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.

Suzanne Lummis - New Honorary Member of CSPS at Bolton Hall, October 27, 2019

Bolton Hall Museum, Photo by Kathabela Wilson

The Board of Directors of the California State Poetry Society is delighted to announce its decision to award Honorary Membership in the Society to Suzanne Lummis, Poet, Teacher, Writer, Editor, Impresario.  The decision was made unanimously during the Board meeting on May 18, 2019 in Yorba Linda.

The presentation of the Honorary Membership Certificate as well as a Featured Poetry Reading by Ms. Lummis 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). There will be some time for open mike readers and refreshments will be served.

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

Village Poets with Melissa Studdard, featured poet and Suzanne Lummis

L to R: seated: Alice Pero, Cindy Rinne, Melissa Studdard, Kathabela and Rick Wilson, Taura Scott.

L to R standing. Maja Trochimczyk, Elena Secota, Hilda Weiss, Armineh, Joe DeCenzo, 

Lois P. Jones, Susan Rogers, Elaine Lipkin, Mary Fitzpatrick, Elsa Frausto, Pamela Shea. June 23, 2019.

Call for Submissions for Poems about Gratitude, Harvest, Fruit for CQ 45 No. 3

The fall issue of the California Quarterly will be dedicated to poems about gratitude, harvest (in a positive sense), fruit, fruition, maturity, wisdom...  As the editor I (Maja Trochimczyk) decided to add a theme to create a focus for the issue. I do one every two years or so, and having a theme seems like more fun.

All submissions are due by June 30, 2019, using Submittable.com. Submission instructions are below:

https://www.californiastatepoetrysociety.com/p/submission.html

More information about the editor, CSPS Acting President is here:
https://www.californiastatepoetrysociety.com/p/president.html

Here are some Thanksgiving and Harvest poems that I found:
http://poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-are-we-thankful-for-autumn-leaves.html

And here's a silly poem about eating pears:

A Pear in a Tree 

In a fruit orchard
By the sandy path
I climbed a pear tree
To watch the road
Melt into the horizon

I ate a golden pear
Juice stained my dress
My day dream of white
softness cut short
by the buzzing of wasps

They, too, longed for
The fruity sweetness
Of warm summer pears
They, too, dreamed
Of endless sunlight.

(c) 2012 by Maja Trochimczyk

Or if one pear is not enough, perhaps a Box of Peaches?

A Box of Peaches

You locked your Wisdom in a gilded box
Placed dainty copper flowers
Where metal bars cross, to hold them

You made a window for Compassion
To look out onto the silent world
Glowing with the Unseen

Would the talisman of the Smiling One
In your pocket save you? Draw luck
To your game of cards?

Let it be. Let the ancient words fall
On a carpet of bronze petals on your path
Dappled with tree shadows

Walk slowly through the magic
Orchard filled with an avalanche of peaches,
Ripening in scarlet sunrays

Stoop down to pick one, feel its warmth
In your hand, taste the mellow richness
Beneath the fuzzy, wrinkled skin

Say to no one in particular
The sun maybe, or the tree, or this late hour –
Thank you, yes, thank you very much

© 2011 by Maja Trochimczyk

California Quarterly 45:1, Spring 2019, Edited by Maura Harvey

California Quarterly 45:1, Spring 2019

Cover Art: Blue Ice by Marion Wang

EDITOR'S NOTE

Poets from many parts of the United States and the world send work to California Quarterly, and so the task of editing became an international experience as I read and edited, sitting here in the southernmost tip of our state. The poets have responded with passion to what they see and feel.

Some poems sing of California life, as does Clara McGill in “Scenes by the Pepper Tree”; others range as far as the Middle East, like L. B. Miller in “Game of Plastic.” Several consider the art of writing as in David Anderson’s “a pantoum to be titled” and Claudia Chapline’s “Here Now.”

Many write about the state of our world and its future, as we see in Sharon Fain’s “What Will You Do” and Joanne Sharp’s “don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” Those of us who live near the border with Mexico feel keenly the situations facing other parts of the world. The entire state of California, along the Pacific Coast, relates to and connects to Asia and beyond in a singular and powerful way.

