-
New Poetry by Charles Thomas
Charles Thomas’ new poetry collection, Love Too Much, is available for purchase.
What We Know
Thomas invites readers on a journey through the multidimensional continuum of love, exploring its depths, limits, and transformative power, aided by the stunning visual art of a professional artist.
About Love Too Much
In Love Too Much, poet Thomas offers an exploration of love, darkness, and light, inviting readers to reconsider societal norms and stereotypes of these themes. Through a blend of verse and vivid imagery, Thomas challenges the traditional view that equates darkness with negativity and light with goodness. Instead, the poet celebrates the restorative power of darkness, urging us to embrace a more nuanced and balanced understanding of love and human connection.
This collection delves into the complexities of the heart, from the delicate balance of strength and weakness in “Space-Time Between” to the raw honesty of loving without causing harm in “Can’t Be Done.” With stunning visual art accompanying each poem, Love Too Much is a transformative journey that will challenge, move, and inspire you to rethink love itself.
About the Author
Charles Thomas decided to self-publish a book not for the purpose of self-publishing a book; rather, his purpose is to share his thoughts, feelings, and ideas, and to encourage everyone to do the same. His poetry has appeared in various online and print magazines, including most recently Novus, Dandelion Scribes, Remington Review, Shift, and WorshipWeb of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
-
New Poetry by Sally Bennett Boyington
Sally Bennett Boyington’s new poetry collection, Deep Roots in a Dry Place, is available for purchase.
About Deep Roots in a Dry Place
Join poet Sally Bennett Boyington on an intriguing journey through the desert accompanied by ChatGPT and image-generating AIs. Each of the illustrated pages that resulted from this curiosity-driven adventure contains a poem written by either the author or ChatGPT, set opposite each other for comparison. Photographs accompany the author’s poems, while AI-generated images in various styles are juxtaposed with the ChatGPT poems.
The fusion of technology and human creativity in these pages showcases how far AI has come in recent years, as well as revealing the nuances that continue to distinguish human expression from machine learning. Deep Roots in a Dry Place offers readers a fascinating holistic experience where art, poetry, and science intertwine.
About the Author
Sally Bennett Boyington spent decades exploring the Arizona desert on foot, by horseback, and in the pages of books. Sally has written several novels set in Arizona, including a series based on the prehistoric Hohokam Indians. As a copy editor and publishing coach, she has helped several hundred authors see their words in print. Sally currently writes about Arizona in absentia, for she lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with her husband and four-footed friends.
-
Opportunities Abound: May Roundup
Our May 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!
- Button Poetry First Book Contest Deadline May 30
- Sundress Annual Chapbook Contest Deadline May 31
- Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge Deadline May 31
- BoomerLit (open to writers of all ages) seeks submissions on the theme of resilience. Learn more. Deadline June 20.
More Calls
- Shift, lit mag for MTSU Write, seeks submissions on the supernatural. Learn more. Deadline June 30.
- Last Stanza seeks submissions on the theme conversation. Learn more. Deadline June 30.
- Submissions are open for Procrastinating Writers United‘s 2025 mini-digital-publication THE YELLING CONTINUES, not surprisingly themed on Noise. Be part of the cacophony. Learn more. Deadline June 30.
- MER seeks poems on motherhood and family. Learn more. Deadline July 15.
Always Open
Hate deadlines? Here are a few randomly selected literary venues that are always (or almost always) open to submissions:
- Blue Mountain Review
- Cult. Magazine
- Dish Soap Magazine
- Door is a Jar
- Judy
- Southern Poetry Review
- The Sun
- Your Impossible Voice
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! 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
- Massachusetts Poetry Society National Poetry Day Contest closes August 1, 2025
- Poets Roundtable of Arkansas Poetry Day Contests open July 1 through August 15, 2025.
- The California Quarterly, a literary publication of California State Poetry Society
Southern Fried Poetry Slam Coming to Knoxville
The Southern Fried Poetry Slam will be held June 11-14, 2025, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Get details.
Events
- May 20, Vagabond Poetry Tour at Cafe Noir at 7 PM, 635 Madison Avenue (look for the balloons).
