Pushcart nomination

Much gratitude to the online literary journal Prime Number for nominating my work for a 2011 Pushcart Prize. I'm humbled and honored.

Please visit their website to become acquainted with them and to read their offerings of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, interviews, and reviews. The journal is published by Press 53:

To go to Prime Number, click here.

Fri., Dec. 3, 2010 -- Leading the literary life: women authors thrive in Lowcountry

Today the Post and Courier, of Charleston, SC, featured an article in its Moxie section that I was happy to be interviewed for, along with authors Mary Alice Monroe and Cleo Scott Brown. The article was written by staff reporter Kristen Hankla. It includes information about tomorrow's book signing by area women authors, a fundraiser for the Center for Women in Charleston. Check it out here:

Leading the literary life: women authors thrive in Lowcountry.

Sat., Dec. 4: Women Authors Holiday Book Signing

Women Authors Holiday Book Signing & Tea
Saturday, December 4
2 - 5 p.m.
South Carolina Thrift & Resale
1670 Hwy 17 N, Mt Pleasant (next to new CVS)
$10 at the door
Free giftwrapping, Readings, Tea & refreshments
Center for Women
With Barnes & Noble (use your Barnes & Noble discount card)
Special Thanks to Kaminsky's


2010 Authors
Michelle Adams * Sarah Boone * Ida Becker * Sharon Becker * Cleo Brown * Nina Bruhns * Jan DiRuzzo * MaryAnn Dunham * Nathalie Dupree * Peg Eastman * Dixie Fanning * Linda Annas Ferguson * Jayne Jaudon Ferrer * Mary Edna Fraser * Rebecca Godwin * Pattie Welek Hall * The Hat Ladies * Holly Herrick * Maggie Hoybach & Joan Brown * Trish Hutchinson * Ann Ipock * Marcie Jacobs * Charlotte Jenkins * Kate Boehm Jerome * Kieran Kramer * Ann Kulze * CJ Lyons * Susan Laughter Meyers * Dianne Miley * Sheila Mills * Mary Alice Monroe * Signe Pike * Margot Theis Raven * Maryann Reid * Lisa D. Robinson & Lori Robinson * Terry Ward Tucker * Lily Herndon Weaks * Marjory Wentworth

Readings
2:00 p.m. -- Signe Pike
2:30 p.m. -- Mary Ann Reid
3:00 p.m. -- Mary Alice Monroe
3:30 p.m. -- Charlottte Jenkins
4:00 p.m. -- Ann Ipock
4:30 p.m. -- CJ Lyons

Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011 -- Workshop: The Poet as Seeker

Poetry Workshop: The Poet as Seeker
Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Susan Meyers, instructor
Waccamaw Higher Education Center
160 Willbrook Blvd.
Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Registration, $30
OLLI at Coastal Carolina University
Register at 843-234-3422 or www.coastal.edu/olli

All good poems are more than the result of mere writing exercise; they seek a truth. Poets, in turn, set out with yearning and questions, often ones that have no answers. “Teach yourself to work in uncertainty,” said author Bernard Malamud. We’ll do just that as we read sample poems in the class packet and generate new work of our own. Bring a poem draft that you’re working on in an attempt to reach a deeper level in some way. Lunch can be brought or bought nearby.

2011 Litchfield Tea & Poetry Series

Litchfield Tea & Poetry Series
First Thursday, Jan. – Apr.
3 - 4 p.m.
Waccamaw Higher Education Center
160 Willbrook Boulevard
Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Book signing after the reading
Refreshments: homemade confections by Deloris Roberts
Free & open to the public
843-234-3422


Please join us for these four free events, our fifth year featuring a whole slate of talented poets.

Jan. 6
Launch of Poetry Anthology – Kickoff reading for OLLI at CCU anthology
Join us for a reading by contributors of the new OLLI at CCU poetry anthology to be released in early winter. A wide range of poems written by students from recent classes and workshops taught by Libby Bernardin and Susan Meyers. Good reason to celebrate!

