The full list of Adult Contest winners is on our Winning Poets page, at http://www.ncpoetrysociety.org/winners.

The list of Student Contest winners is on the Student Winners page: http://www.ncpoetrysociety.org/student-winners

We’ll look forward to hearing all of the winning poems read on Awards Day in Southern Pines in May!

The Sam Ragan Day Meeting will be a meeting of music and poetry workshops, as we meet on Saturday, March 24 in Southern Pines to remember the great North Carolina poet Sam Ragan.

Fleur-de-Lisa, a Durham-based a cappella trio comprised of Sarah Kenan Shunk, Deborah Stewart, and Sylvia Freeman, will perform. They write all their own music using lyrics by published poets, many of them North Carolina poets. Since they come from different musical backgrounds, they bring many disciplines together in their music, including jazz, rock, classical and country.

Their first CD Willow Songs was based on haiku by North Carolina poets from a book Underneath the Willow Tree. Since then they have used longer poems in their music and have a second CD The Unworn Necklace available for purchase. In 2010 they won a best original song award in the Mid-Atlantic Harmony Sweepstakes competition. The winning song was written by Sarah Kenan Shunk to words by haiku poet Roberta Beary. You can find out more and hear samples of their work at www.haikusongs.com.

Afternoon Workshops with Diana Pinckney and Katherine Soniat

Members will have the choice of two workshops featuring acclaimed poets Diana Pinckney and Katherine Soniat. Read on to learn which program will best jumpstart your writing.

• Workshop for the Persona Poem – Diana Pinckney

  Whether we call this type of poem persona or dramatic monologue, we will explore the ways to create other worlds by writing in the voice of another. Using hand-outs and examples from master poets of earlier eras, contemporary writers of today and various drafts of her own poems,
  Diana looks forward to an exchange of ideas in finding the different ways to create poems that allow the voices of others to speak through us and us through them.

• What We Write About When We Look at War and Peace – Katherine Soniat

  These two words are huge concepts which can encompass our personal lives and also refer to the world at large. Using a selection of appropriate poems from The Swing Girl, we will determine ways in which you can write a poem about chaos or calm. The technique of using quick intense imagery to create poetry offers your reader both panorama and startling invention. Come join in this exciting process!

• Diana Pinckney has published poetry and prose in such journals and magazines as Southern Poetry Review, Cream City Review, Tar River Poetry, Cave Wall, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Icarus International, Atlanta Review, Green Mountains Review, Main Street Rag, Kalliope, Iodine, Asheville Poetry Review, Calyx, RHINO, Charlotte Viewpoint Magazine, The Pedestal Magazine.com, Creative Loafing and many others. Her chapbook, Fishing With Tall Women, won North Carolina’s 1996 Persephone Press Book Award and South Carolina’s Kinlock Rivers Memorial Chapbook Contest. Nightshade Press, Troy, Maine, published her second book of poems, White Linen, in 1998. Alchemy, the third collection was published by Main Street Rag Publishing Co., Charlotte, N.C. in 2004. Her full-length collection, Green Daughters, was released by Lorimer Press, Davidson, N.C. in April, 2011.
• Katherine Soniat is originally from New Orleans and has taught at the University of New Orleans, Hollins University, and for 20 years as a member of the faculty at Virginia Tech. Now a resident of Asheville, she teaches in the Great Smokies Writing Program at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She is a widely-published and widely-traveled poet in whose work a sense of place and an immersion in a variety of cultures are central. She has published work in such journals as the Iowa Review, the Virginia Quarterly Review, New Letters, and Quarterly West. THE SWING GIRL is her fifth collection of poems and was published earlier this year; it will be followed in 2012 by a sixth, A RAFT, A BOAT, A BRIDGE.

For more information, including a tentative schedule, and directions to the Weymouth Center in Southern Pines, see our page at http://www.ncpoetrysociety.org/events.

Skilled kayakers seek to join the current, become one with the water, enjoy the trees and riverbanks as they glide past. But sometimes joining the current becomes an exercise in frustration as you hit a rock or get thrown off course into an eddy. Poets know writing can offer the same thrills and frustration. There’s nothing quite like writing when it’s going well, but the eddies challenge.

