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May 2025 with Janisse Ray
AT THE INTERSECTION OF POETRY AND NATURE
In PST’s May 10 meeting, join acclaimed author Janisse Ray for an engaging 1-hour workshop in which you explore the intersection of poetry and nature. Janisse will guide you through creative exercises using the natural world as inspiration. By sharing techniques for vivid imagery, sensory language, and metaphor, she will empower you to bring a passion for nature into poetic form. Whether you are a seasoned poet or new to writing, you will leave this workshop with 1) copies of nature poems to inspire you; 2) drafts for a few of your own nature poems; and 3) a better awareness of your voice as an eco-poet.
About the Presenter
Janisse Ray is an award-winning American author who explores the borderland of nature and culture. Her first book, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, told the story of growing up in the disappearing longleaf pine flatwoods. It was a New York Times Notable, won an American Book Award, and was widely read. It is credited with bringing attention to a critically endangered ecosystem and starting a movement to restore the landscape.
That was followed by eleven other books, including two collections of poetry—A House of Branches and Red Lanterns. Her latest book is a writing manual, Craft and Current, out in 2024.She has won a Pushcart Prize, Southern Booksellers Award, Southern Environmental Law Center Writing Award, Nautilus Award, and Eisenberg Award, among many others. Her collection of essays, Wild Spectacle, received the Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence, which carries a $10,000 prize. Her books have been translated into Turkish, French, and Italian.
Ray serves on the editorial board of terrain.org and is a Lifetime Honorary Member of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. She lives on a farm inland from Savannah, Georgia. She loves dark chocolate, the blues, and wildflowers. Find out more at her website, janisseray.com or subscribe to her free Substack newsletter, “Trackless Wild.”
MEETING INFORMATION
This program will be presented during our upcoming PST member meeting, to be held May 10, 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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Opportunities Abound: March Roundup
Our March roundup includes various opportunities brought to our attention by various orgaizations, members, and friends. Grow your skills, find submissions opportunities, and more!
Submission Closing Soon!
Poets for Peace Call for Submissions through March 31, 2025. Enter soon: submissions will close once 150 poets have submitted.
Maitland Public Library in Florida has a themed contest “That Rings a Bell.” Entries accepted through April 1, 2025. Get details.
Red Hawk Publications Aims Anthology at Helene Flood Relief
Red Hawk Publications seeks poetry from Appalachian Poets for an anthology to help with Hurricane Helene Flood Relief. The working title for the anthology is The Unnatural Disaster of Hurricane Helene Flood: Appalachian Poets Holler from Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Both published and unpublished poetry is welcome. Submissions are open through April 1, 2025. Get submission requirements.
Tennessee Mountain Writers’ Conference
The Tennessee Mountain Writers’ 36th Annual Conference, “Appalachian Ink,” is coming up April 3-5, 2025, at the Double Tree Hotel in Oak Ridge, TN. Early conference registration ends March 1, 2025. Get details at https://tmwi.org/2025-annual-conference-appalachian-ink/
From NFSPS
CONVENTION: NFSPS announced their annual convention will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico from July 23-28, 2025. Naomi Shihab Nye will be their keynote speaker! Details on the BlackBerry Peach Youth Mini-Festival to be held July 25, 2025, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will also become available in the coming months.
More Calls and Contests
- Alabama State Poetry Society Spring Contest Deadline April 10
- Dancing Poetry Contest Deadline April 15
- Orchard Street Publications 2025 Contest Deadline April 30
- Sundress Annual Chapbook Contest Deadline May 31
Events
Oceanside Library “Near and Afar” Zoom Poetry
From Oceanside Library in Oceanside NY enjoy their “Near and Afar” nights of poetry featuring poets from near and far away, held first and third Mondays. Get details here. See prior event replays here. (If any members would like to participate, please contact us at poetrytennessee@gmail.com.)
Workshops
- Free poetry workshop April 5 at the main Williamson County Library in Franklin TN We have a speaker who will be presenting a free poetry workshop for adults on April 5th at the Main library in Franklin, TN. Get details and register here.
- Shuly Cawood virtual generative and craft-focused writing workshops
- John Davis Jr. “Metacreativity: The Process Behind the Poetry” mail-based tips and insights
On Demand
- Briar Haus Writes writer interviews on YouTube
- Oceanside Library “Near and Afar” poetry reading replays
- Master Class
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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68th Annual Poetry Festival
Join us for a celebration of poets and poetry from Tennessee and beyond. Our 68th Annual poetry festival, in partnership with MTSU Write and Poetry in the Boro, will be held April 26, 2025, on the Middle Tennessee State University Campus and virtually on Zoom.