Feb. 3 Ken Autrey, Debra A. Daniel
Ken Autrey, of Columbia, is the author of the chapbook Pilgrims (Main Street Rag). His poems have appeared in Atlanta Review, Cimarron Review, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere, including various anthologies. He teaches English at Francis Marion University. Previously, he served as a Peace Corps teacher in Ghana and a visiting professor at Hiroshima University in Japan.
Debra A. Daniel is the author of As Is (Main Street Rag, 2009). She was twice SC Arts Commission’s Poetry Fellow. She has also won the Guy Owen Prize and awards from The Poetry Society of SC and has been a Pushcart nominee. Her work has appeared in Smokelong, Kakalak, Emrys, Pequin.org, Inkwell, Southern Poetry Review, Tar River Poetry, and The Poetry Society of SC Yearbook.

Mar. 3 Ann Herlong-Bodman, Richard Allen Taylor
Ann Herlong-Bodman, of Mt. Pleasant, is the author of the chapbook Pulled Out of Sleep (Pudding House Press, 2010). She taught journalism and composition at USC and Lander University. She has also taught ESL in East Europe for the U.S. State Department, and she currently volunteers as an ESL teacher when she is not traveling and writing.
Richard Allen Taylor, of Charlotte, NC, is the author of Punching Through the Egg of Space (2010) and Something to Read on the Plane (2004), both from Main Street Rag Publishing Company. His poems have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies. He is a former co-editor of Kakalak: Anthology of Carolina Poets.

Apr. 7 Scott Owens, Susan Finch Stevens
Author of six collections of poetry, Scott Owens is editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review, Vice President of the Poetry Council of NC, and recipient of awards from the Pushcart Prize Anthology and the Academy of American Poets, among others. He holds an MFA from UNC Greensboro and teaches at Catawba Valley Community College.
Susan Finch Stevens, of the Isle of Palms, is the author of the chapbook Lettered Bones, a winner in the 2008 Poetry Initiative of South Carolina Competition. She has been awarded The Poetry Society of South Carolina’s Marjorie E. Peale Prize and Kinloch Rivers Memorial Prize. Her poems have appeared in several anthologies.


Cosponsored by
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Coastal Carolina University
&
The Poetry Society of South Carolina
___________________________________

Check out the Litchfield Tea & Poetry Series group on Facebook.

Release of Solo Cafe 8 & 9 by Solo Press

Solo Cafe Issues 8 & 9: Teachers & Students
Solo Press
Publisher, Glenna Luschei
Guest Editor, Lenard D. Moore

CONTRIBUTORS:
Laura Boss * John Bradley * Earl Sherman Braggs * Sally Buckner * George Burns * Mary Ann Cain * Alvaro Cardona-Hine * Kelly Cherry * Joseph Gastiger * Ray Gonzalez * Michael S. Harper * Shayla Hawkins * George Kalamaras * Patrick Lawler * Carol Lem * Gerald Locklin * Perie Longo * Kevin Lucia * Teddy Macker * * Michael McFee * Karen McKinnon * Maria Melendez * Susan Meyers * Lenard D. Moore * Terre Ouwehand * Randy W. Pait * David Rigsbee * Nancy Simpson * Barry Spacks * Shelby Stephenson * Lamont Steptoe * Gina Streaty * John Tritica * Jerry W. Ward, Jr. * Bruce Weigl * Mel Weisburd * Jackson Wheeler * Carolyn Beard Whitlow

Congratulations to the editors of Solo Cafe on the publication of this new double issue of poems, essays, and reviews pertaining to the theme of teachers and students. I'm pleased that my poems "First Grade" and "Student of Busyness" are included. Copies of the journal are available through Solo Press at this address: Solo Press, 5146 Foothill Road, Carpinteria, CA 93013 or berrypress@aol.com.

Release of Cooking Up South, a book of recipes, poems & remembrances

Cooking Up South: Entertaining with Soulful Recipes, Poems & Remembrances
Recipes by Sylvia Dianne Beverly
Photography by Jason Miccolo Johnson
Published by Word of Mouth for Capital BookFest
Kwame Alexander, Founding Producer

CONTRIBUTORS:
Shirley J. Brewer * Barbara Crooker * Tinesha Davis * Gretchen Fletcher * Van G. Garrett * Nikki Giovanni * Judy Lee Green * Le Hinton * Pamela Lewis * Christina Lovin * Susan Laughter Meyers * Deanna Nikaido * Kim Roberts * Natasha Ria El-Scari * Kory Wells * Marjory Heath Wentworth

Cooking Up South was published earlier this fall in conjunction with the Capital BookFest events held in Largo (MD), Harrisburg, (PA), and Charleston (SC). I'm so pleased that my poem "The Music of Apples" (first published in Cairn) is included.

