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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 -
New Poetry from Abby Lewis
Abby Lewis’s fourth poetry book, Aquakineticist (Wipf and Stock Publishers), is now available for purchase.
About Aquakineticist
In her latest collection, Abby explores the journey from innocent child to sexualized object to scorned woman through “a poetic expression of a bildungsroman.” In the collection, coming of age is set against the socio-geography of growing up in the American South.
Praise for Aquakineticist
“‘She keeps all her secrets / hidden inside like a bouquet’ (‘Sown Woman’). Sometimes questioning, sometimes defiant, sometimes sure, Abby Lewis’s Aquakineticist traverses personal history and explores the ache of living—questioning, as we all do, the decisions she has made. This collection is a poignant reminder of both the joys and insecurities of growing up where ‘Grandma can’t afford / to pay the real trash man, but she / still places four silver quarters in / my hand’ (‘Angel Food Cake’). Lewis captures the magic of the ordinary in poems such as ‘The Essence of Lounging,’ as the speaker considers her relationship with gravity. ‘On Identity’ explores the discovery of self and others when she is asked, ‘Would you rather be a flower or a weed?’ Passionate and self-aware, Lewis seizes each moment of the past, both good and bad, through poetry before ‘another memory / disintegrates’ (‘Memories Ablaze’). This collection is one you will read again and again.”
KB Ballentine, author of All the Way Through and Spirit of Wild
Aquakineticist (Wipf and Stock Publishers) is now available for purchase. Learn more about Wipf and Stock Publishers.
About the Author
Abby N. Lewis is a poet from Dandridge, Tennessee. She is the author of the poetry collection Reticent (2016) and two chapbooks. She holds several master’s degrees. Her creative work has appeared in over a dozen journals and magazines, most notably Timber. Her book reviews and interviews can frequently be found on Chapter 16’s website. Keep up with her on her website, freeairforfish.com.
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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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PST News
Poetry Society of Tennessee 