ways of being of service to others, of service to the poetry world, and to the world at large that does not yet know the value of poetry in times of trouble.

By Maja Trochimczyk Ph.D.

CSPS President

NOTE: Photos of Big Tujunga stream and mountain sunflowers by Maja Trochimczyk

Submit Poems to Poetry Contests, Apply to Become Poet Laureate of El Cerrito, CA

 Submit Poems to CSPS Monthly Poetry Contests

This contest is open to all poets, whether or not they are members of the CSPS. Reading fees are $1.50 per poem with a $3.00 minimum for members and $3.00 per poem with a $6.00 minimum for non-members. Entries must be postmarked during the month of the contest in which they are entered. They must consist of a first page with all contact information (name, address, telephone number, and email address) and the titles of the poems being submitted. The pages of the poems you submit must have no identifying information on them at all. Submit entries and pay reading fees by mail to:

CSPS Monthly Contest – (Specify Month) 

CSPS P.O. BOX 4288 SUNLAND CA 91041-4288

Poems can also be submitted electronically to CSPSMonthlyContests@gmail.com.

All contests are blind judged by Alice Pero, Monthly Contest Chair. The 1st place winner receives half of the prize pool for pools less than $100. For pools of $100 or more, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners receive $50, $10 and $5, respectively. There are no exceptions to the prize disbursement rules. The monthly contest winners are announced on the website (CaliforniaStatePoetrySociety.org) and published on the CSPS Blog (CaliforniaStatePoetrySociety.com) as they are awarded. The winners for the year are listed in the CSPS Newsbriefs.

The current monthly contest topics are the following:

Month           Topic(s)

January         Nature, Seasons, Landscape, Ecology

February       Romance, Love, Emotions

March           Open Topic

April             Travel, History, Mythology, Other Cultures (other times, other places, alternate worlds)

May              Portraits, Persons, Characters (portraits of animals, objects, places with character)

June              Open Topic

July              Childhood, Memoir, Lessons of the Past

August         Humor, Satire, Joy of Life

September   Open Topic

October        War & Peace, Activism & Politics

November    Family, Friendship, Human Condition

December    Best of Your Best (winning or published poems only; indicate complete name of contest or publication and award/issue date and year)

All poems must be the original work of the poet, in English and, except for the December contest, previously unpublished. There is no limit to the number of poems one can submit, but each poem must be less than 80 lines (two pages). The monthly contest topics are published for each year in December of the previous year.

Apply to Poet Laureate Program of El Cerrito 

OPENS OCTOBER 5 AND CLOSES NOVEMBER 19, 2020

The City of El Cerrito announces the release of a Call for Artists for poets to serve as the City's poet laureate. Deadline to apply is Thursday, November 19, 2020 by 4 p.m.

The laureate will encourage the poetic energy of our community by creating and leading activities that inspire writing and performances of poetry among all age groups while initiating a dialogue between local poets, cultural organizations, and community institutions. In an effort to promote literature and the arts in the City, the laureate will bring attention to poetry in less-traditional settings and encourage residents in their writing and personal expression.

ELIGIBILITY

The poet laureate must:

  *   Be a resident or work full-time in the City of El Cerrito, CA

  *   Demonstrate a commitment to poetry writing, spoken word performance, and community involvement and outreach

  *   Be at least 21 years of age at time of application

  *   Be able to serve the full two-year term as laureate and maintain residency/work status in El Cerrito throughout the term

Honorarium: The laureate will receive a stipend of $4,000 for the two-year term.

Please visit: el-cerrito.org/poetlaureate This is a program of the El Cerrito Arts & Culture Commission

Illinois State Poetry Society Invites Submissions to Its 27th Annual Contests

The Illinois State Poetry Society organizes a number of poetry contests with cash prizes. 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. Eligibility. Contest is open to anyone.

2. Original work and unpublished. Not in print or published electronically.

3. Previous Awards. Poems which have  won monetary awards are ineligible.

4. Poem format

• • In English, typed or computer-generated, 12 or 14 point; no fancy fonts or illustrations.
• • 40-line limit, unless specified.
• • One single-spaced poem per  page, 8.5” x 11” white paper.
• 5. Titles. Except haiku, title all poems.