Together with generous support from Friends of Weymouth, the Poetry Society is pleased to welcome poet (and kayaker) Lola Haskins as our featured reader and presenter for the January meeting. A prolific and gifted writer, Ms. Haskins will read some of her recent work in the morning session and lead us in a workshop in the afternoon. She will use examples from her own rough drafts to show us how to best navigate into the current in our poetry. Her tenth book of poetry, The Grace to Leave is forthcoming from Anhinga Books. Her ninth book, Still, the Mountain, won the Silver Medal for Poetry in the 2010 Florida Book Awards. She is the author of a book of poetry advice, Not Feathers Yet: A Beginner’s Guide to the Poetic Life and teaches in the low residency MFA at Pacific Lutheran University.

Haskins excels at collaboration, working with dancers, actors, musicians and visual artists. Some of her collaborations include a performance called “Forty-Four Ambitions for the Piano” and Solutions Beginning with A, a book of fables about women illustrated by Maggie Taylor, among many others. Please join us as we hear Lola Haskins’ poetry in the morning and learn from this multi-talented artist in the afternoon.

For the Right Brain: Creative Strategies for Poets

Later in the afternoon, it’s a switch to the right side of the brain to learn about smart strategies for promoting yourself on the web. In the Creative Strategies for Poets workshop, Kevin Watson, founding editor of Press 53, will discuss the many opportunities writers have to be seen and heard. Social media offers numerous ways to reach your readers, but how much is too much? Watson will discuss how to best use social media to promote yourself and your work.

Kevin Morgan Watson is founder of Press 53 and serves as Editor in Chief with a special focus on Short Stories and Poetry. As a publisher, he has worked with writers ranging from first-time published authors to winners of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. As a writer, his short stories, poetry, and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including the 2002 TallGrass Writers Guild/Outrider Press anthology Take Two—They’re Small, where his short story “Sunny Side Up” won first prize. Press 53 is an independent publisher of literary fiction, poetry and non-fiction located in Winston-Salem, NC. Their impressive internet presence can be found at www.press53.com and on Facebook.

The NC Poetry Society has two categories of contests:

• our Adult Contests (find the guidelines here).
• our Student Contests, which includes students grade 3 all the way up to university undergraduates (find those guidelines here).

Winners and honorable mentions of all of our contests receive a free copy of Pinesong, our annual awards anthology book, and an invitation to read at the Awards Day meeting, on May 19, 2012 in Southern Pines.

Submission to all of these contests is completely free for NCPS Members (except for the Poet Laureate Award, which is still a bargain at $5), and reasonably-priced for non-members. So go ahead and dig out your favorite poems to submit. You never know which one might be a winner!

We also sponsor the Brockman-Campbell Book Award for books published in 2011. You can read the guidelines on the Brockman-Campbell page, here. Entries for this award are due on May 1, 2012.

NCPS Fall Meeting
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities
Southern Pines, NC
For directions to the Weymouth Center, see this page.

Featuring the Brockman-Campbell Book Award winners and the North Carolina Writers’ Network Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition winners, and an afternoon talk from Keith Flynn.

The morning will feature readings by the 2011 Brockman-Campbell Book Award winner, Peter Makuck, and Malaika King Albrecht and Joe Mills, two of the poets selected as honorable mentions.

We’ve also invited the winner and honorable mentions in the 2011 Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network (NCWN), to read. The poem “I Am the Girl” by Dannye Romine Powell was chosen, from almost 100 entries, as the winning poem by acclaimed poet Dan Albergotti.

After lunch, Keith Flynn will lead a discussion about the evolving ole of new media as it relates to the poetry world.

Before and after lunch, we’ll continue the open mic tradition, and we’ll end the day with a reception and book signing for the Brockman-Campbell Book Award and Randall Jarrell honorees and Keith Flynn.

Visit our events page for a full schedule, a writeup on the day’s events, and more about the afternoon workshop from Keith Flynn.

And after the meeting, Keith Flynn is giving a workshop in nearby Aberdeen, NC. Check out the local events page for more information about this event.

