Spring is speeding into summer with waves of heat and cooling showers across Tennessee and in my temporary Florida headquarters. I’m still feeling the warmth of our June meeting, from recognizing volunteers of our last program year to a wonderful open mic session and a rich discussion on poetry contests.

Meanwhile, our volunteers are working behind the scenes to bring this program year to life:

• The Anthology Board is working on our latest edition of Tennessee Voices, and publication is on track for late summer.
• Our ROUNDUP is back! Take time to review our summer roundup of all manner of opportunities across Tennessee and beyond: bookmark it, too, because we’ll update it all summer long.
• Our members-only contests for this program year are also live. Dive into this eclectic poetic mix. Send in an entry for the chance to win monetary prizes and be published in next year’s anthology.
• Our society’s Board will meet in July to discuss a variety of topics. As always, members are welcome to attend. Look for a meeting notice in the coming weeks.

If you are looking for summer reading—including those 30 books for this year’s Sealey Challenge, held each August—why not peruse our bookstore? (If you’re a member with a poetry book not appearing on our store, send us your bio, photo, book cover(s) and blurb(s) and we will feature you!)

I invite you to join us July 11 for our next monthly member meeting, during which poet (and member) Maria Zoccola will lead us through a discussion on persona poetry. Afterward, we will announce monthly contest winners and share our poetry. Bring a poem or two. I hope to see there.

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