6. Awards. No poet can win two awards in the same category.

7. Submit two copies of each poem: 

• Originals. In the upper left-hand corner include: Number and name of contest; your name, address, e-mail, and phone number; the word “MEMBER” if you have current membership in ISPS. 
• Duplicates. In the upper left-hand corner include ONLY number and name of contest.  
• Two Stacks. Separate originals from duplicates and stack in numerical order with originals on top. 

Entry Fees • ISPS Members: $8 for up to 8 poems, $1 each additional poem. • NON-ISPS MEMBERS, $10, up to 8 poems, $1 each additional poem. 

SUBMISSION PERIOD

Submissions must be postmarked: September 1 to October 31, 2020. Mail submissions with check payable to Illinois State Poetry Society to: 

ISPS Contest % Jim Lambert

300 Twin Lakes Road

Carterville, IL 62918

For the winners’ list by mail, include a stamped, self-addressed envelope with your submission.

JOIN US or VISIT US...

For information on how to join ISPS or to see this year’s list of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and three honorable mention awards in each category, visit the website: www.illinoispoets.org

1. Free Verse Award, Sponsored by ISPS

• SUBJECT: Any • FORM: Free Verse • PRIZES: $50, $30, $15

2. Formal Verse Award, Sponsored by ISPS

• SUBJECT: Any • FORM: Any set form: (Identify the form at the top of the page)

• PRIZES: $50, $30, $15

3. Traditional Haiku (5-7-5) Award, Sponsored by ISPS 

• SUBJECT: Any • FORM: Traditional 5-7-5 haiku • PRIZES: $50, $30, $15

4. Modern Haiku Award, Sponsored by ISPS 

• SUBJECT: Any • FORM: Modern haiku • PRIZES: $50, $30, $15

5. ISPS Board Award, Sponsored by ISPS Board of Directors

• SUBJECT: Home, • FORM: Any, • PRIZES: $50, $30, $15

6. Fire & Police First Responders, Sponsored by Judith Tullis in honor of Chief Arthur A. Tullis & Lieutenant Steven A. Tullis

• SUBJECT: Fire & Police First  Responders, • FORM: Any, • PRIZES: $50, $30, $20

7. Wilda Morris Appreciation Award

Sponsored by Jim Lambert in honor of Wilda Morris for her work in ISPS and NFSPS

• SUBJECT: Humor, • FORM: Rhyming, • PRIZES: $50, $30, $20 • LINE LIMIT: 24

8. Swords and Ploughshares Award

Sponsored by Jo Balistreri, Wilda Morris and Michael Escoubas in honor of first responders in our COVID-19 crisis

• SUBJECT: Peace and justice, FORM: Any, • PRIZES: $50, $25, $15

9. Love and Marriage Award, Sponsored by Idella Edwards in honor of the 60th wedding anniversary of Jack and Idella Edwards, 1960-2020

• SUBJECT: Love and Marriage • FORM: Rhyming • PRIZES: $30, $20, $10

10. Nature Award, Sponsored by Donna Pucciani & Beth Staas in memory of Glenna Holloway

• SUBJECT: Nature • FORM: Free Verse • PRIZES: $25, $20, $10

11. Southern Chapter Award, Sponsored by ISPS Southern Chapter, Carbondale

• SUBJECT: Any • FORM: Any • PRIZES: $25, $20, $10

12. Highland Park Poetry Award, Sponsored by Highland Park Poetry 

• SUBJECT: Any • FORM: Huitain, 8 lines, ababbcbc  rhyme, 8 to 10 syllables per line

• PRIZES: $25, $20, $10

13. Down Home Cinquain Award, Sponsored by Gail Denham in memory of her mother, Thelma Huovinen Bottemiller

• SUBJECT: Home Life • FORM: Cinquain (2, 4, 6, 8, 2  syllables; rhyme optional)

• LINE LIMIT: 5 lines • PRIZES: $25, $15, $10

Pensylvania Poetry Society - 69th Annual Contest 

(postmark) Deadline January 15, 2021

~ Contest Rules ~

Deadline/Mailing: Entries must be postmarked between October 15, 2020, and January 15, 2021.

