Poetry Society of Tennessee

EST. 1953

PST News

  • 68th Annual Poetry Festival

    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.

    click to REGISTER

    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

    click to REGISTER

    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.

    click to REGISTER

    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.

    click to REGISTER

    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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  • Consider Our Communities

    This past year, the Florida open mic that became my home away from home lost two venues in the months I was away and didn’t meet while I was there. It hit me hard, for the group and personally. Our poetry communities, and the places that hold space for poets, are vital and precious.

    It felt especially good to come home in early February to the PoetTEA open mic, our collaboration with the Poetry Writers Workshop (PWW). Both PoetTEA and PWW have a home at The Philosopher’s House in Johnson City. PoetTEA’s theme of Love and Loss held special meaning for me given my Florida poet friends’ loss of spaces.

    How fortunate we are to have venues that welcome poets and hold space for poetry, members who tell us about these places, businesses that support poets and poetry, and people who create these opportunities by giving of their time to publicize, plan for, and host such events. Thank you!

    I invite you to become involved in your poetry communities and to make use of spaces that serve our communities, whether virtual or in person. In the virtual realm of our society you’ll find monthly meetings, study groups, open mics and critique groups (available thanks to members who host them monthly). In-person, a few regions offer open mic or workshops monthly. You can find other poetry happenings in your local communities and beyond. Learn more. Have we missed an important Tennessee poetry venue or organization? I invite you to share in the comments.

    Hybrid events offer the convenience and reach of virtual events with the irreplaceable benefits of in-person events. I’m happy to share two for 2025:

    • PST’s 68th Annual Poetry Festival. Come to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on April 26 for a full day of workshops and more (like contest winner announcements!). If you cannot join us in person, Zoom sessions will be available. The night before, we’ll join the Poetry in the ‘Boro community event. The wonderful folks from this organization and MTSU Write have helped make our festival possible. We are grateful and look forward to bringing members of our communities together this spring!
    • National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NFSPS) Annual Convention. Registration is open for this event, to be held July 23-28, 2025, in Albuquerque, New Mexico (NOT Santa Fe, as I erroneously reported last month). And while we’re talking about NFSPS, NFSPS annual contests and the BlackBerry Peach Spoken & Written contest are open (mid-March deadlines). Registration is also open for the BlackBerry Peach National Slam Competition. The winner of this contest will go on to represent the United States in the 2025 World Championships!

    Want to write for a cause or two? Poets for Peace has a call to poets around the world for an anthology of peace poems. This call closes the earlier of March 31 or when they receive 150 entries. Learn more. Proceeds go toward projects benefiting a Ukraine orphanage. Red Hawk Publications has a call for Appalachian poets to submit poems for an anthology about Hurricane Helene to support the Helene Flood Relief Fund. Learn more. Check out these and other opportunities here.

    If you have interest in volunteering for one of our society committees, we’re fielding a volunteer team for next year. We’re especially looking for people with a passion for contests, marketing, or creating connections in our regions. We promise, inquiries are not expectations for a commitment. Contact us at poetrytennessee@gmail.com to learn more.

    For our March program, Anne Fisher-Wirth will guide us through prose poetry! As with our previous programs this year, come prepared to write. And if you missed our programs or want to return to them, you’ll find a full year of replays in the next meeting invite. Also at our March meeting, we will hold a vote on a small slate of additional Board members the Board approved at its meeting earlier this month.

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

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

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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

    Learn more about our student contests.

    Get a printer-friendly copy of contest instructions.

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  • Opportunities Abound: February Roundup

    Several organizations have reached out to the society this month to share opportunities, from calls for submissions to contests, conventions and conferences.

    James Agee Conference

    This FREE one day conference will be held February 22, 2025, at the Strawberry Plains Campus of Pellissippi State Community College. Get details.

    Submission Closing Soon!

    Poets for Peace Call for Submissions through March 31, 2025. Enter soon: submissions will close once 150 poets have submitted.

    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

    CONTESTS: The National Federation of State Poetry Societies’ Annual Poetry Contests are open to eligible members for entry through March 15, 2025. Learn more. Two of three BlackBerry Peach Spoken Word Contests & Events are also underway! The BlackBerry Peach Spoken & Written Contest is open for submissions through March 16, 2025. The BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam is open for registration (winner will represent the United States in international competition!).

    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.

    Dancing Poetry Contest

    Artists Embassy International offers the 32nd Annual Dancing Poetry Contest. Grand Prize winners will win $100 and have their poems read and danced at the festival. Other winners will have the opportunity to read their poems. Winning poems will be featured on YouTube. Submissions close April 15, 2025. Get details.

    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.)

    New Writing Program from John Davis Jr.

    Like the idea of getting insights and tips from a poet by mail? Award-winning Florida-based author John Davis Jr. is offering a new program, Metacreativity: The Process Behind the Poetry, where he offers insights on the creation of his poems and provides insider tips on the craft. Learn more about the program. Learn more about John.

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  • February 2025 Poetry Contest Results

    The Poetry Society of Tennessee (PST) formally announced its members-only February 2025 contest results at their February 8 member meeting. Winners receive cash prizes. The first place poem will be published in an upcoming edition of PST’s anthology, Tennessee Voices.

    Many thanks to sponsor PST-Knox (and Sally Boyington) and judge Claudia Stanek, who selected the following winners and honorable mentions:

    • 1st: “Final Curtain Call” by Sarah Small
    • 2nd: ” Crazy for Cliches” by Fred Tudiver
    • 3rd: “Reinterpreting Robert Burns” by Connie Green
    • 1HM: “Birdsong” by Lisa Higginbotham
    • 2HM: “Lover’s Tale of Unrequited Love” by Amber Smith
    • 3HM: “Bad Poetry” by Russell H. Strauss

    Meeting attendees enjoyed the readings of these winning poems.

