This past year, the Florida open mic that became my home away from home lost two venues in the months I was away and didn’t meet while I was there. It hit me hard, for the group and personally. Our poetry communities, and the places that hold space for poets, are vital and precious.

It felt especially good to come home in early February to the PoetTEA open mic, our collaboration with the Poetry Writers Workshop (PWW). Both PoetTEA and PWW have a home at The Philosopher’s House in Johnson City. PoetTEA’s theme of Love and Loss held special meaning for me given my Florida poet friends’ loss of spaces.

How fortunate we are to have venues that welcome poets and hold space for poetry, members who tell us about these places, businesses that support poets and poetry, and people who create these opportunities by giving of their time to publicize, plan for, and host such events. Thank you!

I invite you to become involved in your poetry communities and to make use of spaces that serve our communities, whether virtual or in person. In the virtual realm of our society you’ll find monthly meetings, study groups, open mics and critique groups (available thanks to members who host them monthly). In-person, a few regions offer open mic or workshops monthly. You can find other poetry happenings in your local communities and beyond. Learn more. Have we missed an important Tennessee poetry venue or organization? I invite you to share in the comments.

Hybrid events offer the convenience and reach of virtual events with the irreplaceable benefits of in-person events. I’m happy to share two for 2025:

• PST’s 68th Annual Poetry Festival. Come to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on April 26 for a full day of workshops and more (like contest winner announcements!). If you cannot join us in person, Zoom sessions will be available. The night before, we’ll join the Poetry in the ‘Boro community event. The wonderful folks from this organization and MTSU Write have helped make our festival possible. We are grateful and look forward to bringing members of our communities together this spring!
• National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NFSPS) Annual Convention. Registration is open for this event, to be held July 23-28, 2025, in Albuquerque, New Mexico (NOT Santa Fe, as I erroneously reported last month). And while we’re talking about NFSPS, NFSPS annual contests and the BlackBerry Peach Spoken & Written contest are open (mid-March deadlines). Registration is also open for the BlackBerry Peach National Slam Competition. The winner of this contest will go on to represent the United States in the 2025 World Championships!

Want to write for a cause or two? Poets for Peace has a call to poets around the world for an anthology of peace poems. This call closes the earlier of March 31 or when they receive 150 entries. Learn more. Proceeds go toward projects benefiting a Ukraine orphanage. Red Hawk Publications has a call for Appalachian poets to submit poems for an anthology about Hurricane Helene to support the Helene Flood Relief Fund. Learn more. Check out these and other opportunities here.

If you have interest in volunteering for one of our society committees, we’re fielding a volunteer team for next year. We’re especially looking for people with a passion for contests, marketing, or creating connections in our regions. We promise, inquiries are not expectations for a commitment. Contact us at poetrytennessee@gmail.com to learn more.

For our March program, Anne Fisher-Wirth will guide us through prose poetry! As with our previous programs this year, come prepared to write. And if you missed our programs or want to return to them, you’ll find a full year of replays in the next meeting invite. Also at our March meeting, we will hold a vote on a small slate of additional Board members the Board approved at its meeting earlier this month.

Curious about PST? Join us at a meeting or event. Reach out anytime. I hope to see you soon at a PST event—in person or virtual.

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