Send by first class mail to:

Pennsylvania Poetry Society

 Annual Contest c/o Ann Copeland,

 330 Powell Drive, Lancaster, PA 17601

Qualifications: All poems entered:

* Must be the contestant's original work.

* Must not be published in any form, nor under consideration for publication.

* Must not be reproduced and distributed in any form, except in workshops.

* Must not be entered in any other contest. 

* May be submitted in only one contest.

Entry Limits:

* Up to 5 poems may be submitted in Grand Prize Award – but only one prize per entrant.

* Only one poem may be submitted in each contest (see Grand Prize Award exception).

Entry Fees: Make checks payable, in U.S. Funds, to Pennsylvania Poetry Society, Inc or PPS, Inc -

– insufficient fees disqualifies entry.

For PPS Members:

* Grand Prize Award: $2 per poem.

* All contests except the Grand Prize Award: $1  per poem, $10 max. if entering more than 10.

For Non-Members of PPS:

* $3 per poem.

* non-members who join before 11/30/20 may  pay the PPS member entry fees.

* for information about membership, see the  PPS web pages at www.nfsps.com/pa

Entry Format: All poems must be:

* Titled – for non-titled forms, use the form in  quotes as your title, example “haiku.”

* Typed in English.

* On one side of 8 1/2” x 11” plain white paper.

*  Submit one original and one copy – photocopy is ok:

* Type name of contest at upper left on both copies

* On one copy only, at the upper right, type your  name, address, email address, and whether you

 are a PPS member or non-member 

* Any comments or writing on the unidentified  copy (judge's copy) will disqualify the poem

Enclose a separate cover sheet stating:

* Your name, address, email address, and whether  you are a PPS member or non-member.

* The name of each contest entered.

* The title of the poem entered in each contest.

* This signed statement: “This is my original  unpublished work. It is not under

 consideration in another contest nor for  publication.” A missing statement will

 disqualify the entries.

Poem length/line width – poems with more lines or longer lines will be disqualified:

* Grand Prize Award:

 Line limit: Poems have a 50 line limit which  includes title, epigrams, quotes, footnotes, and

 all lines and spaces between stanzas and text.  Line width: 60 characters per line including

 spaces between words and characters at the end  of the line. 

* All contests except the Grand Prize Award:

 Line limit: Poems have a 36 line limit unless  specified by Form. The 36 line limit includes

 title, epigrams, quotes, footnotes, and all lines  land spaces between stanzas and text.

 Line width: 60 characters per line including  spaces between words and characters at the end

 of the line. 

You may enclose:

 * A #10 SASE for a winners' list.

 * A SAS post-card for verification your entries  were received.

After entry, no poems may be withdrawn, and none will be returned – keep your own copies. Submitted

poems will be properly discarded after the PPS Spring Meeting.

PPS Responsibility: PPS is not responsible for any entries arriving late, lost in the mail, sent to a wrong

address, insufficient entry fees, or disqualified for failure to follow the rules. Entry fees for disqualified

entries will not be refunded. 

First Rights and Releases: PPS retains the first rights for publication of prize-winning poems in the PPS

Prize Poems book. Only poems that win First, Second, and Third Prizes will be published in the

book. Honorable Mention winners will be listed by name of poet, their poem or title will not be printed.

Winners: A winners' list will be e-mailed to contestants providing an e-mail address, mailed to

contestants providing a SASE, posted on the PPS website, around March 31, 2021, and mailed with the

April 2021 edition of Strophes (NFSPS newsletter). Only the top three (3) winners will receive award

checks and award certificates. Award checks and certificates will not be distributed before the PPS

Spring Meeting, and all winners who attend may read their winning poems. Details of the PPS Spring

Meeting are announced in the Spring edition of The Sylvan (PPS newsletter) and on the PPS website.