    Enter Your Poem

    March’s contest is open for submissions February 1-15. An ekphrastic poem in response to a specific picture. Many thanks to sponsor and judge Janet Qually.

    No contest will be held in April, as our regular meeting will not be held. Our 68th Annual Poetry Festival will take place April 25-26, 2025, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and virtually. Details will be shared soon.

    Get a head start on May’s two contests: one from sponsor Emory Jones about friends and another from sponsor Russell Strauss on a humorous subject. These contests open for submissions April 1-15.

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

    Not a member? Join us. Learn more.

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  • Enchantments and Other Adventures

    As I write, icicles have just dropped off the balcony above my condo unit in Florida. During my previous time in the panhandle, I saw snow on the beach once, March 1993. It melted almost as fast as it fell onto the sugar-white sand. But this year, Enzo came for a visit. The view was “Florida, unhinged.” The snowfall resembled the heavy stuff that dropped on my Tennessee home mid-December 2009. The one where I couldn’t get my car up the hill to my house. Where I built snowmen, sledded down the backyard hill, and played in the snow long past sundown. In between the peace and beauty of it, I heard ice creak before branches cracked and tumbled. I saw eerie, blue-green snow lightning.

    Here, I lumbered out to the chilly beach as snow fell to an ocean wave soundtrack. Later came snowdrifts. Icy roads. A blanketed beach. The next morning, people walked the shoreline, exchanged greetings. A tiki hut wore a snow-covered roof. Tide pools iced over. In the snow-covered sand, children made snow angels. As the day drew on, a scatter of snowmen began to appear across the island. Today, the snow melt has made progress. Sand peeks out along well tread places. A lone snowman sits, disaggregated, at the tideline. Normality will resume soon.

    Normal is fine. Everyday enchantments are everywhere. As poets, we know wonderful things happen when we are intentional and attentive. Look to favorite poems: the magic of a well-crafted line, a breathtaking unexpected turn. Powerful opening lines, closing lines, and isolations. A clever enjambment. Music. Rhythm. A pull at our senses. We writers are the enchanted and enchanter. Keep observing, learning and creating. I can’t wait to experience your poems!

    Want more enchantment and adventures? The National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NFSPS) holds their annual convention in the Land of Enchantment July 23-28, 2025, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. With a theme of Enchanting Words and a host of workshops, readings, open mics, a youth event, and a National Slam competition, enchantment is inevitable. Registration is open. NFSPS annual contests and the BlackBerry Peach Spoken & Written contest are open. Registration is also open for the BlackBerry Peach National Slam Competition.

    If you missed it, January’s fascinating program on confessional poetry will soon be available to members for replay. Our February workshop will focus on a form that’s been around for centuries and remains relevant today: the ghazal. Member Cathy Hollister will present. Come prepared to explore and write!

    Fellow society members are preparing an amazing 68th Annual Poetry Festival to be held in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on April 26, 2025. Make plans now to attend. More details to come.

    If you’re looking to get more involved in your poetry community, we’d be enchanted if you chose to support our society. Have a passion for contests, marketing, or engaging with people across regions or states? Reach out (poetrytennessee@gmail.com).

    Curious about PST? Join us at a meeting or event. Reach out anytime. I hope to see you soon at a PST event.

    With appreciation and excitement—
    Lisa Kamolnick
    President, Poetry Society of Tennessee

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  • Opportunities Abound: January Roundup

    Several organizations have reached out to the society this month to share opportunities, from calls for submissions to contests, conventions and conferences (one even has scholarship offerings!).

    Submission Closing Soon!

    Highland Park Poetry’s 2025 Poetry Challenge submission deadline is deadline is Monday, January 27, 2025 at 11:59PM. They offer three challenge options:

    • The Roaring Twenties – in honor of the 100th publication anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
    • Ode to a Geographic Place – inspired by Diane L. Redleaf’s Odes to the States: Poems Inspired By the 50 States and the District of Columbia)
    • Dodoitsu (any subject written as a dodoitsu, Japanese form of four lines where first three lines have 7 syllables and the last line has 5; usually concerning topics of work or love; see attached description and examples)

    It’s free to submit one poem, and previously published poems are accepted (include the appropriate acknowledgment).

    Learn more about this and other opportunities from Highland Park Poetry at www.HighlandParkPoetry.org.

    Tennessee Mountain Writers Competition and Conference

    FESTIVAL INFORMATION: 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. More info coming soon.

    For more information, please contact us at scholarships@tmwi.org.

    From NFSPS

    CONTESTS: The National Federation of State Poetry Societies’ Annual Poetry Contests are open to eligible members for entry through March 15, 2025. Learn more. Two of three BlackBerry Peach Spoken Word Contests & Events are also underway! The BlackBerry Peach Spoken & Written Contest is open for submissions through March 16, 2025. The BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam is open for registration (winner will represent the United States in international competition!).


    CONVENTION: NFSPS announced their annual convention will be held in Santa Fe, 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 Santa Fe, New Mexico, will also become available in the coming months.

    POETS FOR PEACE Call for Submissions

    Poets for Peace has a call for submissions open now through March 31, 2025. Please note submissions will close once 150 poets have submitted.

    From North Carolina Poetry Society

    This society offers 11 poetry contests for adults, with a deadline of February 1, 2025. Learn more.

    Title Writing Workshop

    Poetry Society of Tennessee member Shuly Cawood is once again offering her popular “Let Your Titles Do More of the Heavy Lifting” workshop in partnership with Press 53 on February 13, 2025. Learn more.

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