You can buy the book at Amazon.com.

Thursday, Nov. 11: Visiting two poetry classes

Tomorrow I'm pleased to be visiting two classes at Furman University, near Greenville, SC. Gilbert Allen, Bennette E. Geer Professor of Literature, has invited me to join his classes to read some poems, as well as talk with his students about the writing process. I've worked with his students before, and they are always a delight--serious about their writing and eager to hear what other poets are up to.

Not only will the classes themselves be a joy, but I always feel inspired by the time alone in the car on a roadtrip, a chance to quiet my mind and think about the things I don't ordinarily take the time to ponder. Got my car gassed up, and I'm ready to go.

Capital BookFest Charleston was a huge success!

Capital BookFest Charleston drew 4000-5000 people to its inaugural event last Saturday, November 6, and plans are in the works to make it an annual festival after the mayor declared the first Saturday in November as Capital BookFest Day. A large part of that draw was the inimitable poet Nikki Giovanni, loved by all ages--children and adults alike. The mission of the festival is "strengthening families through reading"--and with that in mind, it was a wonderful sight to see so many teenagers and children at the festival.

Which reminds me, I'd like to give a shoutout to the North Charleston High School students who published the poetry anthology Find Me Beyond Statistics Inside Teardrops through the Book-in-a-Day program directed by Kwame Alexander, the founder of Capital BookFest. The students gave a terrific reading from their book at Saturday's BookFest, captivating the audience and electrifying the whole room. Congratulations!

I had a wonderful time attending the whole day at the downtown library and Blue Bicycle Books on King Street. It was great fun in a morning session to read with poets Tinesha Davis, Le Hinton, Deanna Nikaido, and Marjory Wentworth from the book Cooking Up South, recently published for BookFest, and later to read at Blue Bicycle Books with Linda Annas Ferguson.

I'm already looking forward to next year's event! This year's festival was one of three offered, the other two being in Largo (MD) and Harrisburg (PA). Much gratitude to Kwame Alexander and the Capital BookFest staff for bringing the festival to Charleston.

Saturday, Nov. 6: Capital BookFest Charleston

Saturday, November 6, 2010
Capital BookFest Charleston
Blue Bicycle Books Courtyard
King St., Charleston, SC
Poetry Reading
Linda Annas Ferguson & Susan Laughter Meyers
5:20 - 6:00 p.m.
Host Kwame Alexander
Free & open to the public

I'm pleased to be reading at this all-day event, which is being held at the Charleston County Public Library and Blue Bicycle Books. Check out the day's schedule of events.
Visiting authors include Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Coleman Barks, and Lisa Starr.

Last week I enjoyed reading new work at Monday Night Poetry & Music, so this week I'm looking forward to reading a different set of poems, mostly those from my book Keep and Give Away.

Prime Number Magazine: Issue No. 3 contains four of my poems

The online journal Prime Number has just released its Issue No. 3, containing poetry, fiction, nonfiction, interviews, and a book review. I'm pleased to have work there alongside that of Lola Haskins, Mark Smith-Soto, and Nick Ripatrazone.

Check it out: Prime Number

r.kv.r.y. quarterly literary journal's latest issue

The latest issue of the online journal r.kv.r.y. contains a poem of mine entitled "That Year," as well as poems by Isabel Dixon, Jericho Brown, Kirsten Hemmy, and Clinton B. Campbell. The journal is all about the subject of recovery--with poems, essays, fiction, and a section called "shorts on survival": r.kv.r.y.

Congratulations to its new editor, Mary Akers.

Saturday, Oct. 23: Poetry Workshop -- The Song of Syntax

Poetry Workshop: The Song of Syntax
Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Susan Meyers, instructor
Waccamaw Higher Education Center
160 Willbrook Blvd.
Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Registration, $30
OLLI at Coastal Carolina University
Register at 843-234-3422 or www.coastal.edu/olli


A poem’s syntax, its word order, is crucial to its music, as well as its meaning. Syntax affects pacing, tension, tone—almost every aspect of the poem. The class (open to all levels of experience) will discuss numerous syntactical approaches, read sample published poems, and generate new work. Bring a poem draft you’re working on. A class packet is included. Lunch can be brought or bought nearby.

