ANNOUNCEMENT:
The 10th Annual Missouri State Poetry Society state convention is
scheduled for the 26th and
27th of September. The convention will be held
at the Library Center on South Campbell. in Springfield, MO.
There will
be lodging rooms available at special prices at the Sleep Inn nearby.
Mark your calendars. More information in the next issue of the Spare
Mule.
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Missouri State
Poetry Society Winter 2008 Contest -- 442 Entries
Category #1 Rhymed and Blank
Verse--Judge: Curtis D. Goss, Missouri--87 Entries
|
First
“Kimono Moon”
Second “Apt Pupil”
Third“Evangelist’s 30pieces of Silver”
1HM “The Dancer”
2HM “Cold War”
3HM “Husbands" |
Jim Barton
Jerri Hardesty
Marcia Schechinger
Douglas Bruffett
Ken Roller
Marilyn K. Smith |
Huttig, AR
Brierfield,
AL
Council Bluffs,
IA
Chatham,
LA
Dadeville,
MO
Fair Grove,
MO |
Non-Member
Non-Member
Non-Member
Poets & Friends
Second Tuesday
Poets & Friends |
Category #2 Free Verse—Judge:
Todd Sukany, Missouri—92 Entries
|
First “The Jumper—9/11”
Second “Wake-up”
Third “Another Mother”
1HM “Fertility Rights”
2HM “A Storm”
3HM “Window into the Heart” |
Anna Roberts-Wells
Jim Barton
Jan Kroll
Lee Ann Russell
L. A. Lowrance
Ninette Freed |
Festus, MO
Huttig,
AR
Independence,
MO
Springfield, MO
Lebanon, MO
Palm Desert, CA |
On the Edge
Non-Member
The Write Place
Poets & Friends
Lebanon Poets
Non-Member |
Category #3 Humorous Verse—Judge: Holly Stanford, Missouri—74 Entries
|
First
“Middle Age”
Second “Spontaneous One”
Third “Christmas 1974"
1HM “Garden of Punlips”
2HM “Size What?”
3HM “The Perfect Wife” |
Jim Barton
David L. Byrn
Michael E. Strosahl
Lynn Veach Sadler
Caroline Walton
Douglas Bruffett |
Huttig, AR
Prescott, AZ
Elwood, IN
Sanford, NC
Crystal River, FL
Chatham, LA |
Non-Member
Non-Member
Non-Member
Non-Member
Non-Member
Poets & Friends |
Category #4 Winter Verse—Judge: Linda Tappmeyer, Missouri--87 Entries
|
First
“The Decision”
Second “Winter in a Vineyard"
Third “Reflecting in the Cold”
1HM “Another Southern Winter”
2HM “Solitude”
3HM “On the First Day of Winter” |
L. A. Lowrance
Jim Barton
Catherine Moran
Jim Barton
Anna Roberts-Wells FayeWillliamsJones |
Lebanon, MO
Huttig, AR
Little Rock, AR
Huttig, AR
Festus, MO
N. Little Rock, AR
|
Lebanon Poets
Non-Member
Member-at-Large
Non-Member
On the Edge
Member-at-Large |
Category #5 Poet’s Choice Verse—Judge: Mark Tappmeyer, Missouri—102
Entries
|
First “Of Men and Meadowlarks”
Second “My Aunt Ida Mae”
Third “My Mother’s Things”
1HM “Matriarch’s Visage”
2HM “Supermarket Saturday”
3HM “I’m the Accordion” |
Edwin S. Rice
Edwin S. Rice
Edith Baker
Yvonne Nunn
Edwin S. Rice
Diana Cornell |
Kansas City, MO
Kansas City, MO
Bountiful, UT
Hermleigh, TX
Kansas City, MO
Spring Lake, MI |
The Write Place
The Write Place
Non-Member
Non-Member
The Write Place
Non-Member |
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HELP
NEEDED ON E-MAIL ADDRESSES
We are updating our
e-mail mailing list. Several members have never sent us their e-mail
addresses, and others also have recently changed addresses. Please help us
by sending your e-mail address. Send to
tpadgett1@alltel.net. Thanks.
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MSPS SUMMER CONTEST
Here are the guidelines for the MSPS Summer Contest:
Deadline: Postmarked September 1, 2008
Format: Submit two copies of each entry, category number and name in
upper left-hand corner of both copies, poet's name and address in
upper right-hand corner of one copy. If you are a member, put
"Missouri State Poetry Society" below your address. Put "Non-
Member" if you are not.
Limits: Poems may be 40 or fewer lines. They may be unpublished or
previously published if the poet retains the rights to the poem. Poets
may enter each category as many times as they wish. No poems will
be returned.
Categories:
1. Rhymed verse or blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter)
any subject,
serious or humorous
2.
Free verse, any subject, serious or humorous
3.
Humorous verse, any subject
4.
Any form, summer subject, serious or humorous
5.
Poet's choice: any form (including open-field, shaped, or
concrete poetry), any
subject, serious or humorous
Entry Fees: Non-members pay $1.00 per poem. Members pay $1.00 for
two poems.
Make money order or check payable to MSPS and mail to Billy Adams, 12600
Mckinstry Road, De Soto, 63020. Include an SASE or your
e-mail address on a
3x5 index card for a list of the winners.
Prizes: $25, $15, $10, and three honorable mentions in each category.