Festival Warm-Up
On Friday, April 25, 2025, at MTSU Foundation House, Poetry in the Boro hosts a reading by Christian Collier followed by an open mic session. Doors open at 6:00 pm and the program starts around 6:30 pm, so there will be time to mingle and sign up for open mic slots. The MTSU Foundation House is located at 324 W Thompson Ln, Murfreesboro TN 37129.
Festival
This festival will be held Saturday, April 26, from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm Eastern in the Academic Classroom Building at MTSU and via Zoom. Virtual attendees will be provided a link. With a morning plenary session and multi-track afternoon sessions from award-winning writers, along with contest announcements and a reading of winning poems, the festival will be a great way for attendees to improve their craft and immerse in poetry as we near the end of National Poetry Month.
Fees & Registration
The fee for the event is $40 ($10 for college students). Registration is open through April 18, 2025. Click below to register now.
Travelers:please note that a block of rooms is available for reservation through March 25, 2025. Information will be sent to you after registration.
Festival Line-up
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Academic Classroom Building, MTSUCampus
8:30 – 9:30 am REGISTRATION Check-in, Mingle, Coffee
9:30 – 11:00 am PLENARY WORKSHOP (In-person and Zoom) Through the Side Door: Unlocking Surprise in Your Work Christian Collier In this session we will explore ways to write into surprise and deeper levels of interiority.
11:00 am – 1:00 pm BREAK Lunch on your own
1:00 pm – 2:15 pm AFTERNOON SESSIONS
In-Person Workshops (Choose 1)
1. Publishing Strategies (roundtable discussion) Kory Wells, Cynthia Storrs, Bryanna Licciardi, & James Croal Jackson This roundtable discussion will cover such topics as online vs. print journals, chap books, traditional and self publishing and also ways to make a poem or manuscript its absolute best. Everyone can contribute and ask questions.
2. Poetry's Politics: How Does Poetry Confront the Politics of its Moment? Donovan McAbee From the sardonic realism of Poland's Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szymborska, to the surrealist manifestos of the Chilean, Nicanor Parra, to the contemporary protests of John Murillo, this seminar will examine different approaches poets take in confronting the politics of their times. We'll aim for a lively, insightful discussion, with the goals of giving us a better understanding of the poets we read, as well as insights into how these poets might inform our own practices of writing.
3. Narrative and Non-Narrative Poetry Claudia Stanek Have a poem that doesn't quite work? This workshop will help you to use non-narrative poetic approach toward deep revision of your narrative poem. an explanation of narrative vs. non-narrative poetry will be given. Participants will then have an opportunity to "create" non-narrative poetry from narrative and narrative from non-narrative in an exercise to further understanding. After this exercise, participants will also use this technique on one or two of their own poems which they will have brought with them.
Zoom Workshop
Poet's Toolbox: Strategic and Tactical Tools for Creative Work John C. Mannone In this interactive workshop, the topical trajectory may be determined in situ based on a spontaneous interest of the majority. It will cover some poetry basics presented uniquely; however, it will be couched in an advanced backdrop before proceeding to specific tactics in generating work that are very effective, and possibly novel. Some of these tactics supplement, even transcend the conventional advice, especially the power of subverting form.
2:15 – 2:30 pm BREAK
2:30 pm – 4:15 pm FESTIVAL CONTESTS (In-person and Zoom) Announcement and reveal of Tennessee Visions Contest winning cover art Announcement and reading of 68th Annual Poetry Festival Contest winning poems, including Best of Fest winner
4:15 pm – 4:30 pm CLOSING
4:30 pm ADJOURN
Festival Presenters
CHRISTIAN J. COLLIER is a Black, Southern writer, arts organizer, and teaching artist who resides in Chattanooga, TN. He is the author of Greater Ghost (Four Way Books, 2024), and the chapbook The Gleaming of the Blade, the 2021 Editors’ Selection from Bull City Press. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poetry, December, and elsewhere. A 2015 Loft Spoken Word Immersion Fellow, he is also the winner of the 2022 Porch Prize in Poetry and the 2020 ProForma Contest from Grist Journal. Learn more at www.christianjcollier.com.
JAMES CROAL JACKSON is a Filipino-American poet working in film production. His latest chapbooks are A God You Believed In (Pinhole Poetry, 2023) and Count Seeds With Me (Ethel Zine and Micro-Press, 2022). His poems have been published in literary publications such as Rattle, Columbia Review, Whale Road Review, and HAD. He edits The Mantle Poetry from Nashville, Tennessee.
