As I write, the dogwoods are in full bloom, the end of April nears, and only a few days of our program year remain. I’m grateful for simple pleasures, like a dogwood bloom, and for complex ones, like the deft coordination that delivers educational programs (and replays), or the work that creates festivals and contests, or the effort behind publishing an anthology.

Congratulations to poet contestants and winners and to all who published poetry this year. As for our top PST contest winners, our anthology board has begun work, and we anticipate releasing our newest edition in late summer. I look forward to the anthology, more of your published poems, and a growing personal collection of your collections.

As I reflect upon the wisdom our program presenters shared this year, two things stand out:

• We must make space in our lives to create and grow (and there are so many ways to do this!).
• Being part of a community can help us grow faster and go further.

To those ends, our society works to provide programs and highlight opportunities to help you to pursue excellence and connect with a community. It’s exciting to watch poets grow their knowledge, skills, and confidence. It’s fun to share in the excitement of publication (and rejection goals, too!). It’s meaningful to be part of a workshop or peer review group. It’s a joy to read your work.

We will close our program year with 113 members, and I hope we see more poets join us next year. My dream is that Poetry Society of Tennessee (PST) will become a hub for poets, connecting you to PST-sponsored activities and other community activities or groups that support you in your work. If you are so moved, I invite you to help us reach that goal.

For each of our current members, my wish is that you found something of value in our programs this year. I hope you will renew for 2024-2025. For those considering membership, I invite you to explore our website, reach out to us: visit with us as a guest and see if PST is for you.

A big thank you to members for your vote of confidence in our proposed leadership board. We are already working on plans and projects for the coming year. As we move forward, we’d love to know what is working well for you and where we might improve. We welcome your feedback.

I invite you to join us May 11 at our next monthly member meeting. This will be the last meeting of our 70th year, and we will celebrate with some fun activities! But before that, we will recognize the people who powered the society and made last year possible: our volunteers. (Members will receive a link in the near future. If you are not a member and are interested in attending, reach out.) I hope to see you at a meeting soon.

With gratitude and anticipation—
Lisa Kamolnick
President, Poetry Society of Tennessee