Prize Poems Books: The PPS Prize Poems book will be mailed to PPS members, non-member money

winners, and judges. Others may purchase copies of the book by contacting:

CONTEST CHAIR EMAIL: email: pps.poem.chair@gmail.com

WEBPAGE – www.nfsps.com/pa

Pennsylvania Poetry Society, Inc. was founded October 21, 1949

Grand Prize Award, Sponsor: PPS Endowments Fund

Prizes: $200, $100, $50; Form: Any – 50 line limit; Subject: Any significant subject

Wilbur Lee Fake, Sr. Memorial Award, Sponsor: Vicky Fake Weldon

Prizes: $75, $50, $25, Form: Any praise poem, rhymed (some slant rhyme is OK; no forms with

 refraining lines; no found poems); Subject: PA Wildlife, Nature, People,  Places – poem title must indicate the  Pennsylvania connection

Margaret Meagher Memorial Award, Sponsor: Michael Bourgo

Prizes: $50, $25, $15, Form: Free Verse, Subject: Ancestors, 

E. Jean Kishbaugh Memorial Award, Sponsor: Cadence Crafters

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Form: Rhymed & Metered, Subject: Environment

Leon Geoffrey Memorial Award, Sponsor: Carlisle Poets Workshop

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Form: Any – 28 line limit, Subject: Humorous

Dorothy Ana Barton Memorial Award, Sponsor: Mark Barton

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Form: Free Verse, Subject: Nature

William A. Hildebrandt Memorial Award, Sponsor: Mad Poets

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Form: Any, Subject: Art, Artists, Artistry

Christopher Polvinale Memorial Award, Sponsor: Sandra Polvinale

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Subject: Our World, Form: Any

Winifred G. McDowell Memorial Award, Sponsor: Linda Darkes

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Subject: Memories, Form: Any

Eleanor B. Lapham Memorial Award, Sponsor: Betsey Cullen

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Subject: Mothers, Form: Any

The Raven's Calling Award, Sponsor: Becky D. Alexander

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Form: Any, Subject: To Honor Trees - nothing about  their destruction e.g.: clear cutting

Robert K. Stern / Robert C. Heydenberk  Memorial Award, Sponsor: The Heydenberk Family

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Form: Any, Subject: Sea and Sand – any theme about  lakes, rivers, oceans, and/or the beach

Marjorie Thompson Cheyney Memorial Award, Sponsor: Cadence Crafters

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Form: A Traditional Sonnet – must be a  well-known and generally recognized

 traditional sonnet. Poet must name the  sonnet pattern and follow the pattern  requirements precisely.

Subject: Any

DeAnna Spurlock Honorary Award, Sponsor: Carlisle Poets Workshop

Prizes: $25, $15, $10, Form: Dramatic Monologue – Speaker  addresses Other or Others

Subject: Any

Photos from the garden of Maja Trochimczyk, 2020

California Quarterly on ZOOM - 46:1 Spring 2020 Edited by Margaret Saine, Oct 4 at 4:30 pm

 

Topic: CSPS Reading from California Quarterly 46:1, Ed. Margaret Saine

Time: Oct 4, 2020 04:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Manoscritto di una vita 2018 (Manuscript of a Lifetime) by Enzo Patti

With a beautiful cover featuring Manoscritto di una vita 2018 (Manuscript of a Lifetime) by Enzo Patti, this issue is a joy to behold. Congratulations to all the poets. And thanks to Margaret Saine for tirelessly translating poems from so many languages and connecting the California Quarterly to the whole world of poetry and poets.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Ah, the good news, in the plural! David Sapp, 2018 grant recipient of the Ohio Arts Council,
writes: “Thank you so much for publishing ‘Tree Frog’ in the California Quarterly. I am enjoying other portions of your wonderful publication. What a handsome issue!”

Hey, and which is David Sapp’s praised issue? I search high and low, because we don’t have a
cumulative alphabetical CQ poetry index yet, alas. It was my last issue, 44:4, he praised! And did not complain one peep about the translations, which I love doing. So I am doubly proud.