BRYANNA LICCIARDI resists the question, “Where are you from?” because she’s lived all over the country—California, Texas, Michigan, Massachusetts, Louisiana—and currently resides in Murfreesboro. She is a degree collector of sorts, with an MFA in poetry from Emerson College, a Specialist Degree in higher education from MTSU, and a Doctorate in Education from MTSU. She works as an English and Women/Gender Studies lecturer, at—you guessed it—MTSU. She is the author of the poetry chapbook Skin Splitting (Finishing Line Press, 2017) and full-length collection Fish Love (Alternating Current Press, 2024). A multi–Pushcart Prize nominee, her individual works have appeared in publications like BlazeVOX, Cleaver Magazine, Poetry Quarterly, and Peacock Journal.
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 Jean Ritchie Fellowship (2017) and served as the celebrity judge for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (2018). He has five full-length collections (and five chapbooks), the latest is his first short fiction collection, Dark Wind, Dark Water (Mind’s Eye Publishing, 2025). He’s a retired professor of physics teaching mathematics and creative writing whenever the opportunity arises. Learn more at jcmannone.wordpress.com or https://www.facebook.com/jcmannone/
DONOVAN MCABEE is a poet, songwriter, and essayist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, TIME magazine, The Hudson Review, The Sun Magazine (US), Garden & Gun, Poetry London, and a variety of other places. His poetry chapbook, Sightings, was released as part of the Floodgate Series, Vol 7. His academic monograph Charles Simic and the Poetics of Uncertainty was published in 2020. Learn more at www.donovanmcabee.com.
CLAUDIA STANEK‘s work has been turned into a libretto, been part of an art exhibition, and been translated into Polish. Her poems exist online, in print, and in her chapbook, Language You Refuse to Learn. She holds an MFA from Bennington College. Her most recent chapbook, Beneath Occluded Shine (Finishing Press,2024), is now available.
CYNTHIA STORRS holds an M.Ed. from the University of Sheffield and has authored articles on biculturalism after teaching 25 years in Europe. Relocated from Colorado, she served on the board of Poetry West, Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Committee, and Pikes Peak Arts Council, which awarded her a grant for promoting poetry in area schools. Her first chapbook, GARDEN CLIPPINGS, will be published this fall by Finishing Line Press. Her poems can be found in the CO Poets website, Persimmon Tree, The Ekphrastic Review; 9 anthologies, Critique, and The Tennessee Magazine.
KORY WELLS is author of two poetry collections, most recently Sugar Fix from Terrapin Books. Her writing has been featured on The Slowdown from American Public Media and won Blue Earth Review’s 2023 Flash Creative Nonfiction Contest. A former poet laureate of Murfreesboro, she nurtures creative community through her leadership with Poetry in the Boro, the Bloom Stage storytelling show, and the from-home creative writing program MTSU Write. Learn more at www.korywells.com.
Festival Partners
MTSU Write is a non-degreed, community-facing creative writing program that hosts local and virtual events, facilitates virtual writing groups, and offers from-home, one-on-one mentoring to writers of all experience levels in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and playwriting. Learn more.
Poetry in the Boro iis a monthly open mic and featured reading series hosted in Murfreesboro. Founded in 2016, the mission of PitB is to bring poetry to the community and to offer a place for our community’s creative, unique voices in all styles of poetry and spoken word. Learn more.
Information on the festival can also be found on the Poetry Society of Tennessee website.
The Poetry Society of Tennessee is a non-profit organization founded by poets for poets in 1953 and a member of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. The society welcomes poets and poetry lovers from across Tennessee and beyond and offers members an inclusive, supportive community with plenty of hands-on opportunities to learn, grow, and appreciate the art and craft of poetry. Learn more.
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Debut Poetry Collection from Maria Zoccola
Maria Zoccola’s debut poetry collection, Helen of Troy, 1993, was released on January 14th by Scribner.
About Helen of Troy, 1993
Part myth retelling, part character study, Helen of Troy, 1993 reimagines the Homeric Helen in the hills of small-town Tennessee in the early nineties. In persona poems with settings ranging from Friday night football games to Piggly Wiggly to the bathroom of a Motel 6, Helen comes of age, marries the wrong man, births a child she is not ready to parent, and begins an affair that throws her life—and future—into chaos. (Starred review from Publishers Weekly; New York Times Editors’ Choice)
Helen of Troy, 1993 (Scribner) is now available through Barnes & Noble and indie booksellers. Learn more about Scribner.
About the Author
Maria Zoccola is a poet and educator from Memphis, Tennessee. She has writing degrees from Emory University and Falmouth University, and has spent many years leading creative writing workshops for middle and high school youth. Maria’s work has previously appeared in The Atlantic, Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, The Sewanee Review, ZYZZYVA, and elsewhere, and has received a special mention for the Pushcart Prize. Helen of Troy, 1993 (Scribner, 2025) is her debut poetry collection.
