Poets, Poetry, News, Reviews, Readings, Resources & Opportunities for Poets and Writers
Author: Jamie Dedes
Jamie Dedes is a Lebanese-American poet and free-lance writer. She is the founder and curator of The Poet by Day, info hub for poets and writers, and the founder of The Bardo Group, publishers of The BeZine, of which she was the founding editor and currently a co-manager editor with Michael Dickel. Ms. Dedes is the Poet Laureate of Womawords Press 2020 and U.S associate to that press as well. Her debut collection, "The Damask Garden," is due out fall 2020 from Blue Dolphin Press.
What’s it to me? …
A knotted and nasty old poet of introverted time
wearing five-dollar sweats
dressing in black on black like a fly
with silver earrings tinkling softly in the winter breeze What’s it to me? …
A Madwoman, a Madonna, a Medusa
Traipsing neighborhood streets, city parks and country lanes
Nibbling on sharp yellow cheese and glossy red apples
Sitting down on some wayward curb to sigh in wonder at
noisy birds and children, wizened old men, whiskered grandmothers
Dogs walking their humans by the side of the road
Feral cats scratching out a living of pigeon stuffed with stale bread
Muttering, muttering, whispering, watching, writing
Writing long poems and short about what it was to be us
through clocked days trapped in pointless, punctilious youth
Enjoying now the wild, gnarly randomness of life
and the music of our dusty blue souls jingling as we walk … What’s it to me? What’s it to this so lately untamable me?
ARTFUL DODGE (Ohio), a publication of The College of Wooster with support from The Ohio Arts Council, publishes American fiction, poetry and narrative essay and contemporary literature in translation. Guidelines are HERE.
THE BeZINE submissions for the May 2017 issues (theme: Honesty and Transparency, the Post-truth Era) should be in by May 10th latest. Publication date is May 15th. Poetry, essays,fiction and creative nonfiction, art and photography, music (videos), and whatever lends itself to online presentation is welcome for consideration. Please check out a few issues first and the Intro./Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. Email submissions to bardogroup@gmail.com
3 ELEMENTS REVIEW is an online zine publishing poetry, fiction and nonfiction quarterly. Today is the last day to submit for the summer issue but submissions for the fall issue open tomorrow (May 1) and extend through July 31. As of today the three elements for the fall issue have not been announced. Submission guidelines HERE.
ZYMBOL, Hybrid Literature for Surreal Brains, publishes books (effective 2018) and a magazine. Of the magazine this press writes: “Zymbol magazine is published on an annual basis and we are open to all genres and styles of writing. Each edition will have a small section dedicated to the our symboilst and surrealist roots, but will also publish general poetry, fiction, memoir, flash and mixed-genre work.” Details HERE.
KILLING THE BUDDHA is an online zine featuring religion, culture and politics. “It began on November 13, 2000, when Peter Manseau and Jeff Sharlet invited readers who are both hostile and drawn to talk of God to join them in building an electronic Tower of Babel, a Talmudic cathedral of stories about faith lost and found. They named it after a saying of the Chinese Buddhist sage Lin Chi.” Genres they lean toward publishing include “reportage, essays, criticism, rants, prayers.” They are disinclined to publish poetry and fiction. Details HERE.
ANTÍPHON, providing a showcase or the best in contemporary British and international poetry has an open call for submissions (though May 31) for issue 21. Details HERE.
CHERRY TREE, A National Literary Journal @ Washington College welcomes submission of “poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and literary shade.” Reading period is three months only from August 1 through October 1. Payment is $20 and 2 copies. Submission guidelines HERE.
WRITER’S ALLIANCE OF GAINSVILLE [WAG] fosters creative expression through the written word has an open call for submissions through May 31, 2017 for its eighth annual edition of Bacopa Literary Review, an international print journal. Prizes are one $400 prize in each for a flash story, poetry, literary fiction, and creative nonfiction. There is a submission fee of $3. All published authors receive a copy of the print journal and will also be promoted online after publication. Details HERE.
THE SOUTHHAMPTON REVIEW a publication of Stony Brook Southhampton (graduate arts campus, MFA program in New York), will open for reading from August 15 – October 15. This pubication features fiction, poetry, nonfiction, plays and screenplays, and art (fine art, photography, cartoons, illustration). Details HERE.
CONTESTS
Red Hen Press, 2017 BENJAMIN SALTMAN POETRY AWARD , $3,000 and four-week residency. Deadline: October 31Details HERE.
Red Hen Press, 2017 RED HEN PRESS FICTION AWARD, $1,000 and publication. Deadline: August 31. Details HERE.
The Idaho Prize for Poetry is an annual, national competition offering $1,000 plus publication by Lost Horse Press for a book-length poetry manuscript. Manuscripts are accepted for review through May 15 and the winner announced on August 15. Details HERE.
