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A Common Wealth of Poetry The newsletter of The Poetry Society of Virginia January 2008 www.PoetrySocietyOfVirginia.org Email address: PoetryInVA@aol.com From Our President Happy New Year, Everyone! I hope each and every one of you has had a delightful, memorable holiday season, and will be surprised, delighted and blessed with every day of this new year. May you have much to remember, and much to anticipate, all with joy and eagerness. I hope you took advantage of the Book List in the November newsletter, and that you’ll continue to hang onto it. It’s a handy reference for birthday gifts, for something to please your mind as you settle by the fire during the winter, for something to take to the beach when summer comes. Don’t lose it! . Also, if you haven’t entered the annual contest yet, don’t let any more time go by! We have more categories than ever, some with very generous prizes. Our Contest Committees have chosen some outstanding judges, and there are new subject and form specifications, to exercise your imagination. Postmark deadline is January 19, so don’t let the opportunity get away from you.. We do have some exciting news. After two years of efforts, thanks to Ed Lull’s persistence, it appears we are going to be represented at the Virginia Festival of the Book in March. We expect our program featuring the DVD and book on Four Virginia Poets Laureate to be presented in this year’s festival. Thank you so much for your efforts, Ed! The Executive Committee will be meeting on February 9; if you have any suggestions or questions that you would like to have considered, please get in touch with your Regional Vice-President, and let us know what’s on your mind. This is your Society. It can only be a vital organization if the needs of our members are nourished, and that means you. If you’ve been wishing for something from the organization, please let us know, so we can work to make your wish come true. Thank you all for the enthusiasm and interest you continue to show in the Poetry Society of Virginia. Sincerely, Patsy Anne Bickerstaff ________________________________________________ Short Notes Future Meeting Dates Mar. 15, 2008 Northern Region Apr. 19, 2008 Central (Cont. Awards) May 16-18, 2008 Williamsburg Festival EMAIL delivery of your newsletter More than seventy-five members have signed up for electronic only delivery of the newsletter. This saves us more than $100 monthly, money that can go to projects such as our poetry in the schools programs. Many thanks to those of you who have signed up for email delivery. Look over the newsletter on the web site. Think. Sign up! ________________________________________________ News About Members The 76th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition, that drew over 19,000 entries, selected Ed Lull's Mid-Winter Encounter for Honorable Mention in the Non-rhyming Poem category. Louisa Igloria’s manuscript, Juan Luna’s Revolver, won the Sandeen Prize and will be published by the Notre Dame University Press. Pete Freas was honored as Individual Volunteer of the year by the Cultural Alliance of greater Hampton Roads. Members Nathan Richardson and Bob Arthur both read at the awards gala in Virginia Beach. ________________________________________________ Interesting Quote Ted Kooser in Midwest Quarterly, 1999. “Every stranger’s tolerance for poetry is compromised by much more important demands on his or her time. Therefore, I try to honor my reader’s patience and generosity by presenting what I have to say as clearly and succinctly as possible… Also, I try not to insult the reader’s good sense by talking down; I don’t see anything to gain by alluding to intellectual experiences that the reader may not have had. I do what I can to avoid being rude or offensive; most strangers, understandably, have a very low tolerance for displays of pique or anger or hysteria. Being harangued by a poet rarely endears a reader. I am extremely wary of over cleverness; there is a definite limit to how much intellectual showing off a stranger can tolerate.” ________________________________________________ Festival of the Book The Poetry Society of Virginia will be an integral part of the 2008 Festival of the Book, sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and held in Charlottesville next March. Program details will be worked out in the next two months, but it will be featuring our Poets Laureate as presenters. Those who attended the Poets Laureate program at our PSV festival in May 2004 will recall what an excellent experience that was. The event will take place in the Performing Arts Center in Charlottesville High School (seats 1100), Thursday, March 27, 2008, from 2:00-4:00pm. Put this one on your calendar in ink. ________________________________________________ Meet Virginia’s Poets #15 in the series offered to Virginia’s newspapers Bette Woolsey Castro, of Williamsburg, is a graduate of the University of Arizona. She is the author of the best-selling poetry book, The Wildflower, whose royalties go to support the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. She is a member of the Williamsburg Poetry Guild and The Poetry Society of Virginia. Wildflowers They grow in random, scattered splendor, A magical blending of the land’s bright hues; Stretching across the hills and valleys In never-ending majesty. We call these magic flowers wild - Wild because they scorn man’s power And live and thrive without his care, Wild because through drought and storm They ride the winds to bring the seasons That lift the heart. A glorious tapestry, God’s own needlepoint! Forever brilliant, Forever wondrous, Forever wild! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #16 in the series offered to Virginia’s newspapers Nan Byrne of Virginia Beach is the author of Uncertain Territory. Her poetry has appeared in Seattle Review, New Orleans Review, Potomac Review, Sulphur River Literary Review, Grove Review, and elsewhere. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, she has received awards for her screenplays and is currently at work on a novel. The Accident My father riding his tractor told me as we pushed under rows of corn stalks starched brown by late August sun that he was selling out. Developers had offered a bigger house, money, neighbors. It didn’t really matter, he said. The land no longer spoke his name only the bills. Damn, he said any idiot knew the schools were better in the town. He drove on. My father lizard eyed not saying. As I stood on the hopper. My fourteenth summer, my one good arm about his waist. Our lesson learned about the earth. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #17 in the series offered to Virginia’s newspapers John Hansen of Williamsburg began writing poetry in his early school years. Graduating from the Naval Academy in 1945, he began a long career as a carrier pilot in fighter/attack aircraft. He eventually commanded the aircraft carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt. Captain Hansen has published books of poetry, short stories, and a full-length novel. Where Eagles Soar High above our cherished soil two sentinel eagles stand, and survey all that moves below on this, our native land. A mated pair with lifelong bond, they symbolize our vow, committed to their common weal on freedom’s lofty bow. Some instinct draws them back each year to build upon their nest, and nourish yet another brood and put them to the test. Each eaglet taught to soar and hunt, in freedom on its own, yet, somehow, each is wise enough to honor what is shown. What merit, then, this cherished pair as icons of our land? Perhaps, in truth, it’s simply this: they know whereon they stand. ________________________________________________ Another Quote of Interest Robert Pinsky in the Washington Post, Jan. 13, 2008 One kind of poetry registers the physical world: words arranged to communicate the emotional power of the senses, the feeling of a visible reality. A different kind of poetry concentrates more strikingly on expressiveness: words arranged to create a voice, the feeling of a particular sensibility. ________________________________________________ Four Virginia Poets Laureate Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Poet Laureate of Virginia, developed an approach to getting the PSV book, Four Virginia Poets Laureate, into schools. She identified a school that would welcome receiving copies of the book, then found a local bank that was willing to make a grant for $200. A formal presentation of 20 books was scheduled at Middlesex High School in Middlesex County. Representatives of the donor bank (EVB or Eastern Virginia Bankshares) and the local newspaper were at the presentation. Note from newsletter editor: you are encouraged to develop similar deals. Give it a try! Stu ________________________________________________ Executive Committee Officers 2006-2007 President Patsy Anne Bickerstaff granypatsy@yahoo.com Vice President, Central Helen Eano nellnick@aol.com Vice President, Eastern Nancy Powell nancyp1734@aol.com Vice President, Northern Claudia Gary claudiagary@peoplepc.com Vice President, So. Eastern Pete Freas mindworm@juno.com Vice President, Western Frank Craddock fdallasc3@aol.com Treasurer Jack Underhill gwaposr@cox.net Membership Chair Stuart Nottingham poetryinva@aol.com Contest Chair, Adult Guy Terrell ggterr@infionline Contest Chair, Student Joanne Kennedy jobobken@aol.com Newsletter Editor Stuart Nottingham poetryinva@aol.com Webmaster Linda Nottingham lindanottingham@aol.com Archivist Warren Harris wmharris@naxs.com Parliamentarian Lisa Dibble elbbidasil@aol.com Recording Secretary Maria Butler Mariawb@earthlink.net Poetry in the Schools Beth Huddleston bethhud@shentel.net Festival Chair Ed Lull ewlull@verizon.net Slam Representative Tom S. Prunier tom.prunier@gmail.com Nominating Com. Chair Jim Gaines jimgaines3@earthlink.net Exec. Dir. Joseph Awad James McNally Carolyn Foronda Beth Huddleston Shirley Sellers Ed Lull Adv. Board George Garrett Ron Smith Margaret Morlan A Common Wealth of Poetry January 2008 Newsletter of The Poetry Society of Virginia. Poetry Society Of Virginia 913 DeWolfe Dr. Alexandria VA 22308-2602 |
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