by 
“Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life.”
SECOND LIGHT NETWORK OF WOMEN POETS
It’s been way too long since I’ve reminded everyone of this organization, a fave of mine, and encouraged you to check it out. That’s only because I’ve been so busy and not because of any lack of enthusiasm for the organization or its poet members.
I favor Second Light because of its committment to poetry education and for encouraging, promoting, and publishing poetry by women, especially women who come to poetry late in life. It’s “never too late” the saying goes and Second Light seems to prove that indeed it is not too late to learn, to create and to appreciate beautiful poetry.
Second Light has the fair-sized, faithful and active participation of women to whom it offers support by way of connection, classes (including remote classes), competitions and publication opportunities, anthologies of women’s poetry and the biannual ARTEMISpoetry magazine. You can order copies of ARTEMISpoetry HERE. The November issue was just published.
Membership information and sign-up for email alerts are HERE.
While membership in Second Light is restricted to women, the poetry shared is for everyone. This poetry includes works by accomplished – if lesser known poets – and works of well-established poets you may have long admired including R. V. Bailey, Jackie Kay, Mimi Khalvati, Anne Stewart, Myra Schneider and Dilys Wood, the founder of Second Light.
SECOND LIGHT Dates For Your Diary, 2019:
Fri 24th & Sat 25th May: Spring Festival: Writing Our Selves *
Mon 15th to Fri 19th July: Holland House: Location, location, location… *
[Jul/Aug date t/f] Second Light Poetry Competition for Long & Short Poems by Women *
Fri 22nd & Sat 23rd November Autumn Festival: ‘Poetry Makes Nothing Happen’ **
MORE INFORMATION on events and other activities HERE.
2019 Christopher Tower Poetry Competition
Demographic restrictions: youth aged 16 – 18 and in school in the U.K.
Every year, six young people are awarded a total of £5000 in prize-money for writing a poem. The first prize is £3000, second £1500, and third £500, with three runner-up prizes of £250 each. These awards are for a poem on a set theme, judged each year by a panel of contemporary poets.
The theme for 2019 is ‘Underwater’.
There is no entry fee. The competition is open to people between 16-and-18 years old, who are in full-or-part-time education in the UK. Entries are judged anonymously.
For more information and to enter the competition, go to www.towerpoetry.org.uk/prize.
The closing date for entries is the 1st of March 2019 and winners will be announced on the 29th of March 2019.
ABOUT
Poet and writer, I was once columnist and associate editor of a regional employment publication. I currently run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded. I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers. My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman. My poetry was recently read by Northern California actor Richard Lingua for Poetry Woodshed, Belfast Community Radio. I was featured in a lengthy interview on the Creative Nexus Radio Show where I was dubbed “Poetry Champion.”
The BeZine: Waging the Peace, An Interfaith Exploration featuring Fr. Daniel Sormani, Rev. Benjamin Meyers, and the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi among others
“What if our religion was each other. If our practice was our life. If prayer, our words. What if the temple was the Earth. If forests were our church. If holy water–the rivers, lakes, and ocean. What if meditation was our relationships. If the teacher was life. If wisdom was self-knowledge. If love was the center of our being.” Ganga White, teacher and exponent of Yoga and founder of White Lotus, a Yoga center and retreat house in Santa Barbara, CA
“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.” Lucille Clifton
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 
Thank you!