JoAnn Balingit with the Rhode Island Poet Laureate, Lisa Starr, in New Hamsphire for the Poetry & Politics conference

JoAnn Balingit, poet laureate of Delaware, reports that her newest chapbook, Forage, is now available from Wings Press as a hand-sewn edition and in ebook editions. http://joannbalingit.org/2011/books/forage/
She also shared news that the Delaware Division of the Arts has sponsored her local branch of the National League of American Pen Women to become an affiliate of the Alliance of Young Artists and Writers. “Thus we can revive the Delaware Scholastic Writing Awards in 2012, to recognize Delaware’s talented 7th through 12th grade writers with awards and possible scholarships.” See more on this at http://www.artandwriting.org/ORG/AffiliatePages/Show/DE001W

(from left) Dave Parsons, JoAnn Balingit, Bruce Dethlefsen, Lisa Starr, Walter Butts, Marjory Wentworth, Dick Allen, Julie Kane, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg & Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda

A dozen of us gathered in Concord, NH Oct. 13-16 to explore and celebrate poetry as it relates to politics, community, social change    Sponsored and organized by the New Hampshire Writers’ Project, especially by its director George Geers in concert with NH Poet Laureate Walter Butts, the event sent us on the road on Oct. 14 to read with superb NH poets throughout the state, and then on Oct. 15, we participated in panels as part of an all-day conference on Poetry and Politics. The event was capped by a reading featuring all of us, and afterwards, we met to plan future gatherings, events and project.

Participating poets laureate were:

• Dick Allen, Connecticut
• JoAnn Ballingit, Delaware
• Walter E. Butts, New Hampshire
• Bruce Dethlefsen, Wisconsin
• Marie Harris, New Hampshire
• Julie Kane, Louisiana
• Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Virginia
• Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kansas
• David M. Parsons, Texas
• Betsy Sholl, Maine
• Lisa Starr, Rhode Island
• Marjory Wentworth, South Carolina

Poetry AND Politics: “On the Road” Friday, October 14, 2011 — here where we went:

Poet(s) Laureate: Walter E. Butts (NH), Richard Allen (CT), Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda (VA) and Marie Harris (NH)
Local Poet(s): Faculty and student poets
Venue: Southern New Hampshire University, Robert Frost Building, Walker Auditorium

Poet(s) Laureate: Julie Kane (LA) and Lisa Starr (RI)
Local Poet(s): Catherine O’Brian
Venue: Concord Public Library, Auditorium
Time: 10:15 a.m. to Noon

Poet(s) Laureate: Walter E. Butts (NH) and Richard Allen (CT)
Local Poet(s): Faculty and student poets
Venue: New England College, Simon Center, Great Room

Poet(s) Laureate: Bruce Dethlefsen (WI)
Local Poet(s): Maudelle Driskill
Venue: Abbey Greenleaf Library (in downtown Franconia)

Poet(s) Laureate: Dave Parsons (TX)
Local Poet(s): Rodger Martin, Jim Duffy, Bill Doreski and Jeff Friedman
Venue: Keene State College, Mountain View Room, 3rd floor, Student Union Building

Poet(s) Laureate: Caryn Miriam Goldberg (KS)
Local Poet(s): Peter Money and  April Ossman
Venue: Lebanon Community College, Auditorium

Poet(s) Laureate: Betsy Sholl (ME) and Marjory Wentworth (SC)
Local Poet(s): S. Stephanie and Sid Hall
Venue: Toadstool Book Store in Milford

Panels at the Poetry & Politics Conference, Oct. 14th:

9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. – Poetry & Community – with David M. Parsons, JoAnn Balingit, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Lisa Starr, Betsy Sholl: What is the role of poetry in the community? What are possible activities that might be undertaken on national, regional, and local levels?  We’ll discuss existing community building programs and examine how they work. Panelists will provide information on programs within their respective states they’ve found particularly effective, followed by questions/answers.

11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. – Poetry & Education – with Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Julie Kane, JoAnn Balingit, David M. Parsons: How might poetry be introduced into public school curriculum? We’ll discuss various poets in the schools programs, funding issues, and strategies for effectively integrating poetry within a larger educational context. This panel will include readings of student work from anthologies and other texts, and be followed by a Q&A.

1:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. – Poetry & Social Justice – with Marjory Wentworth, Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Walter Butts, Lisa Starr, Bruce Dethlefsen: How might poetry provide a discourse for social justice activism and address racism, environmental dangers, poverty and other troubling issues confronting our society?  We’ll read relevant poems, discuss existing programs in prisons, migrant camps, and urban centers, and examine matters of social responsibility, activism, and poetry. Followed by a Q&A.

2:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. – Poetry & Politcs – with Dick Allen, Marie Harris, Marjory Wentworth, Caryn-Mirrriam-Goldberg, Bruce Dethlefsen: This panel will continue the discussion begun at the 2003 first gathering of State Poets Laureate by then New Hampshire Poet Laureate Marie Harris. Once again we’ll explore poetry’s capacity to bring about social, political, and cultural change during these particularly challenging times. We’ll look at programs and activities that have emerged during the past decade, and consider poetry’s future role. Followed by a Q&A.

To the Stars Poetry Contest: Weekly poetry contests (two categories; professional and amateur writers) will begin April 1.

Kansas Daily Poem in Your Pocket: Receive a poem written by a Kansas poet along with a daily writing prompt each day of April by sending an email to KSpoetlaureate@gmail.com or download poems from the KAC website.

150 Kansas Poems in 2011 to Celebrate Our Sesquicentennial: Subscribe, view regularly, and submit your own poetry. 150Kansaspoems.wordpress.com for details (click on “Guidelines” in upper right-hand corner for details on submitting poems).

Poet Laureati: A National Convergence of Poets Laureate: Learn details of the event. Listen to upcoming radio shows on this event, which happened March 13-14 in Lawrence. Visit United Poets Laureate.

An Endless Skyway: Poetry from the State Poets Laureate: The first-ever anthology of poetry from state poets laureate — almost 40 in all — was edited by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, plus three poets laureate emeritus Marilyn L. Taylor (Wisconsin), Walter Bargen (Missouri) and Denise Low (Kansas). Get your copy today through Ice Cube Books.

Other ways to celebrate:

• Poet Laureate of Kansas: Learn about past and present Poet Laureates of Kansas.
• Write From Your Life: Poet Laureate of Kansas Mirriam-Goldberg offers “Write From Your Life” monthly columns and podcasts offering writing inspiration and exercises to readers and listeners. She also offers National Poetry Month tips, links and writing exercises.
• National Poem In Your Pocket Day: Keep a poem in your pocket on April 29 to hand out and scatter around businesses, homes and organizations.
• Poem on the Range: If anyone should be doing Poem on the Range, it’s those of us who live where the deer and antelope play. Take photos of all that’s poetic to you, or make audio and video recordings, then upload them to a big map of Poems on the Range across America.
• Poem a Day: Sign up to receive a daily poem via email.

March Mascot

Like a shiny gray bullet

Delta Flight 1890 speeds

along the runway, while

across a brown band of ground

above a parallel landing strip

a Kansas City hawk appears

to race the plane. Black-

kissed wing-tips dip and

lift as the raptor’s regal head

cuts into the air ahead.

When the weighty mechanical

bird takes flight, the hawk lowers

its dark tail-feathers to settle

on the lane of natural turf

between the two hardened

surfaces of white. Standing

erect, its soft white underbelly

ripples in wind currents and

lightens in the eastern sun.

After taking off with this avian

escort, it will be harder to root

against the Kansas Jayhawks.



Kelly Cherry, poet laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia,will be leading a bimonthly reminiscence group at a nursing home that draws on poetry. She’s also traveling near and far to give readings: to Halifax, VA as well as Madison, WI to read and also give a talk about poetry. In addition, she’ll be reading to pre-K children at a local education center, judging a poetry and a fiction competition, and writing two essays about poets. Learn more about Kelly’s writing at her new website, www.KellyCherryBooks.com.

You can also read some of Kelly’s poetry in An Endless Skyway: Poetry from the State Poets Laureate.

Marjory Wentworth (SC), Joyce Brinkman (IN) and Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda (VA)

I return to the world I knew before this event to find it slightly different. For one thing, the house is cleaner due to the mad rush of cleaning all last week so that we wouldn’t cringe at the spider webs on the ceiling while showing some poets laureate where they would be sleeping. For another, the sun is out, snow and rain are gone, and so are the poets laureate: the last having just left as the 19 of them sprinkle near and far in all directions. Some are home already, and some — like Peggy Shumaker and her wonderful husband, Joe, who will travel for two days to Alaska or like Lisa Starr, who may be on the long ferry from Rhode Island to her inn on Block Island — are still in process.

