On the Poetry Scene* Year-End Announcements & Updates

 

Happy Holiday Season!

As the year comes to a close, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your support, time, readership and sharing of gifts in 2022.

It has contributed greatly to Poets United's overall success and longevity.

Below are a few events and programs that may be of interest to those of you in the poetry community. Please feel free to share your own events as well via the comments section.

•  Poets United is slated to participate in Chicago Public Library's annual Poetry Fest to be held in April, 2023. This week-long event will feature some of the best talent in the Windy City. Activities include: educational workshops, poetry readings, business panels, poetry vendors and more. Stay tuned for details.

• Highland Park Poetry is holding a Poetry Challenge. Their website provides the following info: " POETRY CHALLENGE. Now accepting submissions for Highland Park Poetry's 2023 Poetry Challenge. Poets of all ages are invited to write about 1) Flowers, or 2) Architecture (honoring the 300th anniversary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren - may write about any architect or piece of architecture), or 3) write a poem in the form of a Japanese Imayo. Deadline is January 31, 2023 at midnight. For downloadable .pdf of submission guidelines and entry form, visit our Daily Poems & Events Page."

• Poets United seeks applicants for the Robin Denise  Williams' Memorial Writing Scholarship.  In our mission to advance poetry, foster greater appreciation for the creative arts, and support emerging writers and poets, Poets United is currently seeking applications for its Robin Denise Williams Memorial Writing Scholarship for 2022-2023. Read more here:

https://poetsunitedtoadvancethearts.blogspot.com/2021/12/poets-united-seeks-applicants-for-robin.html

Deadline is January 31, 2023. Submit essay along with contact info to Coffeejens@gmail.com.

Scholarship recipient will be notified and awarded funds in early 2023.

• New Verse is looking for poetry on current events and trending topics. See their guidelines here:

https://www.newpages.com/guide-submission-opportunities/calls-for-submissions-new-verse-news-current-events-poetry/

Nominate your favorite Chicago Poet for Poetry Laureate designation.

• The City of Chicago is launching a program to select its 1st Poet Laureate.

$50,000 will be awarded to the chosen individual. See more details here:

  https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/poet_laureate.html

Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and prosperous 2023. This blog will be on break until February, 2023.  Hope to see you then! 

Image credits: Pixabay.com

Ode to Toni Morrison* A Highland Park Poetry Review

 

As poets and writers, putting our work out into the public arena makes us vulnerable. It exposes us like a swim suit model. It makes us crazy.  We agonize over what people will think of us. We agonize over our choices.

We face potential criticism. We risk being judged. People can be unkind in their feedback. Not to mention, some folks simply fail to get where we are coming from. They miss the message. Critics would be surprised to learn that it's harder than it looks.

And let's face it: art is subjective. "One man's trash is another man's treasure." Which is why I was honored and humbled with today's review of my recent book by Highland Park Poetry.

Reviewer Barbara Eaton shares the following:

There is no dross in the poetry of Jennifer Brown Banks.  Direct, to-the-point, intelligent, and often witty, her poems speak to her experience and ours.  Her latest book, “Ode to toni morrison” (and collected poems...) covers the pandemic, the death of her mother, the deaths of Toni Morrison and the artist formerly known as Prince, the joys and fears of parenting, what she calls the “Daddy Deficit,” and many more of the trials and triumphs of life.

The title poem, “Ode to Toni Morrison,” expresses the poet’s wish to have met the Nobel Laureate “Perhaps in some/Quaint coffee shop,/ With an assortment of herbal teas/ And pricey brews,” the young poet “Full of awe and admiration,” “Hoping to emulate.”  But, alas, this meeting never took place, since Morrison passed away in 2019.  Her works, however, remain “Etched/ In our hearts.”

“Ain’t it Silly? Really!” is a clever little poem about the trivial reasons for family feuds:

“because they disagree,

Over ancient history.

Or money. 

Or sibling rivalry. 

Or hurtful words               

Uttered mistakenly."

My favorite poem in the collection is “Parenting is Like Baking a Cake.”  It is a conceit, an elaborate comparison of cake baking and parenting.  The conclusion is characteristically optimistic: you “hope/It rises.” 

I enjoyed the poet’s energy and optimism.  If you need a shot of energy and optimism, you need this book. 

===ABOUT THE REVIEWER: Barbara Eaton is a poet and semi-retired community college instructor.

To read the entire review or to order the book, visit Highland Park Poetry's site here:

http://www.highlandparkpoetry.org/reviewsthanks.html

 A special thanks to Highland Park Poetry and Barbara Eaton for their time, consideration, and constructive feedback.  

Image credit: quotation mark, Pixabay.com

Poetry Corner* Dr. Archan Mehta

 

Poem : What Is Creativity?

Creativity is something

I can’t figure out:

Creativity is both a

Mystery and a process:

I picked up a pen

And tried to create a poem,

But I really felt stumped.

My fingers would not

Move at all. Truth be told,

I think I suffered from “writer’s block.”

But suddenly, when I ventured outside

For a stroll, well, the poem

Wrote itself: my pen flowed

With effortless ease. Thus,

Creating a poem is not a

Question of hard work or even

Mankind’s indomitable will.

After all, when you are in the mood,

Creativity starts to flow with the

Power of a Niagra Falls.

When the muse decides

To visit you, finally, you need

To fill your vessel with rhythm and music.

Creativity annihilates your ego and

You are left alone: there is

Something in here and out there,

Which is unfathomable like an

Unexplored ocean pulsating

With turbulent waters but fills

You like a balloon. And you

Are filled with a sense of awe

And wonder in your eyes, the

Enchantment of an eternal sunrise.

And then, creativity, all of a sudden,

Dies quietly like friends and relatives

Mourning silently at a funeral.

BIO:

Dr. Archan Mehta has earned a PhD. in Management. Currently, he is a Consultant and Writer based in India. In his free time, Dr. Mehta likes to stroll in the outdoors and party with close friends. He is also fond of meditation. Please feel free to reach out to the poet at archanm@hotmail.com at your convenience