Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships

I don't write as much poetry as I used to, or even as much as I'd like to, because I feel guilty not spending my writing time on my novels. But if you're like me and would really like to get back into the poetry game, perhaps this fellowship is motivation enough. Alas, I am beyond the upper age limit since you must be between the ages of 21 and 31, but if you are still in that age bracket, here are the particulars:

"Five Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships in the amount of $15,000 will be awarded to young poets through a national competition sponsored by the Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry. Established in 1989 by the Indianapolis philanthropist Ruth Lilly, the fellowships are intended to encourage the further study and writing of poetry.



APPLICANT GUIDELINES:

*Applicants must be U.S. citizens.

*Applicants must be at least 21 years of age and no older than 31 years of age as of March 31, 2012.

*Applications must be submitted by March 31, 2012.

*Applications must be made through our submission website, fellowships.poetryfoundation.org, according to the guidelines below.

*Application materials sent via e-mail or standard mail will not be considered.

Go to the website for full details, and the big plus is that there is no application fee--what do you have to lose? They'll want ten pages of poems in your application packet, so get writing, or take another look at those poems in that notebook you used to carry around!

Market for Children's Short Fiction & Poetry: Underneath the Juniper Tree

Earlier this year, a unique blend of "playfully dark arts and literature" called Crow Toes Quarterly shut its doors. But another such bold repository of subversive stories cropped up in the form of Underneath the Juniper Tree.

They run contests and challenges, as well as accepting submissions for prose (up to 2,000 words), poetry, and art year round. This quote about their art submissions says it best about what they are looking for:

"All submissions must have a dark, whimsical children’s theme to them. Pictures of fluffy bunnies and rainbows will not be accepted."

So if you have any sinister characters lurking in a corner of your mind, Underneath the Juniper Tree just might like to meet them.

This is an automatic post, so if I don't respond to your comments right away, I'll be back after the middle of the month.

Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest

From their website:
"SPS Studios Eighteenth Biannual Poetry Card Contest
Deadline: June 30, 2011
1st prize: $300 * 2nd prize: $150 * 3rd prize: $50

In addition, the winning poems will be displayed on our website sps.com.

Poetry Contest Guidelines:

Poems can be rhyming or non-rhyming, although we find that non-rhyming poetry reads better.

We suggest that you write about real emotions and feelings and that you have some special person or occasion in mind as you write.

Poems are judged on the basis of originality and uniqueness.

English-language entries only, please.

Enter as often as you like!"

I found this contest through WOW! Women on Writing's blog and stopped to think about it. I have never written for greeting cards before, but I have bought a few Blue Mountain Arts cards and they are not the usual bland pap. I've even saved some that I've received because I liked the poem and/or artwork, in spite of the fact that I usually don't keep cards more than a few weeks after the occasion.

But the rules are pretty simple (you retain rights) and there's no entry fee, so if you're inspired to submit some poetry for this, go for it! I have one in mind already . . . Even if you don't want to enter, there are some nice past winners.

"I Have Walked Through Many Lives . . ."

My husband and I went to see a program at the new venue down the hill, 3 Stages in Folsom. Ensemble Galilei performed while Neal Conan read selections of poetry, Shakespeare, and other works. We enjoyed the entire program (well, not the severe lack of leg room) but what really struck me was a poem called "The Layers" by Stanley Kunitz. It describes the writer's experience for me so well:

I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle not to stray.
When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings. . . (more here) or click the video below to hear Mr. Kunitz read his poem

Wow! I've often felt that a few of the stories I tell belong to someone else's lives, and somehow I'm privileged to glimpse them. And have the responsibility of telling them. The conclusion of the poem really captured the conflict of trying to get the stories right: the frustration coupled with optimism.


Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written,
I am not done with my changes.

Do you do "self checks", looking back on how far you've come in your writer's journey, and looking ahead to where you think you'll be? My road has had a lot more twists and turns (and sidetrips) than I expected but I can still see the Promised Land on the horizon.

O Magazine Wants Poems!

For a special poetry issue of O Magazine, Oprah.com is calling for your favorite poems. They can be your original work, or a poem that particularly moves you.

Open to submissions through February 11, so hurry! Tried to embed a video with an invitation to submit your poems from the guest editor, Maria Shriver, but I'll have to give you the link instead:

http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Maria-Shriver-Guest-Edits-O-Magazine-Send-Us-Your-Favorite-Poems

Query Hellions

Over at the Absolute Write forums, the place to post your queries for feedback is known as Query Hell. That about sums up most people's feelings about the process of crafting your query and then holding your breath while you wait to hear back on it.

But if Query Hell doesn't quite cover it for you, Amanda Hannah has posted a contest, where you can write a haiku, limerick, song lyric, or poem--whatever best captures the query process for you.

Be bitter, be creative, be mopey--but have fun, it's a great way to channel your frustrations!

Here's my entry:

You launch your query bird
Into the wide blue sky
Only to see it fail and fall
A few weeks later.

You can't bear to look at it right away
But eventually you doctor it
And send it off again
Weighted with your dreams.

The worst times are when
It's left endlessly soaring,
Waiting for an an answer to it's call
That never comes.

So you craft another pair of wings
Strong enough to carry you with them
Over the walls blocking your way
To land in nurturing hands.

Memoir (and) Contest and Submissions

The literary journal, Memoir (and), is offering a $500 prize "to the most outstanding prose or poetry memoirs—traditional, nontraditional or experimental—drawn from the reading period."

That means that all regular submissions are eligible for publication and the prize. Deadline is August 16, 2010. They consider poetry, prose, graphic memoir, and photography, with 1st through 3rd prizes in prose/poetry, and separate prizes for graphic memoir and for photography.

And no entry fee! Good luck!

Contests at New Guard Literary Review

Two new contests forwarded to me by Christina Mercer, who failed to post them on her own blog in a timely manner, so that makes them fair game (bwah ha ha):

MACHIGONNE FICTION CONTEST: $1,000 for an exceptional work of literary or experimental fiction. Submit 2,500-5,000 words of prose. Novel excerpts welcomed. JUDGE: Good for the Jews author DEBRA SPARK. Deadline: October 1, 2010

KNIGHTVILLE POETRY CONTEST: $1,000 for an exceptional work of narrative or experimental poetry. Submit up to 70 lines per poem. Three poems per entry. JUDGE: Former U.S. Poet Laureate DONALD HALL. Deadline: November 1, 2010

The New Guard is a newly-formed independent literary review in Maine.

Nearly Haiku

Short post today, since I inflicted two long ones in a row on my readers. I'm always inspired to write poetry at the turning of the seasons, and despite today's weather feeling more like February than late May I thought I'd post a few of my short poems. I call this form "nearly Haiku":



After a rainstorm,
The grass comes alive
With earthworms and robins.


Lonesome mockingbird
Fills warm nights with his longing---
I would give him rest.



That last line should be read with a certain wry tone, which I'm sure you know if you've ever had a mockingbird singing outside your window ALL NIGHT LONG. My husband says it's only the bachelors that sing at night, so here's hoping our lonesome guy gets lucky.