And here is a comment from another contributor: Terrence Sykes: ”Ute Margaret Saine, many thanx to you again for both my appear- ances in this little gem of a journal... I open the pages and read words of my friends from across the USA and around the world and many I don’t know, yet we are poetically kin.”

Yes, poetry’s long, embracing arms reach around the world, like a huge, loving octopus; poets talk to each other, no longer just whis- tling via Paris and New York, but across the globe. That’s what we want, don’t we?

Love and thanks to all the lovers of poetry!

Margaret

Don’t hesitate to email me, at umsaine@gmail.com, about anything.

Margaret Saine                                              
Irvine, California                                        

Nascita del Due del Libro e della Poesia, by Enzo Patti

TABLE OF CONTENTS

California Quarterly, Volume 46, Number 1, Spring 2020

1. de Agua Salada - Mario Zúñiga Núñez 7
2. from Salt Water - Margaret Saine,Tr. 7
3. Italy Meets Ivory Coast - Kalyna Temertey-Canta 8
4. Dejaste un papel amarillo... - Javier Campos 9
5. You left a yellow paper... - Margaret Saine,Tr. 9
6. Love in a Field of Miners’ Lettuce - Susan E. Gunter 10
7. Fata Morgana in a Field of Tarweed - Dave Seter 11
8. Dusk - Aidan Coleman 12
9. World of Dreams - Alessio Zanelli 13
10. View from the Ranch - Alice Pero 14
11. “golden leaves fluttering birds...” - Rebecca Anne Banks 14
12. Not Mine to Shape -  David Anderson 15
13. Interlude in the Trader Joe’s... -  Joanne Jagoda 16
14. Hiking After the Dinner Party - Chris Foster 17
15. Milton’s Fluid - d.p. houston 17
16. Мигът - Alexander Shurbanov 19
17. Moment - Alexander Shurbanov, Tr. 19
18. What’s Inside - Beth S. Pollak 20
19. I Was Wild Once - Gwynn O’Gara 21
20. Elevator -  Cathy Porter 22
21. Men at Work - Tasha Cotter 23
22. Kite  - Clarke Andros 24
23. Recuerdo - Alejandra Castellanos 25
24. Memory - Margaret Saine, Tr. 25
25. The Moon Is an Egret - Michael Montgomery 26
26. Melancholie - Karl Greisinger 27
27. Melancholy - Margaret Saine, Tr. 27
28. Committees - David Pratt 28
29. Home Front: A Remembrance - Jean Esteve 29
30. Politicians - Pande Manoylov 30
31. Del Origen - Otoniel Guevara 31
32. About the Origin - Margaret Saine, Tr. 31
33. No Cure - Claire Scott 32
34. The Road of Love - Timothy Fab-Eme 33
35. Armonia - Rita Stanzione 34
36. Harmony - Margaret Saine, Tr. 34
37. Stars Behind Your Eyes - Susan Richardson 35
38. Impara la tua arte... Claudia Russo 36
39. Learn your art... Margaret Saine, Tr. 37
40. Alertos emergen los verdes - Jeanie R. C. Toscano 38
41. Alert the greens emerge - Margaret Saine, Tr. 39
42. Epithalamion - John Blair 40
43. definitorio - Elizabeth Soto 41
44. in lieu of a definition - Margaret Saine, Tr. 41
45. Snowmelt - Marianne Karplus 42
46. A Second Look - John Schneider 42
47. Do the Garden Snails Know? - Lane Larson 43
48. de la utilidad de la poesía II - Eliécer Almaguer 44
49. on the usefulness of poetry II - Margaret Saine, Tr. 45
50. Sculpture - Lisa Shirley 46
51. Vision - Matthew J. Spireng 47
52. The Dame Who Marks Time - Marie Lecrivain 48
53. My Hollow Window - Marilynn Talal 49
54. Paying the Ferryman - Ruth Holzer 50
55. Door - Benjamin Nash 51
56. Mom & the Bridge - Kristin Lawrence 52
57. Wish - Patricia Nelson 53
58. When... Donald Fisher 54
59. Last Pomegranate - Maja Trochimczyk 55
60. Hai bevuto una spremuta - Terry Olivi 56
61. You drank a freshly squeezed - Margaret Saine, Tr. 57
62. Agonies of Sand - Savita Singh 58

Appunti di viaggio, by Enzo Patti (2018)

ABOUT THE EDITOR

CSPS SECRETARY  - MARGARET SAINE, Ph.D.