Two poets included here have chosen action through poetry to express their concern for the larger world. Joe Milosch, in “Great Uncle Tierney,” and Jim Moreno, in “A Lifetime in a Cup of Tea,” are members of the San Diego/Tijuana ReEvolutionary Poets Brigade, a bilingual/binational poetry circle. The Brigade collects food and holds poetry readings at Enclave Caracol in Tijuana; then they donate the collection made to that cafe to “Food Not Bombs, Tijuana,” which feeds the homeless in that city. Along with Tijuana poets, these Californians help counter racism against Mexico.

As poets share their work, we see the power that poetry can exert. I am grateful to play a part in this common experience as we continue our poetic journey together.

Maura Harvey California Quarterly

Oceanside, California Volume 45, Number 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

California Quarterly, Volume 45, Number 1

Go to the Blue Oak - Dave Seter 7
Prism at Sunrise - Marganne Glasser 8
My Clarity - Lea Aschkenas 9
Scenes by the Pepper Tree - Carla McGill 10
Here Now - Claudia Chapline 12
Untitled Haiku - Elizabeth Yahn Williams 12
a pantoum yet to be titled - David Anderson 13
Who Will Inherit Our Earth? - James Deahl 14
Phoenix - Steve Denehan 15
The Formula for Success - Matthew J. Spireng 15
અક્ષર - Piyush Thakkar 16
Letter -  Dileep Jhaveri (Tr.) 17
Old Westerns and a Fistful...- Neal Zirn 18
Autumn Sunlight - 3 Tanka - Jane Stuart 19
Sixty - Doris Padilla 20
Day Dream - Michael J. Shepley 20
A Man at Sixty - Warren Slesinger 21
Great Uncle Tierney - Joseph Milosch 22
What Will You Do - Sharon Fain 23
Recordando Sus Pasos - Brian Kirven 24
Remembering His Steps - Brian Kirven (Tr.) 25
Assisted Living - Joanne Sharp 26
A Walk in the Woods - Diane Funston 27
Brevity - Brenda Yates 28
Untitled Haiku - Elizabeth Yahn Williams 29
Dawn - Liz Dossa 30
A Sense of Direction - Mai-Lon Gittelsohn 31
A Lifetime in a Cup of Tea - Jim Moreno 32
On a Painting by Chagall - David Denny 33
Game of Plastic - L. B. Miller 34
Fall Sweep - Gwen Monohan 35
Seagulls - Dion O’Reilly 36
Out of the Blind - Stephen Ajay 37
Investment Advice - AE Hines 38
My Head Under Construction - Amanda Lewis 39
An Old Story - Al Zolynas 40
Sometimes I Can’t Watch... - Marty Walsh 41
The Bears - Kristin Ruth Lawrence 42
Collecting Cuyas - Tomás Gayton 43
Mt. San Jacinto, Sunrise - Peter Hein 44
The Cruel One - Dennis B. Ledden 44
Bats at Twilight Penny Perry 45
don’t know what you’ve got... - Joanne Sharp 46
Widow Ellen - Tovatt Leary 47
It’s Her Way - Gary Metheny 48
* - Simon Perchik 49
Customer Service Has Its Limits - George J. Searles 50
Hoarding Time - Claire Scott 51
The Dance - Sandy Carpenter 52
Winding Down - John Forrest Harrell 52
Untitled Haiku - Elizabeth Yahn Williams 53
Farewell to Bristol - Michael J. Shepley 53
Hollywood Glamour V... - David E. Spiering 54
Nasturtium - Patricia Nelson 55
Assumptions - Cathy Porter 56
Without Rain - 4 - Daniel Thomas 57
Solstice - John P. Kristofco 58

ABOUT THE EDITOR

MAURA HARVEY

Maura Harvey is a bilingual poet, author and artist who has lived in California since 1950. She holds a Ph.D. in Latin American Literature from UC Irvine. Her poetry in both Spanish and English has appeared widely. Dr. Harvey is a founder of Taller del mar, a monthly poetry workshop with members from Tijuana and San Diego. She feels very proud to have published a poetry anthology in Barinas, Venezuela, in 1993 and to have been able to meet Venezuelan and Cuban poets personally while travelling in those countries. She has exhibited her art in many venues in California and had a show in Instanbul, Turkey, in 2006. She joined the editorial board of the California Quarterly in 1999, editing many issues and serving for years also as Secretary of the CSPS and as the CSPS Annual Contest Chair. Most recently, she edited the second issue of the CQ for 2017 (Vol. 43, No. 2).

