Carolyn Rose Garcia of Notre Dame High School, Harrison County, West Virginia, was one of the 12 finalists in the national Poetry Out Loud finals, according to the Poetry Foundation. She won a $1,000 scholarship prize and her school received $500 for poetry books.
ABZ, A Poetry Magazine, is continuing its poetry prize for a first book of poems.
In 2007, David Baker selected “Postcard on Parchment” by Christine Stewart-Nuñez. That book has just been published and is available from ABZ Press, from your local bookstore or from an online source.
Gary Snyder has won the 2008 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a $100,000 lifetime achievement award from the Poetry Foundation. The prize will be presented at the Arts Club of Chicago on May 20, 2008.
Snyder’s many awards include the Pulitzer Prize in 1975 for “Turtle Island.” His “Plain Talk” in the back of that book is as extraordinary now as it was then.
Bring your poems. Bring your friends. The West Virginia Poetry Society online lists a couple of upcoming events:
– A poetry and politics poetry reading, open mic and haiku contest, 6:30 p.m., Thursday, May 8, 2008. Hosted by hosted by Randy Elsea. Among those scheduled to perform are Crystal Good, Tuesday Taylor, Holly Cross, John James, Patience Deweese, Dave Roberts and Elliot Roseberry. Sponsored by The Covenant House, The West Virginia Poetry Society, Keep Your Faith Corporation, The West Virginia Mental Health Consumer’s Association and The MiC Group.
– Memorial Day poetry reading and open mic, 6 p.m., Saturday, May 24, 2008. Sign-up begins at 5 p.m. Sponsored by WV Mental Health Consumer’s Association, The MiC Group, and The West Virginia Poetry Society.
For locations, phone contacts and other information about these events, click here.
Press release
Ten soon-to-be graduates of West Virginia University’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program will give a free, public reading at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 1, 2008, in Room 130 of Colson Hall on WVU’s Downtown Campus.
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Probably because way back I first heard of Wendell Berry as a poet — and I knew little about his farming, his academic life and other writings, less perhaps about his being an ecologist — and probably because “The Peace of Wild Things” is one of my favorite poems, I think poets and others in West Virginia might appreciate what Berry said at a huge rally in Frankfort, Ky., on Valentine’s Day this year. The Herald-Leader received a flood of letters for not giving more attention to the speech and the vital issues Wendell Berry the poet, the environmental defender, brought forth. For some of these reasons, I think poetry blog readers might find this speech instructive inasmuch as it is as clear a message as a poet can give about mountaintop removal and readers’ relationships with the health of place and community. I’ve uploaded the speech in two parts from YouTube.
Ah, brevity! Appalachian haiku from the poet laureate of Abingdon, Virginia….
Holly Cross, WV Poetry Society president, thought MountainWord readers might be interested in this event:
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UUC Sunday Service - 11 a.m.
April 27: Pianfetti Poetry Sunday
In honor of long-time Unitarian Universalist Congregation member and poetry-lover Lucille Pianfetti, we close out National Poetry Month by sharing poems and the importance of poetry in expressing what is going on in our lives. We have Haiku Poetry written by Lucille. We are looking for poems you have written or ones that are especially meaningful to you that you would like to share. In keeping with the theme of concern for our earth, we encourage you to share poems with a nature or earth-centered theme. If you would like to share a poem (yours or someone else’s), please get in touch with us (http://www.uucharlestonwv.org/)
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HUNTINGTON – Marshall University Theatre will present William Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at 8 p.m. daily April 23-26 at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center on the Huntington campus.
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