Ute Margaret Saine was born in Germany. After a Yale Ph.D. in French and Spanish, she taught languages, literature, and culture in California and Arizona, as well as writing and translating poetry in five languages. Since 1991, she has been a board member of the CSPS and a CQ editor since 1994. She also edits the CSPS Poetry Letter, now on the CSPS website, and formerly served twice as the CQ Annual Contest Chair. For ten years, until June 2019, she gathered all submissions from the Orange PO Box, distributing them to editors. 

Her poems have appeared in many journals here and abroad. She has published five books of poetry in English – Bodyscapes, Words of Art, Lit Angels, Gardens of the World  and A Book of Travel– as well as six haiku chapbooks in five languages. Four books of poems and a postwar childhood memoir have been published in Germany – Das Flüchtige bleibt (The Ephemeral Remains); Das Weite suchen (A Yen to Travel); Atem der Stille (The Breath of Silence); Ein Lied davon (Same Old Song); and Ungeschicktes Kind (Awkward Child). Searching for Bridges is a bilingual English-Arabic book of her poems edited by Palestinian poet and critic Nizar Sartawi. Saine’s poems in Italian are to be published in 2020. She has edited many CQ issues, most recently vol. 44, No. 4. 

http://moonrisepress.com/lit-angels-by-margaret-saine.html
http://moonrisepress.com/gardens-of-the-earth---saine.html

California Quarterly 46:3, Fall 2020, Edited by Terry Ehret

                                     

The fall 2020 issue of the California Quarterly was edited by Terry Ehret and published in September 2020. The cover is graced by a beautiful artwork sent in from Prague, Czech Republic: Mléčná dráha/Milky Way by Andrea Smišková Ehret. The previous issue of the CQ was edited by Maura Harvey and the next one will be edited by Maja Trochimczyk.

Editor’s Note

In these difficult and uncertain times, poetry can be healing and comforting. It can also encourage us to acknowledge our fears and isolation. This issue of California Quarterly has many poems that do just that, from capturing the everyday anxiety of shopping in Shawna Swetech’s “A Trip to Costco,” the disorientation of mandatory face coverings in James Piatts’s “Those Odd Masks,” and our conversations with the dead in Cathy Porter’s “To a Halt.” 

These last few months have also challenged us to re-examine racism and our nation’s violent history. Eliot Schain’s “Young Americans,” Andrew Miller’s “Letter in a Mine Field,” and Dane Cervine’s “America” turn spotlights on the questions of who we are and who we imagine we can be.  

There are poems of personal, excruciating loss, poems of tender intimacy, and poems about the generosity of the natural world. And, of course, there are poems about language itself, such as Gursahiba Gill’s “Panacea,” blending childhood memories with lessons in penmanship; and Ruth Holzer’s “Greek Glamour,” relishing a language in which “cold marble rhymes with rose.”  

I’ve also featured “The Circled Years,” by CQ Editor Nancy Cavers Dougherty, who stepped down this spring. For her years of dedicated service to the California State Poetry Society and her brilliant touch in shaping many issues of the California Quarterly, we thank her deeply.

The voices in this issue come to us from across the U.S. and around the world: Nigeria, Denmark, India, the UK, and Brazil. Among them you’ll discover intimations of hope that help us see our way through this time with faith in the human capacity to change. 

The cover art is Mléčná dráha/Milky Way, by Slovakian artist and art therapist Andrea Smišková Ehret, who lives and works in Prague. 