- Oceanside Library “Near and Afar” Zoom Poetry
- Love Shakespeare? Snag a random role in an ZOOM production of “The Merchant of Venice”! Get details.
- On June 7, the FW Coleman Theatre will put on a Children’s Jazz and Poetry Festival from 12:00 – 4:00 PM at 1517 S Mt. Zion Rd, Byhalia, Mississippi.
Workshops
- Shuly Cawood virtual generative and craft-focused writing workshops
- John Davis Jr. “Metacreativity: The Process Behind the Poetry” mail-based tips and insights
- Two Sylvias Press Online Poetry Retreat. Choose from three different session periods, and two levels of participation. (virtual, Jun 30 – Jul 27, Aug 4-31, and Oct 6 – Nov 2)
- Hindman Appalachian Writer’s Workshop (Hindman KY, Jul 20-25)
- VA highland Fest Writers & Readers Days (Abingdon VA, Jul 25-26)
- Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference (virtual, Jul 25-28)
- Appalachian Writer’s Conference (Berea KY, Sep 2-5)
- Think Journal Critical Path Poetry Symposium (Virtual, Sep 25-27) FREE
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!
always open for submissions, calling all poets, calls for submission, conference, Contests, convention, John Davis Jr., literature, NFSPS, Oceanside Library, poetry, poetry community, poetry contests, PoetrySocietyofTennessee, Slam Poetry Contest, Southern Fried Poetry Slam, Spoken word, Tennessee Mountain Writers, workshop, writing -
Memphis Heats Up with Beat Poetry
On May 20, 2025, in collaboration with the Poetry Society of Tennessee, the National Beat Poet Laureate and a caravan of poets stops in Memphis, hosted by Cafe Noir, located at 635 Madison Ave. the event begins at 7:00 p.m. (Look for the balloons!)
Vagabond Poetry Tour
The National Beat Poetry Foundation names a national (U.S.) and international Poet Laureate. Mark Lipman, their National Beat Poet Laureate has chosen to undertake a national poetry tour this year, to promote peace and build a vision for a better world. The Vagabond Poetry Tour will stop at as many venues across the country between New England and Los Angeles during a 60-day tour.
About the National Beat Poetry Foundation
The National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc., is a not-for-profit organization, which includes its festivals, “National Beat Poetry Festival” (NBPF), “International Beat Poetry Festival” (IBPF), and “Kerouac Cafe”. While we continue to preserve the writings of the “Beat Generation’, we strive to keep evolving to create a new ” Beat Generation” of Poets, Writers, Artists, and Musicians. The NBPF supports the above primary mission by hosting, collaborating, and fostering joint partnerships for Beat-themed poetry readings, workshops, plays, radio shows and much more locally, across the United States and Worldwide. Learn more.
About Cafe Noir
CAFE NOIR is a Bookstore and Cafe. Their shelves will be filled with books by Black, PoC, LGBTQI+ authors. Along with amazing books, cups will also be filled with ethically sourced and fair traded coffee. Learn more.
About Home Grown Arts
Homegrown Arts is committed to creating art that builds community by using creative writing and performance art. Learn more.
-
Debut Poetry Collection from Sarah Small
Sarah Small’s debut poetry collection, Stitches, is available for pre-order at Finishing Line Press. Learn more.
Stitches is not only a collection featuring Sarah’s poetry. Her collection also features cover art that was painted by her dauther-in-law, Summer Small, who’s from Knoxville, TN.
About Stitches
Stitches is a debut poetry collection composed of 20 intimate poems that reflect on life’s quiet yet profound moments. Through vivid imagery and emotionally resonant language, the poet weaves together stories of memory, love, loss, and renewal—each poem acting as a snapshot of a lived experience. From a soldier tracing a photograph to a mother grappling with her son’s rejection, the collection captures both the tenderness and pain of human connection.
Interspersed with celebrations of the natural world, the poems invite readers to pause, breathe, and find solace beneath metaphorical and literal canopies of green. Accessible yet evocative, Stitches offers a comforting, contemplative space that feels like coming home.
About the Author
Sarah Cummins Small holds an MA in English/creative writing from Iowa State University. Sarah lives outside Knoxville, TN. Her poetry has appeared in a number of journals, including Appalachia Bare, Cider Press Review, Tiny Wren Lit, Yalobusha Review, and Willawaw Journal, and anthologies like Breathing the Same Air and Migrants and Stowaways.