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New Poetry from Natalie Kimbell
Natalie Kimbell’s second poetry chapbook, And the Weather Remains the Same (Finishing Line Press), will be released on June 20, 2025, and is available for pre-order now through April 25, 2025.
About And the Weather Remains the Same
In her chapbook, Natalie explores loss and grief, sharing personal losses of love, youth, and death. Often looking to nature to understand, she finds compassion, companionship, and disinterest. Threaded within the raw nature of hurt and loss, her poems offer vibrant imagery and hope.
Praise for On Phillips Creek
And the Weather Remains the Same is a powerful collection of poems that echo grief in failed relationships. Kimbell skillfully uses many metaphors to show the facets of grief from loneliness and loss as a mechanism that leads to hope and ultimately salvation. Whether it’s through weather, plants, butterflies, or fish, the voices are heard in her heart-infused lines: (1) inhale the breeze that ruffles my hair / your musk rising from dead leaves, (2) [what it’s like to survive a broken heart is] like steering your car on a narrow switchback // two-lane road on an unfamiliar mountain through a storm, (3) You melt yellow poplar like ripened pears, / from green to gold to dark honey, (4) I plow head downward …leave a wake / of petals indifferent to the beauty / of small things, and many more. Even humor slips in to crack a smile at hurt, let alone irony. Kimbell shows her command of language and form and this is a highly recommended read to find solace despite the pain. –John C. Mannone, author of Sacred Flute (Iris Press, 2024) and seven other collections
And the Weather Remains the Same (Finishing Line Press) is available for pre-order now through April 25, 2025. Learn more about Finishing Line Press.
About the Author
Natalie Kimbell grew up in Sequatchie County, Tennessee. She has spent forty-one years teaching English and theater arts at Sequatchie County High School. She is a mother, grandmother and lover of all things that sparkle. Her work appears in Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Mildred Haun Review, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Artemis, Tennessee Voices, 23 Tales: Appalachian Ghost Stories, Legends and Other Mysteries, and Women Speak. Her first poetry chapbook, On Phillips Creek, is available with Finishing Line Press.
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March 2025 with Ann Fisher-Wirth
THE PROSE POEM
This workshop will focus on prose poems, beginning with some information about the development of the form, its particular characteristics, and the possibilities it can offer. After exploring and discussing various examples, participants will be provided prompts. There will also be an opportunity for general sharing and discussion.
About the Presenter
Ann Fisher-Wirth’s eighth book is Into the Chalice of Your Thoughts, a poetry/photography collaboration with Wilfried Raussert, with facing page translations into Spanish by the Women in Translation group, mounted at the Guadalajara Book Festival (Guadalajara University Press, 2023). Her seventh book is Paradise Is Jagged and her fifth, a poetry/photography collaboration with Maude Schuyler Clay, is Mississippi. With Laura-Gray Street, Ann coedited Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology (forthcoming Trinity University Press, 2025). A senior fellow of the Black Earth Institute, Ann has had Fulbrights to Switzerland and Sweden, and residencies at Djerassi, Hedgebrook, Storyknife, and elsewhere. Her awards and prizes include three poetry fellowships from the Mississippi Arts Commission, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Poetry Prize, a Rita Dove Poetry Prize, a Malahat Review Long Poem Prize, and the 2023 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Poetry from the Mississippi Arts Commission. Ann retired in 2022 from the University of Mississippi, where she taught and directed the Environmental Studies program for 34 years.
MEETING INFORMATION
This program will be presented during our upcoming PST member meeting, to be held March 8 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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PST 2024-2025 Student Contest Deadlines Near
Two of our 2024-2025 Student Contest divisions nears the submission deadline. Entries for either division must be postmarked by February 22, 2025.
For the Middle School Division, submit a free verse poem. For the Elementary Division, any form poem is acceptable. We invite all eligible students to submit a poem. Each student may submit only one poem. Both competitions are free to enter.
Who is Eligible?
Public, private, and home school students are eligible.
The Middle School Division competition is open to all Tennessee students in grades 6-8.
The Elementary Division competition is free and open to all Tennessee students in grades 2-5.
Non-Tennessee residents may compete by joining the Poetry Society of Tennessee as Student Members. Get membership information.
What do Winners Receive?
Contest Awards: 1st place $25, 2nd $20, 3rd $15, 4th $10, and 5th $5.
Winners will be announced on the PST website in the spring. Winning poems will be published in the 2024-2025 edition of Tennessee Voices.
Get More Details
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