Terry Ehret, Editor

Petaluma, California 

Mléčná dráha/Milky Way   by Andrea Smišková Ehret, Prague, Czech Republic

Table of Contents

California Quarterly, Volume 46, Number 3

As Long as You - Sandra Kolankiewicz  7

Chaparral Diane Lee Moomey  8

Crossing Over Carla Schick  8

Truth — Camille Kantor  9

Insatiably Satiated — Sean MicKael Wilson  9

Icarus, My Child  — Basha Hirschfeld  10

After Waking — Leslie Hendrickson-Baral  11                                                             

words said at a crossroads —  Mayowa Oyewale  12

Co-Existence — Carla Schick  12

A Trip to Costco — Shawna L. Swetech  13

Kintsugi — D.K. Borowitz   14

The Turning — Ken Autrey 15

Letter in a Mine Field — Andrew Miller 16

Exile — Claire Drucker 17

America — Dane Cervine  18

On the Anniversary of the LA Riots — Philip Asaph  19

Young Americans — Eliot Schain 20

Oh, Sloping Land — Carol Griffin 21

I Had Chosen — Amy Moore  22

Samson — Iain Twiddy 23

Panacea — Gursahiba Gill  24

Negotiations with a Gorgon — Dovilè Meliauskaitè  25

I Invited a Rock, When I Should … — Abigail Selby 26

Summer Trip to Death Valley — Jianqing Zheng 27

Just Cold — Selina Whiteley 28

Is About — Jenny Kempf 29

When Matryoshka Dolls Take … — Rikki Santer 30

Mother Says I Have to Suffer … — Joan Gerstein 31

Those Odd Masks — James Piatt 32

Lyngby Sø  — Michael Pearce 33

Big River  — Joseph Murphy            34

A Kings River Scene at Laton — Bill Simmons 35

New Home — Raphael Block 35

River Road — Penel Alden 36

The Pink — Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue 37

If I were a poet, I would have known — Mariana Kovalic Silva 38

Meditation — Thomas Dorsett 39

the sound  —  Renée Owen 39

Schenectady — John Hazard 40

A Bird Sings — Susan Coronel 41

Cypress  — William Snyder Jr. 42

Ben Brown Answers the Fatalists  —  Michael Spence 43

Playing from Memory   — Frederick Wilbur 44

νησί των γατών (Isle of Cats)  —  Mark Osaki 45

pulse of cricket song —  Renée Owen 45

Greek Glamour — Ruth Holzer 46

Analog — Raynald Nayler 47

Dear Grandfathers — Matthew Williams  48

I Can See It in My Daughters’ Eyes — Livingston Rossmoor  49

Pharaoh’s Boat — Jane Stuart  50

Garden — Warren Slesinger 51

The Tomato Cage — John P. Kristofco 52

After Eons — Amy Trussell 53

To a Halt  — Cathy Porter  54

Thoughts from a Moving Train  — Marilyn Robertson 55

Days of Consequence   — Jean Esteve 56

The Circled Years — Nancy C. Dougherty 57

Permission — Sandra Anfang  58

Contributors in Alphabetical Order  59

CSPS Contest Opportunities 60

Newsbriefs 2020, No. 3 61

Publishing Opportunities with CSPS 65

2020 CSPS Donors and Patrons 66

CSPS Membership and Patron Information 67

CSPS Membership Form  68

The Editor - Terry Ehret

Terry Ehret is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Night Sky Journey. Her poems and poetry books have won a number of literary awards over the past several decades, including the National Poetry Series and the California Commonwealth Club Book Award, and four Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. With a BA from Stanford and an MA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State, she has taught college and private seminars on poetry and writing for many years and presently offers workshops at the Sitting Room, a community library in Penngrove, California. Terry is one of the founders of the Sixteen Rivers poetry publishing collective in the San Francisco Bay Area; from 2004-2006 she served as Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, where she teaches writing. In the summers she leads writing-travel programs in Ireland, Wales, and Tuscany. In 2018, she received an NEA translation fellowship and is working on a project with John Johnson and Nancy Morales to translate the collected poems of Mexican writer Ulalume Gonzalez de Leon. The first volume of Plagios/Plagiarisms was released this year, with volumes 3 and 4 due out in 2022 and 2024.