Poetry Society of Tennessee

EST. 1953

PST News

  • July 2025 Poetry Contest Results

    The Poetry Society of Tennessee (PST) formally announced its members-only July 2025 contest results at their July 12 member meeting. Winners receive cash prizes. The first place poems will be published in an upcoming edition of PST’s anthology, Tennessee Voices.

    Sponsor and judge Howard Carman selected the following winners and honorable mentions:

    • 1st: “Grand Mansion According to an Unbalanced Accountant” by Laura Gunnells Miller
    • 2nd: “A Cautionary Limerick” by Deborah Z Adams
    • 3rd: “In the Checkout Line at Tractor Supply” by Sherry Poff
    • 1HM: “Hole in the Pocket” by Russell H. Strauss

    Meeting attendees enjoyed the readings of these winning poems.

    Enter YOUR Poem

    More contests are around the corner, but you have to enter to win.

    September contest submissions for a poem on the subject of fertility struggles are open September 1-15.

    Check out our full lineup of members-only contests.

    Entrants may mail or email entries. Mailed contest entries must be postmarked during the open submission period. Get details.

    Not a member? It’s not too late to join. Learn more.

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  • September 2025 Program with Thomas Alan Holmes

    ITS NOT YOU: THE LYRIC ‘I’

    Join us as Thomas Alan Holmes lays some groundwork with a few authors, some canonized, some perhaps in the workshop itself. In our workshop, we will discuss the complications of autobiographical elements in poetry, the way the facts can get in the way of the truth, and the freedoms we get when we accept the Lyric “I” as a separate entity from the author.

    ABOUT THE PRESENTER

    Dr. Thomas Alan Holmes

    Thomas Alan Holmes lives in Johnson City, Tennessee, where he specializes in Appalachian literature as a member of the Literature and Language Department at East Tennessee State University. His scholarly and creative work has appeared in such journals as Still: The Journal, Appalachian Heritage, The Valparaiso Review, The Connecticut Review, Louisiana Literature, and The Appalachian Journal. With Daniel Westover, he has co-edited The Fire that Breaks: Gerard Manley Hopkins’s Poetic Legacies (Clemson U P, 2020), this including his chapter about Hopkins’s influence on Appalachian poets. Holmes has worked in both the Tennessee and Alabama volumes of The Southern Poetry Anthology series. Iris Press published his debut poetry collection, In the Backhoe’s Shadow, in 2022.

    Meeting Information

    This program will be presented at our upcoming PST meeting, to be held September 13, 2025, from 2:00-4:00 pm Eastern / 1:00-3:00 pm Central via Zoom. Members will be provided a link a few days prior. If you are interested in learning more about PST, check out our website. If you’d like to attend our meeting as a guest, contact us at poetrytennessee@gmail.com.

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  • Poetry Everywhere All the Time

    Last month, I invited you to join the Sealey Challenge (read a poetry book a day in August). As I write (one week to go!), I may not have read a whole book every day, but I did read 24 over 24 days, many authored by members or past presenters. I encountered diverse styles and topics: from pantoums to prose poems; from factory life to mythology; from the state of our lives and our planet to life beyond Earth.

    Beyond enjoying this poetic tapestry and digesting innumerable poetic techniques, I am surer than ever that poetry exists everywhere, all the time, if we open our eyes to it. I recall an anecdote where an audience member reacted to one of William Stafford’s poems during a reading, calling out, “I could have written that.” Wallace’s response? “But you didn’t,” adding “But you could write your own.” This month I invite you to write your own.

    What’s Happening

    On the society front, I have much to share:

    Contests
    • September members-only contest from corporate sponsor Fertility Pharmacy of America is open through September 15, offering nice monetary prizes and unique publishing opportunities. Get details.
    • Look for announcements on student and collegiate contests soon.
    • Sponsor a contest for our 69th Annual Poetry Festival. The call ends September 4. Get details.
    Membership
    • We are moving to rolling membership renewal (based on the date you joined/renewed). Here’s how the transition will work. If you paid for the 2025-2026 membership year on or before May 1, 2025, your expiration date will be April 30, 2026. If you paid after that time, your expiration date will be one year from date we receive(d) your payment (e.g., June 10, 2025, will expire June 9, 2026). Look for a communication about the transition and your personal expiration date over the next month.
    • Since 2018, regular membership dues has been $25. To better support the society’s programming and operations and to enhance financial stability, we are increasing our membership fee to $35 effective October 15, 2025. (Student fees will remain $10.) If you have not yet renewed (or joined), we offer a brief period to enjoy the lower rate before new the new rate takes effect. JOIN OR RENEW.
    …. AND a FEW MORE ITEMS
    • SAVE THE DATE! Our 69th Annual Poetry Festival will be held virtually on April 18, 2026. We are exploring how to implement companion regional in-person activities. If you are interested in helping with the 69th and/or 70th festival, planning is underway for both. Reach out to poetrytennessee@gmail.com.
    • Earlier this month, Heather Dobbins led us on a writing adventure centered on persona poetry, and so many of you had nice things to say about this experience. On September 13, Thomas Alan Holmes will join us to discuss the challenges of navigating autobiographical elements in poetry, and how using the Lyric “I” can help us write truth without letting facts get in the way.
    • Tennessee Voices Anthology, 2024-2025 is on track for publication in late summer.
    • On behalf of the entire Board, a big THANK YOU to our member survey respondents. We appreciate your thoughtful comments and look forward to exploring opportunities to stay the course on what’s working and shift where changes may be needed.
    • Check out more poetry calls, events, and other opportunities here.

    For more information on all we have to offer, peruse our website, monthly newsletters, social media (@poetrysocietyoftennessee on Facebook and Instagram), or reach out to poetrytennessee@gmail.com.

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

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

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  • New Poetry from Rachel Landrum Crumble

    Rachel Landrum Crumble’s latest poetry collection, In Praise of Detours (Main Street Rag), is available for advance purchase at a discounted rate.

    About In Praise of Detours

    Empty nesting, pandemic isolation, grief and healing, race and racism, family joy, depression, all through a boots-on-the-ground faith perspective are encompassed in Rachel Landrum Crumble’s newest collection. 

    Praise for In Praise of Detours

    It is evident from this collection’s first poem that this is a body of work crafted with heart, wisdom, spirit, and witness. Across four sections, Crumble interrogates the human condition, old and new America, race and racism, and more. In Praise of Detours is not just a beautiful book but a necessary one that announces to the reader that family, faith, the country, and this very life are things one must always fight for.
    —Christian J. Collier, author of Greater Ghost

    In Praise of Detours (Main Street Rag), is now available for pre-order.

    About the Author

    Rachel Landrum Crumble is a life-long poet and retired teacher. Sister Sorrow (Finishing Line Press 2022) was her first poetry book. She has an MFA from Vermont College. Over the course of her career, she has received scholarships to Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Vermont College Post-Graduate Poetry Manuscript Workshop, and Vermont Studio Center. For her current work on a novel, she was accepted to The GoodLit Writers Retreat. She and her husband, a jazz drummer, are Yankee transplants to Chattanooga, Tennessee where they have raised three children as an interracial couple. They have three grandchildren. [Find her on Substack @rachellandrumcrumble or at poetteachermom.com.]

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  • Opportunities Abound: August Roundup

    This month’s roundup includes various opportunities brought to our attention by various organizations, members, and friends others discovered organically. Grow your skills, find submissions opportunities, and more!

    Submissions Closing Soon!

    More Calls

    Always Open

    Hate deadlines? Here are a few randomly selected literary venues that are always (or almost always) open to submissions:

    More Calls and Contests

    Events

    In the northeast region, East Tennessee State University hosts poet Li Young Lee on September 24, 2025. Get details. Check out their other literary events coming up as well. Also in the northeast region, member Heidi Ehle presents a reading and musical event on September 16 in Jonesborough, TN. (Details for all in the slide show below.)

    Take your poetry off the page at an open mic! You’ll find them across the state and in the virtual realm:

    WEST
    • Monday nights 7:00 pm at the Hu Hotel rooftop with Keeping it P (and the P is for poetry). Follow them on instagram.
    • Third Saturday of each month 3:00 pm at Coffee Central, 5627 Getwell Rd. Southaven, MS 38672: Bring original poetry or short prose (3 minutes) to share with other poets and poetry lovers. Good listeners are also welcome.To encourage young children, we would like to hear them read anything they write or just read their favorite poem. We do not censor any social, political, religious, or philosophical viewpoint. We do ask, when it comes to graphic content and profanity, remember that Coffee Central is one of our most gracious sponsors and we should not and will not offend other customers or negatively affect business.
    MIDDLE

    Poetry in the Boro is a monthly open mic and featured reading series hosted in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, currently held at the Dapper Owl Coffee Pub & Bakery and at many other locations when collaborating with other organizations in the community. Often meet the second or third Sunday evening of each month but dates can vary, especially when partnering with other organizations and groups. Get details.