Membership: If you wish to join Missouri State Poetry Society, pay the
$13 annual membership fee and a member’s reduced contest fees.
AROUND THE STATE: REPORTS FROM LOCAL CHAPTERS AND OTHERS
LEBANON
POET’S SOCIETY: Recent
election results voted Nancy LaChance president and LA Lowrance as VP.
Velvet Fackeldey remains the chapter's secretary-treasurer. LaChance and
Fackeldey plan to attend the annual Ludicity retreat in Eureka Springs,
Arkansas, in April.
Chapter members
will participate in the tenth annual Nightingale Reading at the Lebanon
Laclede Library April 17.
Velvet
Fackeldey will speak at the SCBWI (Society of children's book writers and
illustrators) workshop in Springfield, Missouri, in July.
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ON THE EDGE, DE
SOTO/FESTUS:
Despite sleet, snow and ice, On
the Edge has continued to produce poetry. Work was often shared and
critiques were sought by way of the internet as the weather kept us all
close to home and hearth.
Our octogenarian poet has had "Just Ducky," a concrete poem, published recently in a writers
magazine. Another On the Edger took both a second and a third place with poems inspired by works of art.
Several local poets are looking forward to attending the upcoming Lucidity Conference in Arkansas. Four
of our members entered the MSPS Winter Contest. We also continue to work on submissions for our 2008
anthology, Emerald Fields.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: On the Edge chapter asks for submissions of poems and nonfiction short
stories for their 6th annual anthology, Emerald Fields. Check the MSPS website for guidelines and entry
form, or write to Billy Adams, 12600 McKinstry Road, De Soto, MO 63020. -- Bobbie Craig
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SPRINGFIELD POETS AND FRIENDS
plan a great year, beginning with
our annual Poetry in Park on Sunday, April 27th, ready to go with music,
potluck, and lots of poetry, open-mike style.
We are also planning for the 10th annual state convention in Springfield
on the 26th and 27th of September at The Library Center with good speakers
and state contest awards. Both events are going to be exciting, and
everyone is invited to attend.
Using a theme of
presentation of a new poetry type one month and member
presentations the next, our P&F monthly meetings have been interesting
with consistent
attendance. -- M. J. Becco
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THIRTY-SEVEN CENTS: A very special
congratulations is due our member, Judy Young,
whose book R is for Rhyme, A Poetry
Alphabet received the 2008 Mom's Choice Award --Gold Recipient:
Educator's Choice.
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THE CRAWFORD COUNTY BOMBADILS
reports 7 full-time members. Meetings are
held on the first Saturday of each month at 10 am at the Main Street Bakery
in Cuba, MO, where members share what they have recently written and work at
various writing exercises. Public is welcome and sharing optional.
The chapter held a 2007 Youth Winter Contest with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and HM in
the Senior Division (grades 9-12) and Honorable 1st and Honorable 2nd in the
Junior Division (grades 5-8) with both places being 'Honorable' because
there were only the two entrants in that division. Crawford County
Bombadils is holding a Poet Speak on April 10 to present awards to the
winter contest winners and allow them to read their winning submissions to a
select audience.
Our Youth Contest winners in senior and junior
divisions included these first-place winners.
|
WATERFALL
Kamron Alford
A waterfall is a philosopher's stone
forged by the understanding
of water,
air,
and fire.
Hydrogen and oxygen
are slung as liquid shards,
leaving behind an iridescent
bridge to the firmament.
Globes of vapor
flit about
relieved of the cruel
edicts required by
sovereign gravity.
The alchemy of
sunlight
transmutes steam
to phlogiston,
the element of crystal flame.
The discordant
stones then
scream for the slaking of their
thirsts, severing the transient
matrimony of the states
of water,
air,
and fire.
|
WIND
Kayla Harmon
The wind is howling
loudly and
pushing ice into my face
As I run throughout the white
snow at a slow and gentle pace.
The wind is lighter
now. There is
no need for coats at all,
But every once in a while, a bit of
rain will fall.
It's like the wind
was making up
for the bad things its done,
Because with a jacket, I can go
outside and have a little fun.
As the flowers open
up, and their
buds begin to blook,
I see the wind going, but he says
he'll be back soon.
|
POEMS BY MSPS MEMBERS
|
NOTHING LIKE
Dawn Harmon
Crawford County Bombadils
It was nothing like
casting a line from the dock
and slowly reeling it back
the click, click making melody
with frogs and beer
on your pallet as you loosely
grasp the pole.
Rather, it was your first time
on skis--cord in your white grip,
pulled speeding through rocking
breaks in the water and suddenly
the line goes slack--
for just a moment you realize,
suspended in aquatic bullets,
that you have let go that great grasp,
and with speeding boat deserting,
you slip slowly down looking quizzically
at your empty hand.
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WHIPPERWILL'S SONG
Nancy LaChance
Lebanon Poets' Society
Whippoorwill,
Your sad sound floats.
A mournful song
comes from your throat.
As
twilight fades,
I hear you no more.
Have you flown away
to a more peaceful shore? MISSOURI BLUEBIRD
Nancy LaChance
Lebanon Poets' Society
The
bluebirds have returned
I saw one on the apple tree limb
He sat for a time
Then flew to the ground
Took a worm back to the nest.
The
house is used year after year
Parents back to start new families
Nestlings grow up to be on their own
By the end of summer.
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