Awards Day Meeting
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Weymouth Center, Southern Pines

We’ll honor the latest student and adult winners of the North Carolina Poetry Society’s annual competitions and release the 2011 Pinesong (edited by Debra Kaufman) on Saturday, May 21, 2011, at Weymouth.

After a brief business meeting, we’ll dedicate this year’s Pinesong to Bill Griffin, doctor, author of little mouse and other books, and the Poetry Society’s long-standing treasurer.

After the dedication, Andrea Bates of Wilmington—winner of the Poet Laureate Award (final judge Cathy Smith Bowers)—will read, followed by the finalists for the Poet Laureate Award (preliminary judge Myrna Stone). Then we’ll hear the student winners of the Travis Tuck Jordan Award (for students in grades 3 through 5, judged by Donna Waters), the Joan Scott Memorial Award (for poems about the environment by students in grades 3 through 8, judged by Jan Jacobi), the Mary Chilton Award (for students in grades 6 through 8, judged by Jennifer Menser), the Sherry Pruitt Award (for students in grade 9 through undergraduate, judged by Mark Scandling), and the Farlow-Griffin Haiku Award (for students in grade 9 through undergraduate, judged by Dan Drummond). Annalee Kwochka will read at the end of the student contests, with an introduction by Libby Campbell on the role NCPS plays in fostering young poets.

We’ll then continue with the adult winners of the Caldwell Nixon Jr. Award for poems written by adults for children (judged by Sharon F. McDermott) and the Griffin-Farlow Award (judged by Roberta Beary), and
possibly others, depending on time.

After a break for lunch around noon, we’ll resume readings by the remaining adult winners at 1:15 pm: winners of the Poetry of Courage Award (judged by Simon J. Ortiz); the Poetry of Love Award (judged by Lola
Haskins); the Thomas H. McDill Award for a poem of any form, any style, with a maximum of 60 lines (judged by Toi Derricotte); the Joanna Catherine Scott Award for traditional forms (judged by Richard Katrovas); the Mary Ruffin Poole American Heritage Award (judged by David Huddle); and the Katherine Kennedy McIntyre Light Verse Award (judged by Franz Wright).

For a full schedule, be sure to see the events page.

May is a perfect time to enjoy poetry and the majestic gardens and house at Weymouth. Please join us.

This year’s Sam Ragan Poetry Festival featured great music and a nice readthrough of a play about Sam Ragan’s life. Ragan, named by Governor Hunt as North Carolina Poet Laureate for life in 1982, has obviously touched many of the members of the NCPS with his work, based on the reactions of the crowd. We all had a great time, and look forward to Awards Day in May.

• First Place: “Volcan Arenal” by Jack Stancil, J.J. Jones Intermediate School, Mount Airy
• Second Place: “Abandoned” by Anna Elizabeth Marion, J.J. Jones Intermediate School, Mount Airy
• Third Place: “Seasons” by Nique Penn, J.J. Jones Intermediate School, Mount Airy
• Honorable Mentions:
  “Spring’s Secret” by Josie Shelton, J.J. Jones Intermediate School, Mount Airy
  “Life on the Beach” by Sadie Rose Brooks, J.J. Jones Intermediate School, Mount Airy
  “The Beautiful Music of the World” by Kelsey Carlisle, J.J. Jones Intermediate School, Mount Airy

The Joan Scott Memorial Award

• First Place: “Dewdrops” by Sophia Hurr, Metrolina Regional Scholar’s Academy, Charlotte
• Second Place: “The Watcher” by Sidney Metcalf, Metrolina Regional Scholar’s Academy, Charlotte
• Third Place: “Night Sky” by Abby Shepard-Moore, Randolph Middle School, Charlotte
• Honorable Mentions:
  “My Little Scruffy Dog” by Kyle Mitchell, Metrolina Regional Scholars’ Academy, Charlotte
  “Twilight” by Mary Steele, Metrolina Regional Scholars’ Academy, Charlotte
  “The Falling Breath” by Corey Gradin, Rogers-Herr Year Round Middle School, Durham