    MIDEAST

    Sawmill Poetry is a poetry reading and open mic held at the ​The Plenty Bookstore in Cookesville, Tennessee. Get details.

    SOUTHEAST
    • Rhyme n Chatt Interactive Poetry Group, based in Chattanooga, hosts an Open Mic at the Edney Innovation Center at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday evening of each month. It is called Fresh Out the Shoebox. The also hold workshops and performance events with a focus on performance poetry. See the website for more information.  Get details. 
    • 7:30 pm last Fridays (except for November and December) at Barnes & Noble at 2100 Hamilton Place Boulevard in Chattanooga.
    •  The Wandering Poetry Circle meets every other Tuesday Night at WanderLinger Brewing Company,  https://www.wanderlinger.com/
    EAST *NEW*
    • Third Thursdays at The Maker’s Space, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM in Knoxville, TN. Former Knoxville Poet Laureate Rhea Carmon hosts.
    NORTHEAST
    VIRTUAL

    Last Monday of the month, 7:00 pm Poetry Pie shares poetry on Zoom (max three poems). Contact the society to get on the email list.

    Are we missing an open mic in Tennessee? Let us know!

    Workshops

    On Demand

    Find More Opportunities

    Introducing a running list of venues to find poetry opportunities. Are we missing a good one? Let us know!

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  • PST Seeks Festival Sponsors for 69th Annual Poetry Festival

    Poetry Society of Tennessee (PST) is excited to share that member Deborah Z Adams will once again serve as Festival Contest Coordinator for the society’s 69th Annual Poetry Festival. The contest coordinator plays a critical role for our festival: they organize contests, process entries, and pass winner information and poems to the Anthology Editorial Board.

    Sponsors Wanted

    You can help make our 69th festival one to remember: sponsor a contest. What kind of poetry would you like to see in our next edition of Tennessee Voices, PST’s annual anthology? As a sponsor, you can help us share work representing poetry’s diversity and tapping into the broad interests of our growing membership.

    Individuals and organizations may sponsor a contest, and you do not need to be a member to sponsor. Sponsors will be recognized on PST’s website and blog, through PST social media channels and in the 2025-2026 edition of Tennessee Voices.

    PST will remain open for festival contest sponsorship applications through the earlier of September 4, 2025, or meeting our contest limit.

    What Does a Sponsor Do?

    Sponsors create their own poetry contest! As a sponsor, you choose the theme or poetic form, note poem length, specify prize award amounts, and provide any other special instructions for entrants or judges. In many cases, sponsors also judge the contest, but that is not a requirement. While we encourage variety in poetic forms and themes, PST does not accept contests or poetry centered on explicitly violent or sexual themes.

    In general, individuals and businesses may sponsor one contest. However, PST will also accept memorial contest sponsorships, one per individual or group of individuals being honored. 

    What Does a Judge Do?

    PST’s festival poetry contests are judged blind. The Festival Poetry Contest Coordinator sends entries to the judge. In accordance with contest guidelines, the judge reviews contest entries, selects winners and provides a winners list to the festival contest coordinator.

    How Do I Become a Sponsor or Judge?

    If you are interested in sponsoring a festival contest, you may apply online or by mail. (Please note: our monthly members-only contests are closed. Please do not select this option on the application.)

    If you are unable to judge your sponsored contest and need assistance to find a judge, or if you are unable to sponsor but wish to judge, contact us.

    Questions?

    Do you have questions? Reach out to poetrytennessee@gmail.com with subject line FESTIVAL SPONSORSHIP.

    Guidelines are also available on our website.

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  • August 2025 Program with Heather Dobbins

    HISTORICAL PERSONA POEMS

    Join PST for their August meeting to gain insights from Heather Dobbins about historical persona and micro-fiction in poetry. She’ll review samples from her own work and others. In addition, expect to hear about the poetry revision process.

    ABOUT THE PRESENTER

    Heather Dobbins is a native of Memphis, Tennessee. She graduated from the College Scholars program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She earned a Master of Education degree from Holy Names University in Oakland, California, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the Graduate Writing Seminars at Bennington College in Vermont.