David Romtvedt (WY), Denise Low (KS) and Ken Lassman

As for me, I alternate between horizontal and semi-horizontal (sitting in bed, typing or checking email, or simply dozing into surreal and buzzing snippets of dream). Graham Nash sings “I Am A Simple Man” on itunes, and I fee like a very simple woman listening to it. The squirrel waits on the branch to leap onto the bird feeder. The cat sleeps on a pile of blankets one of the poets used. The Christmas lights around the bedroom window droop across thumbtacks.

Karla Morton (TX) and Mary Crow (CO)

I’m not exactly sure what happened during these days, but I do know I hugged many people, swam with others in tandem through conversations about vocation and passion, healing and imagery, the hunger to find the right words, the necessity of listening to other, and where to find Thai food on Mass. Street. I watched audiences leaning forward, intent and awake. I heard all weather variations of poetry: sonnets about liberal arts, free verse on the damage fathers can do, elaborations on the danger of the hot dog man, and wry deconstructions of our need to be adored.

I also found friends for life: poets and poets laureate I just met, and yet they were instantly big brothers or long-lost cousins sharing a bag of ginger snaps with me late at night in the kitchen or duck spring rolls at a candlelit dinner yesterday. There will be radio broadcasts of portions of the event on Kansas and Kansas City Public Radio stations, and a video or two soon, but for now, this is what I know.

Walter Butts (MO) and Norbert and Katherine Krapf (IN)

I also know whatever happened was, for me at least, extraordinary: made of running back and forth on my back deck near midnight, throwing snowballs and shovels of snow at each other; taking pictures of one another taking picture of one another; immersing myself in conversation with four women in the corner of Free State Brewery as we all ate big steak together; and squeezing into a car with poets laureate of five states to maneuver the weather of this state.

Thank you to everyone who came, listened, read, stayed, drove, fed, housed, asked questions of and provided answers for this gathering flock of blackbirds this weekend and the big sky we poured ourselves through on the way to each other.

• It’s a better deal! Rates will be higher at the door.

• Your registration ahead of time helps us do a better job planning the final details of the events.

Please visit our registration page for information, or go directly to http://unitedpoetslaureate.eventbrite.com/

An Endless Skyway: Poetry from the State Poets Laureate

Maxine Kumin, Pulitzer-prize winner for her collection, Up Country, writes, “This vigorous anthology deserves a place in every library.” Ted Kooser, former U.S. poet laureate, write, “Each poet adds a unique style to the anthology and a unique slant on what it means to write from ‘this land made for you and me.’ This book is made for every American to roam and ramble within. Open these pages and enjoy the journey.”

An Endless Skyway also shows readers the vital work of our nation’s poets laureate in maintaining and growing the light of literature. Kevin Prufer, editor-at-large of Pleiades and a professor of Creative Writing at the University of Texas, writes, “Our state poets laureate programs are central to the health of our literature, bringing a bounty of talented writers to good readers across the nation….This anthology brings together an astonishing array of poets, each of them listening closely to the music of our language and writing with clarity, passion and intelligence.”

Come visit us on facebook and like our book there (go to http://ow.ly/3JyH5 or just look for An Endless Skyway).

Karla K. Morton, the 2010 Texas Poet Laureate, has been described as “one of the more adventurous voices in American poetry” and has been featured on Good Morning Texas, NPR, ABC News, CBS News and in countless newspapers, blogs and magazines.

As the first female Texas Poet Laureate in nearly 20 years, Morton created the Little Town, Texas Tour. As part of the tour, she has traveled across the state, sharing her poetry and love for the arts with high schools, universities, arts organizations, bookstores, conference attendees and more.

Initially taking the arts world by storm with her book/CD Wee Cowrin’ Timorous Beastie (a North Texas Book Festival Awards finalist created in collaboration with award-winning composer Howard Baer), Morton’s critically-acclaimed poetry collections now include:

Congratulations, Bruce! We look forward to seeing Bruce in March, not so far from where he grew up in Kansas City. Hope to see you there too!