The Mary Chilton Award

• First Place: “Wildfire” by Abram Magaldi, Randolph Middle School, Charlotte
• Second Place: “Anger is Fire” by John Dinkins, Mount Airy Middle School, Mount Airy
• Third Place: “What Do I Write?” by Zacariah Payne, Randolph Middle School, Charlotte
• Honorable Mentions:
  “Dreams” by Sidney Metcalf, Metrolina Regional Scholars’ Academy, Charlotte
  “My Brother and I” by Sophia Hurr, Metrolina Regional Scholars’ Academy, Charlotte
  “Slumber” by Amber Kupfer, Randolph IB Middle School, Charlotte

The Sherry Pruitt Award

• First Place: “To a Geode” by Jeremy Sexton, R.J. Reynolds High School, Winston-Salem
• Second Place: “Stripped-Down Sober” by Tina Clark, NC State University, Raleigh.
• Third Place: “Norma Jean” by Heather Ridlon, NC State University, Raleigh
• Honorable Mentions:
  “No Matter What” by Melanie Baldwin, NC State University, Raleigh
  “Garden of Eden” by Maya Gouw, City of Medicine Academy, Durham
  “Fluidity” by Carissa Akers, Northeast Senior High, McLeansville

The Lyman Haiku Award

• First Place: “Dew” by Jeremy Sexton, R.J. Reynolds High School, Winston-Salem
• Second Place: “Rapture” by Heather Ridlon, NC State University, Raleigh
• Third Place: “Spring” by Maya Gouw, City of Medicine Academy, Durham
• Honorable Mentions:
  “Never the Same” by Breanna Polascik, Durham Academy Upper School, Durham
  “Creation” by David Delgado Jr, NC State University, Raleigh

Joanna Catherine Scott Award (Richard Katrovas, Judge)

• First Place: “The Grounding to Craft” Sharon Sharp
• Second Place: “Yellow Pantoum” Andrew Kalnik
• Third Place: “Ted and Sylvia Sestina” Beth Cagle Burt
• Honorable Mentions:
  “Sonnet: When Winter Winds” Judith Behar
  “A Haibun on Fog” Cari Grindem-Corbett
  “Robert Herrick’s Argument for the Bluebells in the Field” Deborah Doolittle

Mary Ruffin Poole American Heritage Award (David Huddle, Judge)

• First Place: “Black Lace Against the Blue Sky” Deborah Doolittle
• Second Place: “Autumn Rituals” Joan McLean
• Third Place: “Pritchitts Fish Camp” Peggy Gambill
• Honorable Mentions:
  “Rain in Greenriver” Cari Grindem-Corbett
  “1934: Conversations among Works in a Textile Mill” Marjorie McNamara
  “The American Dream.” Catherine Entrocaso

Poetry of Love Award (Lola Haskins, Judge)

• First Place: “Frank and Alice: A Love Story” Terri Kirby Erickson
• Second Place: “When You Were Ten” Judith Behar
• Third Place: “Sanctuary” Cari Grindem-Corbett
• Honorable Mentions:
  “I’ll Tell You What” Corrie Lynn White
  “Beach Bird of a Pop” Amber Crews
  “Longing” Bob Katrin

Katherine Kennedy McIntyre Light Verse Award (Franz Wright, Judge)

• First Place: “Taking Out the Trash” Cathy C. Hall
• Second Place: “Superbowl Party” Betsy Sprague
• Third Place: “Parking With My Girl On A Summer Evening” Eric Weil
• Honorable mentions
  “The Low-down on Last Week’s Match Games” Sharon Sharp
  “Attention” Britt Kaufmann
  “Stopping By Home On a Summer Afternoon.” Lynn McLure

Lyman Haiku Award (Roberta Beary, Judge)

• First Place: “steady rain” Lynn McLure
• Second Place: “Silent Night” Chen-ou Liu
• Third Place: “daffodils” Patricia Daharsh
• Honorable Mention:
  “morning light on dunes-“ Cari Grindem-Corbett

Poetry of Courage Award (Simon J. Ortiz, judge)

