Genre: Poetry

The Trivial Sublime

The Time Is Now
4.6.21

In Tomas Tranströmer’s lyrical autobiography Memories Look at Me (New Directions, 2011), translated from the Swedish by Robin Fulton, he describes his high school experience of reading the work of Horace out loud in the original Latin and instantaneously translating it into English. “This alternation between the trivial and decrepit on the one hand and the buoyant and sublime on the other taught me a lot,” writes Tranströmer. “It had to do with the conditions of poetry and life. That through form something could be raised to another level.” Write a poem with a central moment or image that risks being ridiculous. How can form be used to tether that moment to a more sublime mission? For inspiration, read “Old Man Leaves Party” by Mark Strand and “The Indoors Is Endless” by Tranströmer.

House of Mercury by Fady Joudah

Caption: 

“The storm funneled through town with destructive intent. / Fractured tree limbs, toppled fences, rippled shingles / like tufts of hair.” In this PBS NewsHour video, Fady Joudah reads “House of Mercury” from his poetry collection Tethered to Stars (Milkweed Editions, 2021), which is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Genre: 
Poetry
Tags: 
Fady Joudah
Tethered to Stars
Milkweed Editions
2021
PBS NewsHour
Page One
March/April 2021

Joshua Nguyen for WAN Poetry

Caption: 

“My mother doesn’t write recipes, / she just knows. // Braised pork and eggs, / rice cleaned thoroughly.” Joshua Nguyen, author of the chapbook, American Lục Bát for My Mother (Bull City Press, 2021), reads two poems in this video for the Write About Now Poetry reading series in Houston. 

Genre: 
Poetry
Spoken Word
Tags: 
Joshua Nguyen
Write About Now Poetry
Houston
American Lục Bát for My Mother
Bull City Press
2021

Cave Canem Poetry Prize Accepting Submissions

G&A: The Contest Blog
4.2.21

The deadline is approaching for the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Founded in 1999 to help discover “exceptional manuscripts by Black poets of African descent,” the prize celebrates a debut book of poetry by a Black writer. The winning writer will receive $1,000, a critique session with the prize judge, publication by Graywolf Press, fifteen author copies, and a reading event.

Using only the online submission system, submit a cover letter and a manuscript of 48 to 75 pages by April 30. Only writers who have not published a full-length book of poetry are eligible. Writers who have published chapbooks or who self-published books with limited print runs are eligible. Rachel Eliza Griffiths will judge. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

The Cave Canem Foundation was established in 1996 with the ambition to “remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in the literary landscape.” Cave Canem’s many programs include an annual writing retreat and numerous community-based workshops. The winner of the 2020 Cave Canem Poetry Prize was Aurielle Marie, whose book, Gumbo Ya Ya, is forthcoming from the University of Pittsburgh Press in fall 2021.

 

Annual Writing Competition

Writer’s Digest
Entry Fee: 
$35
Deadline: 
June 7, 2021
A prize of $5,000, an interview in Writer’s Digest, and an all-expenses paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference held in New York City in July is given annually for a poem, short story, essay, article, or script. Five prizes of $1,000 each and publication on the Writer’s Digest website are also given for a rhyming poem, a non-rhyming poem, a short story, a genre short story, and a personal essay. Using only the online submission system, submit a poem of up to 40 lines, a story of no more than 4,000 words, or an essay of up to 2,000 words by June 7. The entry fee for poetry is $20 ($15 for each additional poem) before May 7 and $25 thereafter ($20 for each additional poem); the entry fee for prose is $30 ($25 for each additional entry) before May 7 and $35 thereafter ($30 for each addition entry). Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Travel Writing Contest

Nowhere Magazine
Entry Fee: 
$20
Deadline: 
June 30, 2021
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Nowhere Magazine is given twice yearly for a poem, a short story, or an essay that “possesses a powerful sense of people, place, and time.” Unpublished and published pieces that have not previously been chosen as a contest winner are eligible. Porter Fox will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a poem of any length or a group of themed poems or a story or essay of 800 to 5,000 words with a $20 entry fee by June 30. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Recipe for the Poet

United States of Writing
3.31.21

Recently I reconnected with Detroit’s Deonte Osayande, whose new collection, Recipe for the Poet, is available now from Finishing Line Press. Osayande describes this collection as a mix of both form and free verse pieces acting as a sampler ahead of his anticipated full-length collection. “It blends the lessons I’ve learned about form poetry with the relevant topics of today,” says Osayande. I also believe that this is an important approach for both readers and writers of poetry; to allow poetic forms that are often thought of as “old” to reflect on the current world.

Serving the Detroit literary community as a poet, host, and slam master for over a decade, Osayande is a well-known artist in the city and is the author of three other collections, Class (Urban Farmhouse Press, 2017), Circus (Brick Mantle Books, 2018), and Civilian (Urban Farmhouse Press, 2019).

Given Osayande’s experience publishing in literary journals and working on manuscripts, I asked what advice he would give to those who want to submit work. “Never give up and write what you know. Rejection is part of the game and happens to everyone,” says Osayande. “You just need to have the drive and passion to persevere through it. If you write about what is close to your heart, those will be the most meaningful poems.”

Photo: Book cover of Recipe for the Poet (Finishing Line Press, 2021) by Deonte Osayande.
 
Justin Rogers is the literary outreach coordinator for Poets & Writers in Detroit. Contact him at Detroit@pw.org or on Twitter, @Detroitpworg.

Poem to My Child, If Ever You Shall Be With Gia Margaret

Caption: 

“I have so many questions of you, / for you are closer to me than anyone // has ever been, tumbling, as you are, this second, / through my heart’s every chamber,” reads Ross Gay from his poem “Poem to My Child, If Ever You Shall Be” in this video with music by Gia Margaret, a collaboration from a new Jagjaguwar album called Dilate Your Heart.

Genre: 
Poetry
Cross-Genre
Tags: 
Ross Gay
Dilate Your Heart
Gia Margaret
Jagjaguwar
music
Poem to My Child, If Ever You Shall Be

Dissatisfied

The Time Is Now
3.30.21

In an interview with Paisley Rekdal curated by Victoria Chang for Tupelo Quarterly, the poet discusses how she always writes in pursuit of a form. “Once I have an idea (really, more of a feeling than a subject), I’m always trying to find a way to shape the material of that feeling,” says Rekdal. As an example, Rekdal talks about her poem “Philomela,” from her book Nightingale (Copper Canyon Press, 2019), and how identifying what dissatisfied her about the poem allowed her to find a form for it. This week, find an unfinished poem that you’ve been dissatisfied with and try to express why in a brief sentence. Next, write a new poem that directly addresses this dissatisfaction. Does this exercise help you discover new forms?

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