Call for Submissions - Annual Poetry Contest 2019

California State Poetry Society announces its Annual Poetry Contest 2019

Submissions  are accepted March 1st – June 30th, 2019. The winners receive $100, $50, $25 awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Places, plus publication in the California Quarterly, Vol. 45 No. 4 (2019 Fall)
The winners will be announced in October 2019.

The Annual Poetry Contest Judge is Lisa Rosenberg.  She holds degrees in physics and creative
writing and worked for many years in engineering. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry Stanford University, she was San Mateo County Poet Laureate in 2017-2018. Her poetry appears
in The Threepenny Review, Poetry Magazine, Southwest Review and elsewhere. Her poetry collection A Different Physics was awarded the 2017 Red Mountain Poetry Prize.
https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/lisa_rosenberg

Upload your poems and pay reading fees at: http://www.californiastatepoetrysociety.org. In order to submit your poems you have to first REGISTER as a site user, after that more windows open and the submission is easy...

OR

Send a cover letter with all poet information and a list of the submitted poems, one copy of each poem with no poet identification to:

CSPS Annual Contest Chair
3371 Thomas Drive
Palo Alto, California 94303

Reading fees: Members, $3.00/poem; Non-members, $6.00/poem
80-line (two-page) limit/poem

Newsbriefs 45:1, Spring 2019

It is with great pleasure that I’m sharing with all of the California poets news about recent activities of the California State Poetry Society and its members. I have been elected Acting President of the CSPS in late February 2019, taking over this position from Dr. John F. Harrell, who remains on the Executive Board as Treasurer and Web Master, but will no longer serve as one of two Managing Editors of the California Quarterly, nor as the Acting President of CSPS.

I’m honored and grateful to be selected to this important position and I will do my best to serve all poets associated with the CSPS and the CQ. I hope to help everyone share the best of their poetry with the world of readers. In my work, I will continue to rely on the support and guidance of John F. Harrell, Pearl Karrer, Margaret Saine, Richard Deets, and all the editors of our wonderful journal. I am especially grateful to Margaret Saine, who invited me first to submit to the CQ, then to become one of the editors. I owe thanks to Pearl Karrer who helped me format my very first issue of CQ, and to Dr. John F. Harrell who shared some of his rich knowledge about the history and workings of this wonderful organization.

The second major personnel change has been caused by the retirement of Keith Van Vliet from his twin positions of Vice President of Communications and Chair of Monthly Contests. I am delighted to share with you the news that our new Vice President of Communications will be Richard Modiano, Director Emeritus of Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice, CA.

Elected Executive Director of Beyond Baroque in 2010, Modiano is a writer, curator, and editor. In 2007 he produced Beyond Baroque’s “On the Road” 50th Anniversary Production and in 2009 he produced the marathon reading and panel discussion of “William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch at 50.” He was on Board of Directors for Valley Contemporary Poets from 1997-2005 and served as Board President in 2004-2005. His poems have been published in Blue Satellite, Big Scream, Maintenant, Mas Tequila Review, Malpais Review, the Los Angeles Cultural Weekly, and he is a contributor to The Bukowski Anthology. Modiano has been elected unanimously by e-mail vote and we are very pleased to gain his expertise and experience to help CSPS spread its wings. He will also serve as the Chair of Monthly Poetry Contests, and will be assisted in judging the submissions by another wonderful California poet, Alice Pero as Co-Chair of Monthly Contests.

