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“Poetry is the way of experiencing the world outside of the everyday commercial expectations that are made of us.” Poet and professor Roberto Tejada, author most recently of Why the Assembly Disbanded (Fordham University Press, 2022), reads from his work and discusses his teaching and writing practice in this Texas Monthly video directed by Chris Beier.
“When in danger the sea-cucumber divides itself in two: / one self it surrenders for devouring by the world, / with the second it makes good its escape,” writes Wisława Szymborska in “Autotomy,” which appears in her collection Map: Collected and Last Poems (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanisław Barańczak. In the poem, Szymborska reflects on the creature’s process of autotomy, casting off a part of the body while under threat, through the lens of survival and mortality. She writes: “It splits violently into perdition and salvation, / into fine and reward, into what was and what will be.” Write a poem inspired by an animal’s unique behavior, perhaps the molting of a snake or the colorful courtship habits of a bowerbird. What does this behavior symbolize for you?
“What persuades in poetry, what moves, what transforms—and what is memorable—starts with music.” Jorie Graham talks about the importance of musicality and the influences of American modernist and English romantic poetry on her writing in this Big Think video. Graham’s collection Fast (Ecco, 2017) is featured in Page One in the May/June 2017 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Watch this recording of Greenlight Bookstore’s Poetry Salon event and book release party for Safia Elhillo’s Girls That Never Die (One World, 2022), hosted by Angel Nafis and featuring readings by Jay Deshpande, Shira Erlichman, and Ladan Osman. For more from Elhillo, read her installment of our Ten Questions series.
Brooklyn Poets cultivates literary community and craft through a wide range of educational programs and events accessible to all, both in-person at their location in Brooklyn Heights and online. Their space is open to the public five days per week and includes a small bookstore, community space, and a variety of free and paid programming. Their poetry workshops, taught by award-winning poets, range from one-hour drop-ins to three-hour intensives to multi-week workshops to their yearlong mentorship program.
“As I often tell students: What other people call revision, I call writing,” says poet, critic, and professor James Longenbach about writing his books The Lyric Now (University of Chicago Press, 2020) and Forever (Norton, 2021) as a writer-in-residence in this 2021 installment of James Merrill House’s video series Studio 107. Longenbach died at the age of sixty-two on July 29, 2022.
The late poet and critic John Ashbery’s Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (Viking, 1975) is considered his masterpiece, having won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the National Book Award. The long title poem is a meditation on sixteenth-century Italian artist Parmigianino’s painting of the same name. Ashbery writes: “The surface / Of the mirror being convex, the distance increases / Significantly; that is, enough to make the point / That the soul is a captive.” This week write a poem about your reflection. Whether seen through a traditional mirror, a body of water, or a distorted lens, begin with a description of what you see and follow through with an inner reflection.
“The backend / algorithm will be coded on keyboards / by the actual hands of mothers who, / in another life, called themselves writers,” reads Ryann Stevenson from “Decision Tree,” which appears in her collection, Human Resources (Milkweed Editions, 2022), winner of the 2021 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, in this conversation with Richie Hofmann. Human Resources is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
It’s hot out there, folks! Stay cool—or cooler, anyway—indoors while applying to some contests with deadlines of August 8, 9, 15, and 20. Among the awards are a $3,000 prize for a poetry collection; a $1,500 prize for a poem and a short story; a $1,000 prize for a book of innovative poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid-genre work; and $1,000 prizes for individual poems, works of flash fiction or nonfiction, and short stories. All contests offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more. Good luck!
Futurepoem Other Futures Award: A prize of $1,000, publication by Futurepoem, and 25 author copies is given annually for a book of innovative poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid-genre work “that challenges conventions of genre and language, content, and form.” The editors will judge. Entry fee: $28.
Gival Press Short Story Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication on the Gival Press website is given annually for a short story. Entry fee: $25.
Grayson Books Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Grayson Books is given annually for a poetry collection. John Sibley Williams will judge. Entry fee: $26.
Indiana Review’s 1/2 K Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Indiana Review is given annually for a poem or a work of flash fiction or creative nonfiction. Geffrey Davis will judge. All finalists will be considered for publication. Entry fee: $20 (which includes a subscription to Indiana Review); no fee for Black and/or Indigenous writers.
Kallisto Gaia Press Poetry and Short Fiction Prizes: Two prizes of $1,500 each and publication in Ocotillo Review are given annually for a poem and a short story. Zoë Fay-Stindt will judge the Julia Darling Memorial Poetry Prize and Jen Knox will judge the Chester B. Himes Memorial Short Fiction Prize. Entry fee: $20.
Omnidawn Publishing Open Book Prize: A prize of $3,000, publication by Omnidawn Publishing, and 100 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Shane McCrae will judge. Entry fee: $27; for an additional $3, entrants will receive a book of their choice from the Omnidawn catalogue.
TulipTree Publishing Stories That Need To Be Told Contest: A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poem, a short story, or an essay that “tells a story that needs to be told.” The winner will also receive a two-year subscription to the literary database Duotrope and publication in the annual Stories That Need to Be Told contest anthology. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $20.
“My bones are happy / inside my skin; my fingers / are snapping.” Joyce Sutphen’s poem “Morning Walk” is featured in this Motionpoems short film directed by Zack Grant and starring Debra Magid.