Spokane Prize for Short Fiction,Willow Springs Books, in collaboration with Lost Horse Press, invites submissions for The 2016 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction: $2,000 plus publication by LOST HORSE PRESS/Willow Springs Books. Submission deadline: June 1, 2016 Details HERE.
EVENTS
NaPoWriMo, 30 poems in 30 days: The theme for May is a story a day. Check it out HERE.
CATSKILL INTERPRETIVE CENTER BOOK FAIR, free event on Saturday June 24, 2017 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. CATSKILL INTERPRETIVE CENTER 5096 NEW YORK 28, MOUNT TREMPER, NY, 12457 Details HERE.
LOST HORSE PRESS is pleased to present PIE & WHISKEY & MOTHERS: Reading, Pie Eating, Whiskey Drinking & Book Signing featuring Kate Lebo & Sam Ligon Saturday, 13 May 2017 • 1 pm • Sandpoint Library Rude Girls Room
Free Admission • Everyone’s invited! Spokane, Washington Details HERE.
“The chamber choir, for which I sing, along with two other local choirs (Stannington Mixed and Thurgoland Community Choir) and the talented Inyerface Arts musicians and soloists, are performing John Rutter’s Requiem as the core of a concert on Saturday, 27th May at the magnificent Victoria Hall in Sheffield. It would be very much appreciated it if you were able to share this amongst your friends, who might enjoy an amazing choral experience … Thank you.” John Anstie (My Poetry Library), is a singer, musician, poet and a member of The BeZine core team.
Kudos
KAREN FAYTH‘s (Oh Fair New Mexico) short story Raspberry Vanilla Zephyr was published by Hawai`i Pacific Review is the online literary magazine of Hawai`i Pacific University.
SAMARA ELÁN HUGGINS, a high school senior, won a $20,000 prize and the title of 2017 Poetry Out Loud National Champion last Wednesday. Special kudos! to Samara! 🙂
If you are reading this post from an email subscription, you’ll likely have to link through to view this video of Stephen Fry reading John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale:
Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Traveledis one of The Poet by Day recommended reads. In it encourages delight in writing poetry and offers some fine tools to build the confidence in aspiring poets, introducing metre, rhyme, form, diction and poetics.
Gill Scott-Heron (1949-2011), American jazz poet, spoken-word poet, musician and author
“All I really want to say Is that the problems come and go But the sunshine seems to stay . . . “
My son sent me On Coming from a Broken Home (an excerpt from the album,I’m New Here) for Mother’s Day in 2011. Since then I publish some version of this piece every two years. I think Gil Scott-Heron’s message here is important.
Gil Scott-Herondied around this time in 2011. He’d started out fiery and angry. Some will remember his forceful The Revolution Will Be Televised and other such works. He was always an artist of political integrity. It showed in actions such as refusing to perform in Tel Aviv because “we do not like wars.” Over time his style mellowed, but his ideals remained.
Gil Scott-Heron is considered by many to be the grandfather of rap and the father of political rap. Famously, he didn’t accept those titles; he was critical of young rappers, felt they needed to study more, to promote change and not perpetuate the status-quo. He is quoted in ChickenBones: A Journal as saying …
“They need to study music. I played in several bands before I began my career as a poet. There’s a big difference between putting words over some music, and blending those same words into the music. There’s not a lot of humor. They use a lot of slang and colloquialisms, and you don’t really see inside the person. Instead, you just get a lot of posturing.”
In the poem shared today it’s interesting to see what Heron does with his personal experience. I like that there’s nothing of the victim mentality in this piece. I like the way he talks of dealing with life as it is. I appreciate that he points out that single-parent homes are not always the result of abandonment but are often made so due to parents who were lost in war or in jobs as police officers, firefighters or pilots.
“They lost their lives, but not what their lives stood for.”
On Coming From a Broken Home (video below, escerpt fromI‘m New Here) is a good example of how art can explain, validate and give us new perspectives … perhaps even encourage us to talk with one another. The piece is from Gil Scott-Heron’s last studio album, I’m New Here.It came out in 2010 not long before he died.
As always if you are viewing this post from an email, you will have to click on the link to this site to see and hear the piece.
Header photograph/Heron at the WOMARD festival in Bristol England, 1988 by Robman94 under CC BY SA 2.0 license.
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“The chamber choir, for which I sing, along with two other local choirs (Stannington Mixed and Thurgoland Community Choir) and the talented Inyerface Arts musicians and soloists, are performing John Rutter’s Requiem as the core of a concert on Saturday, 27th May at the magnificent Victoria Hall in Sheffield. It would be very much appreciated it if you were able to share this amongst your friends, who might enjoy an amazing choral experience … Thank you.” John Anstie (My Poetry Library), is a singer, musician, poet and a member of The BeZine core team.
Thank you for sharing your love of words. Comments will appear after moderation.
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 