    Her poems and poetry reviews have been published in Beloit Poetry Journal, Big Muddy, The Rumpus, TriQuarterly Review, and Women’s Studies Quarterly, among others. She has been awarded scholarships and fellowships to the Indiana Writers’ Conference, Napa Writers’ Conference, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Vermont Studio Center, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts’ workshop in Auvillar, France.  She served as co-chair of the Mid-South Book Festival in 2015 and 2016. For twenty years, she has worked as an educator (Kindergarten through college) in Oakland, California; Memphis, Tennessee; and currently, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

    MEETING INFORMATION

    This program will be presented at our upcoming PST meeting, to be held August 9th, 2025, from 2:00-4:00 pm Eastern / 1:00-3:00 pm Central via Zoom. Members will be provided a link a few days prior. If you are interested in learning more about PST, check out our website. If you’d like to attend our meeting as a guest, contact us at poetrytennessee@gmail.com.

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  • Let Your Voice Be Heard

    This summer, let your voice be heard (and I’m not just talking about letting off steam from all the heat and water that have come our way). Earlier this month, we invited members to provide perspectives on our society: why you joined, what you are most interested in, what is working, and how we can do better. If you have not completed this survey, please do so by August 15th. Members should have received a link via email in early July, and a reminder link will be sent to members on or about August 1.

    Beyond a survey, we work to amplify the voices of poets (especially our members!) every day:

    • We promote open mic events and poetry shares.
    • We offer workshops and presentations focused on craft so you can enhance your poetic voice.
    • We offer contests with opportunities for readings and publication.
    • We promote member publications, from individual works to books, along with workshops or other events in which a member may be featured.
    • We offer a monthly roundup with submission opportunities and more.

    For more information on all we have to offer, peruse our website, monthly newsletters, social media (@poetrysocietyoftennessee on Facebook and Instagram), or reach out to poetrytennessee@gmail.com.

    If you’ve not renewed for the new program year, it’s not too late. (And now is always a good time to join us!) At just $25, our membership fee is well worth the value. Find membership information here (online & mail options available).

    Our monthly member contest list is now full, and we thank the sponsors and volunteers who make our contest program possible. We have a couple of special contests in our line-up. First, if you missed it last year, I invite you to try the Full Moon Poetry Contest this year, now open for submissions. And a corporate sponsor has brought us a great opportunity for member poets to be published in two venues, with great prizes. Get contest details here.

    Earlier this month, John Davis Jr. led members through a fascinating presentation on the use of literary and cultural influences in poetry. On August 9, Memphis native Heather Dobbins will join us for a discussion on persona poetry, with examples of persona in poetry and micro-fiction along with a generative session to put the persona poem into practice.

    The Anthology Editorial Board is busy working onTennessee Voices Anthology, 2024-2025, and publication is expected late summer. We look forward to launching this book.

    Check out more poetry calls, events, and other opportunities here.

    We are always looking for volunteers to support our mission. (We promise, inquiries are not expectations for a commitment.) Current, specific needs include the following:

    • Help inspire our next generation of poets as 2025-2026 Student Contest Chair.
    • Our Regional Connections Committee is in need of someone to take minutes for meetings and others to represent some of our regions.
    • We are also seeking volunteers with a passion for contests or marketing to help connect our community and get the word out.

    Contact us at poetrytennessee@gmail.com to learn more.

    Curious about PST? Join us at a meeting or other activity. Reach out anytime. I hope to see you soon at an event—in person or virtual. Members, please send in your survey. And poets, everywhere: raise your voices this summer, in that magical way only poetry allows.

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

    P.S. When you aren’t working on your own voice, why not take the Sealey Reading Challenge this August, and work your way through other poets’ voices one book a day all through August. Get details here.

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  • Opportunities Abound: July Roundup

    Our June roundup includes various opportunities brought to our attention by various organizations, members, and friends and discovered organically. Grow your skills, find submissions opportunities, and more!

    Submissions Closing Soon!

    • MER seeks poems on motherhood and family. Call closes July 15.
    • From Sundress Publications, microgrant applications from trans writers with a chapbook or full-length book in progress are open through July 15.
    • The Waxed Lemon is open for submissions through July 21.
    • Tiger Leaping Review seeks general and literary poetry. Call closes July 31.