Alice Pero’s work has been published in over 40 journals and anthologies (including CQ 44:1) and her first book of poetry, Thawed Stars (1999), was hailed by Kenneth Koch as having "clarity and surprises." Her recent chapbook Sunland Park Poems, co-written with Elsa Frausto, is a lovely example of what poetry of place could be at its best. Pero is also an accomplished flutist as well as a teacher of poetry to grade school children and she has developed a unique curriculum that utilizes her experience with music. In October 2002, she founded a poetry reading, Moonday (now at Flintridge Bookstore in La Canada), which she co-produces with Lois P. Jones.

The third major news item about CSPS is the use of Submittable as the preferred way of submitting poems to the CQ editors. With six to eight editors and rotating contact information, poems have been submitted for publication in many different ways – snail mail, email to various editors, and online submissions. The Executive and Editorial Boards voted “YES” and we are shifting to the electronic format for one year in order to try it out. In the transition period, we will still accept other submission formats, while encouraging the use of Submittable (www.submittable.com).

The most recent issue of the California Quarterly, edited by Margaret Saine was welcomed with praise by readers, including the following comment from contributor Terrence Sykes: “Many thanks to you again for both my appearances in this little gem of a journal.” I praised the volume as “passionate and courageous” and revealing the diversity of poetic interests of our Editors that is one of the strengths of the CQ – Saine’s passion being translations.

NEWS ABOUT CSPS MEMBERS 

Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California, edited by Lucille Lang Day (long time CSPS member) and Ruth Nolan, has been published by Scarlet Tanager Press. Here’s a link to a review: https://baynature.org/…/an-ecopoetry-collection-that-artic…/.

CSPS member Stephanie Pressman has had her long poem, “Lovebirdman,” published in an illustrated volume, available on Amazon.

CQ Managing Editor, Pearl Karrer will have her poem, “The Leather Shoe,” appear in the May/June 2019 issue of SLANT. 

CSPS member Kathabela Wilson continues her poetry column in Pasadena newspaper, Colorado Boulevard, www.coloradoboulevard.net, and her service as Secretary of Tanka Society of America, and as President of Poets of Site group in Pasadena, that published over 30 anthologies of poetry inspired by art.

CSPS member Pamela Shea, Poet Laureate of Sunland Tujunga, continues bringing poetry to the most unlikely places – not just schools, libraries, and art exhibits, but also relay races or coffee shops.

Our CQ poet Alun Rees now has his poems available online at https://poetalunwilliamrees.wordpress.com/.

A CQ poet and new member of CSPS, Eliecer Almaguer has founded a Latino poetry group in Santa Ana. It is called Taller Literario Arymex and introduces poets wanting to write in Spanish to the plethora of Spanish and Latin American poets they were never able to read during their school years.

Finally, some news about your President: In June 2018, I was elected President of Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club in Los Angeles for 2018-2020 and, due to this role, I was invited to give a talk “Who Was Helena Modjeska?” on March 28, 2019 to over 100 attendees at the Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach, on the occasion of an exhibit of a unique fairy-tale written and illustrated in 1896 by the famous Polish-American actress, director, producer, and celebrity.

After editing CQ 44:1 I finished editing (with Kathi Stafford) the Grateful Conversations anthology of my writing group, Westside Women Writers (Moonrise Press, May 2018). A wonderful review has just been published by Michael Escoubas in Quill and Parchment, April 2019. Then, I translated Andrzej Wendland’s Górecki, Penderecki. Diptych (Moonrise Press, 2018). Three essays about Polish American composers appeared in 100 lat muzycznej emigracji, a dictionary edited by Marlena Wieczorek in Polish (MEA Kultura, 2018). My article on “American Years of Alexandre Tansman (1941-1946)” was published in English and Polish in Homage to Tansman by the University of Wrocław, Poland (2018, 2019, ed. Anna Granat-Janki). My poems appeared in Spectrum, vol. 17 (December 2018) and vol. 18 (April 2019); Quill and Parchment (August 2018); Collateral Damage anthology from Glass Lyre Press (2018); Eclipse Moon, anthology of Southern California Haiku Study Group (2018), and other collections and journals.

As you see I like being busy, and I’ll be very content to work with all of you to strengthen and grow the CSPS and our wonderful California Quarterly.

~ Maja Trochimczyk, Ph.D., Acting President of CSPS