-
Debut Poetry Collection from Heidi Ehle
Heidi Ehle’s debut poetry collection, What We Know, is now available for purchase. at Makers Market in Jonesborough and Mr K’s in Johnson City as well as via direct purchase. Learn more.
About What We Know
What We Know is not only a collection featuring Heidi’s poetry. The collaborative effort also features cover art and illustrations by her husband, Charles Jones.
What We Know is now available at Makers Market in Jonesborough and Mr K’s in Johnson City as well as via direct purchase. Learn more.
About the Author
In Heidi Ehle’s family, writing is in the air. Her mother wrote poetry, and she remembers her reciting all of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Renascence from memory at the slightest provocation. Her niece is a published poet and novelist. It has always felt natural that writing would be part of her life.
Heidi is also naturally inquisitive. She writes because she is perpetually interested in the dynamic relationship of content to form, because she feels that she has something to say, because it helps her see the world in a different more alert way, because she likes the company of writers, and because it is a creative outlet that she can continue to pursue until she is 92 – unlike music and dance.
Heidi’s background in dance (an aspiring professional until age 24), and music (a degree in Classical Flute Performance and 35 years as a performer and teacher) create a context for poetry, which – after all – was originally a live performance oral tradition.
She began writing with some focus in 1998 after a back injury laid her low and she needed a creative outlet she could pursue in a prone position. She has written continually since then, more or less, and other than the occasional workshop, writers retreat or class she is largely self-educated in this arena. She has focused on her writing with fresh energy since retirement three years ago from her position as Assistant Director of the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts at East Tennessee State University (ETSU). She has delved more deeply into a study of craft and form, joined a writer’s group, developed a relationship with a mentor figure, and taken some advanced writing classes from Jesse Graves (Poet in Residence at ETSU).
As someone with a background in the performing arts, she has been increasingly interested in how poetry is delivered. Inspired by many a droning poetry reading, Heidi has been developing her ability to memorize ‘suites’ of her poetry, leaning toward a more theatrical presentation, and even incorporating some movement. She performs in a musical duo called the Sweetwater Troubadours, and the troubadour legacy gives a model for this combination of music/ movement and language.
-
Opportunities Abound: April Roundup
Our April 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!
- Enchanted Garden Haiku Journal themed submissions (objects in the sky (airplanes, kites, skyscrapers, balloons, clouds, etc.) open May 1-May 15
- Orchard Street Publications 2025 Contest Deadline April 30
- Sundress Annual Chapbook Contest Deadline May 31
Themed Calls
- Don’t let the name fool you. BoomerLit is open to writers of all ages. They are currently seeking submissions on the theme of resilience. Learn more.
- Last Stanza seeks submissions on the theme conversation. Learn more.
- Submissions are open for Procrastinating Writers United‘s 2025 mini-digital-publication THE YELLING CONTINUES, not surprisingly themed on Noise. Be part of the cacophony. Learn more.
Always Open
Hate deadlines? Here are a few randomly selected literary venues that are always (or almost always) open to submissions:
- Blue Mountain Review
- Cult. Magazine
- Dish Soap Magazine
- Door is a Jar
- Judy
- Southern Poetry Review
- The Sun
- Your Impossible Voice
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! 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
- Massachusetts Poetry Society National Poetry Day Contest closes August 1, 2025
- Poets Roundtable of Arkansas Poetry Day Contests open July 1 through August 15, 2025.
- The California Quarterly, a literary publication of California State Poetry Society
Southern Fried Poetry Slam Coming to Knoxville
The Southern Fried Poetry Slam will be held June 11-14, 2025, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Get details on how to volunteer.
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
- 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!
always open for submissions, calling all poets, calls for submission, conference, Contests, convention, John Davis Jr., literature, NFSPS, Oceanside Library, poetry, poetry community, poetry contests, PoetrySocietyofTennessee, Slam Poetry Contest, Southern Fried Poetry Slam, Spoken word, Tennessee Mountain Writers, workshop, writing
PST News
Poetry Society of Tennessee 