    More Calls

    Always Open

    Hate deadlines? Here are a few randomly selected literary venues that are always (or almost always) open to submissions:

    From NFSPS

    CONVENTION: NFSPS will hold their annual convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from July 23-28, 2025. Naomi Shihab Nye will be their keynote speaker!

    More Calls and Contests

    Events

    This month we focus on events with open mics being held around the state:

    WEST
    • Monday nights 7:00 pm at the Hu Hotel rooftop with Keeping it P (and the P is for poetry). Follow them on instagram.
    • Third Saturday of each month 3:00 pm at Coffee Central, 5627 Getwell Rd. Southaven, MS 38672: Bring original poetry or short prose (3 minutes) to share with other poets and poetry lovers. Good listeners are also welcome.To encourage young children, we would like to hear them read anything they write or just read their favorite poem. We do not censor any social, political, religious, or philosophical viewpoint. We do ask, when it comes to graphic content and profanity, remember that Coffee Central is one of our most gracious sponsors and we should not and will not offend other customers or negatively affect business.
    MIDDLE

    Poetry in the Boro is a monthly open mic and featured reading series hosted in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, currently held at the Dapper Owl Coffee Pub & Bakery and at many other locations when collaborating with other organizations in the community. Often meet the second or third Sunday evening of each month but dates can vary, especially when partnering with other organizations and groups. Get details.

    MIDEAST

    Sawmill Poetry is a poetry reading and open mic held at the ​The Plenty Bookstore in Cookesville, Tennessee. Get details.

    SOUTHEAST
    • Rhyme n Chatt Interactive Poetry Group, based in Chattanooga, hosts an Open Mic at the Edney Innovation Center at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday evening of each month. It is called Fresh Out the Shoebox. The also hold workshops and performance events with a focus on performance poetry. See the website for more information.  Get details. 
    • 7:30 pm last Fridays (except for November and December) at Barnes & Noble at 2100 Hamilton Place Boulevard in Chattanooga.
    •  The Wandering Poetry Circle meets every other Tuesday Night at WanderLinger Brewing Company,  https://www.wanderlinger.com/
    NORTHEAST
    VIRTUAL

    Last Monday of the month, 7:00 pm Poetry Pie shares poetry on Zoom (max three poems). Contact the society to get on the email list.

    Are we missing an open mic in Tennessee? Let us know!

    Workshops

    On Demand

    Find More Opportunities

    Introducing a running list of venues to find poetry opportunities. Are we missing a good one? Let us know!

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  • New Poetry from John Mannone

    John Mannone’s latest poetry chapbook, Coffee Poems: The Art of Waking (Island of Wak-Wak Press), is now available for purchase.

    About Coffee Poems

    In his latest collection, John explores coffee: its origin, traditions, obsessions, rituals, associations; its science and mixology; and coffee as metaphor. With a variety of forms matching the various approaches to coffee, the reader is sure to enjoy each taste.

    Praise for Coffee Poems

    “Whether you like your coffee swirled with a bit of cream or black and bitter, you will relish the offerings in this latest book brewed by John C. Mannone. From the stoops of the Columbian mountains, where the original Juan Valdez grew his coffee beans, to the monks of Ethiopia who, having been informed of the antics of goats that ate the coffee berry, then imbibed a liquid from those same berries and hence were able to remain awake through the long evening prayers, and on through history to the author’s own cup steaming before him, the face of his long dead father looking back upon him from the “fluid folds of the dark pool,” there is much to savor and to learn in this small collection. The poems are testaments to the magic and mysticism of the drink from a poet with his “fingers wrapping the … cup / as something holy.” Mannone brings a lifetime of refining his palette and honing his use of language to produce a delightful collection of 16 poems, an apt bit of reading while you drink your first morning cup—or your final afternoon cup—of the “essential elixir.”
    —Connie Jordan Green, author of Nameless as the Minnows

    Coffee Poems: The Art of Waking (Island of Wak-Wak Press), is now available for purchase.

    About the Author

    John C. Mannone has poems in Windhover, North Dakota Quarterly, Poetry South, Baltimore Review, New England Journal of Medicine, and others. He was awarded the 2017 Jean Ritchie Fellowship and served as National Federation of State Poetry Societies 2018 celebrity judge. He has five full-length collections, five chapbooks, and his first short fiction collection, Dark Wind, Dark Water (Mind’s Eye Publishing, 2025). A retired professor of physics, he teaches mathematics and creative writing. http://jcmannone.wordpress.com ​

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