• First Place: “Petition” Anne Vilen
• Second Place: “The small one I have…” Genevieve Fitzgerald
• Third Place: “and the levees break on New Orleans” Marjorie McNamara
• Honorable Mentions:
  “When the Rooster Crows” Rosalyn F. Lomax
  “The Loving Cup” MaXine Carey Harker

Caldwell Nixon Jr. Award (Sharon F. McDermott, Judge)

• First Place: “Mrs. McGree’s Menagerie” Joel Shulkin
• Second Place: “Between Us” Florence Weinberger
• Third Place: “Gigue” Bill Griffin
• Honorable Mentions:
  “Water Fountain” Betsy Humphreys
  “Freedom School” Susan Lefler
  “Bugs Galore” Julie Stuckey

Thomas H. McDill Award (Toi Derricotte, Judge)

• First Place: “Men of the Deeps” Betsy Humphreys
• Second Place: “Flying Blind” Jenny Ward Angyal
• Third Place: “Orientation” Amber Crews
• Honorable Mentions:
  “Sunset Roanoke Sound” Bill Griffin
  “Soul Food” Valerie Macon
  “Alberto Caeiro Speaks to Lorca of Sheep” Deborah Doolittle

Poet Laureate Award (Myrna Stone, pre-judge, Cathy Smith Bowers, final judge)
In no particular order:
1. “Mrs. Just In Case” Andrea Bates
2. “After You Tell Him It’s Over” Elizabeth Swann
3. “Eating Pizza With a Buddhist Monk” Ione O’Hara
4. “Alex” Michael Beadle
5. “Mirrored Vision” Betsy Sprague
6. “What the Venerable Bede Might Have Said” Maria Rouphail
7. “The Birdlover’s Lover” Deborah Doolittle
8. “Credo” Dave Manning
9. “Homestead Lilac” Coyla Barry
10. “13 Ways of Heaven on Earth” Scott Owens

Guest Poet Readings

In the morning we had the opportunity, after the business meeting and voting for the new board, to listen to three accomplished poets read before attending one of their workshops in the afternoon. All of their readings blended well together, and felt at times themed. A beautiful series of poems. (You can hear them for yourself, since we also made an audio recording, by clicking the play triangle of the sound track beneath each reader’s pictures).

John Balaban

NCPS 2011 Winter Meeting Readings – John Balaban by inawildflower

Morri Creech

NCPS 2011 Winter Meeting Readings – Morri Creech by inawildflower

Dorianne Laux

NCPS 2011 Winter Meeting Readings – Dorianne Laux by inawildflower

Open Mics, Lunch & the Book Room

Following our guest readers, several members read themselves in our open mic before and a little after lunch. Not everyone who put their name in the box got to read this time, due to time limits, but there’s always next time : ) During lunch, as always, the book room was open, featuring our guest poets’ as well as members’ books.

Three Workshops

Everyone got the choice of three fantastic poets to take their workshop from this winter.

John Balaban

Morri Creech

Dorianne Laux

Books

Didn’t get a chance to buy their books on Saturday? Be sure to get them online, then. I’m sure you’ll have a chance to get them to sign your copies at future readings : )

          

After the Meeting and Sunday’s Reading

After the meeting, we stayed on at Weymouth, as Chairs of Publicity and Webmaster, and had a lovely dinner with Student Contest Director Sherry Thrasher, Member-at-Large Allison Elrod and President Tony Abbott, along with some wine, talking poetry events, books and catering. Though I still swear I was originally taking a picture of the wine glasses and their bubbles in the kitchen, I really liked this shot of Allison I took after, so I just had to share it : )

Sunday following the meeting, Tony Abbott gave a reading, with Stephen Smith, in the Southern Pines book shop ‘The Country Bookstore’, which opened for the first time on a sunday especially for the reading. Great turn out, and a good reading. We’re excited to start work more with Allison and Tony, on web and media, for his new book this fall. Keep an eye on his author website, ‘The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat’ for more on Anthony S. Abbott (he writes under his full name).

Full Gallery

Click the image below to see our full gallery of images taken from the day, and surrounding the day (including NCPS President Tony Abbott’s reading the following Sunday)