Review of The Sound of Poets Cooking

Scott Owens, editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review, has reviewed the new anthology The Sound of Poets Cooking, recently published by Jacar Press and edited by Richard Krawiec.

To read the review and learn more about the anthology, go to Wild Goose Poetry Review.

Release of anthology: The Sound of Poets Cooking, Jacar Press

Jacar Press, of Durham, NC, has recently released its anthology The Sound of Poets Cooking. It's a diverse and eclectic collection of poems by nationally celebrated writers, alongside recipes created by poets and their friends. Proceeds from the sales of this book will go to fund writing workshops in underserved communities.

The anthology features work by five dozen poets, including NC Poet Laureates Fred Chappell and Kathryn Stripling Byer, and dozens of other nationally celebrated writers. The poems alternate with recipes written by the poets, their family members, lovers and friends. The writing is at turns sensuous, hilarious, elegant, and playful. The recipes range from Asian, through European, to Middle Eastern dishes, as well as regional favorites from across the U.S.--tiramisu, homemade curry, vegetarian meals, exotic seafood, some simple, some complex. There is something here for every palate, literary and culinary.

To order, go to Jacar Press

Malaika King Albrecht * Leila Allen * Anne Clinard Barnhill * Coyla Barry * Joseph Bathanti * Michael Beadle * Roberta Beary * Amy Knox Brown * Grey Brown * Sally Buckner * Kathryn Stripling Byer * Fred Chappell * Kelly Cherry * Jim Clark * Sara Claytor * Patty Cole * Ellen Compton * Debra A. Daniel * Susan Delphine Delaney * M. Scott Douglass * Sally Ann Drucker * Allison Elrod * Terri Kirby Erickson * Cathryn Essinger * Deborah Finkelstein * Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda * Peggy Gambill * Jaki Shelton Green * Cordelia Hanemann * John Hoppenthaler * Alice Owens Johnson * Paul Jones * Steven B. Katz * Debra Kaufman * Deborah P. Kolodji * Bruce Lader * Sarah Lindsay * Susan Ludvigson * Al Maginnes * Susan Meyers * Lenard D. Moore * Florence Nash * Valerie Nieman * Scott Owens * Randy W. Pait * Gail Peck * Carol Peters * Diana Pinckney * Barbara Presnell * Tony Reevy * Chad Lee Robinson * Lynn Veach Sadler * Joanna Catherine Scott * Pat Riviere-Seel * Andrea Selch * Maureen Sherbondy * Rie Shontel * Marty Silverthorne * Mark Smith-Soto * Shelby Stephenson * Myrna Stone * Julie Suk * Jo Barbara Taylor

Monday, Jul. 19, 2010: Launch party for new issue of Undefined Magazine

undefined magazine's 1st annual Summer Reader Release Party:

Readings by the winners of undefined magazine's 1st annual Creative Writing Competition and contributors to Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio, food, music, happy hour prices, and your very own issue of undefined magazine's 1st annual Summer Reader, while the ink is still wet -- all for 5 bucks.

Today · 7:00pm - 10:00pm

The White Mule Pub and Eatery
1530 Main Street
Columbia, SC

____________________________

I'm looking forward to attending and reading my poem "No more than the bird with piercing note," which won first place in poetry.

A poem of mine has won first place in poetry in undefined Magazine's inaugural Creative Writing Competition

Undefined Magazine , an arts magazine out of Columbia, South Carolina, congratulates the winners of its first annual Creative Writing Competition. The winning poems and fiction will be published in the Summer Reading issue, which will be released on July 14, 2010.

Here are the winners:

For poetry:
1st place - Susan Laughter Meyers
2nd place - Gilbert Allen
3rd place - Julia Koets

For flash fiction:
1st place - Paul Bowers
2nd place - Phebe Davidson
3rd place - John Purvis

For short story:
1st place - Leslie Haynsworth
2nd place - Gilbert Allen
3rd place - Leslie Dennis

______________________________

I'm excited about this news. My poem that won is called "No more than the bird with piercing note," which borrows its title from a line by Sappho. The judge for poetry was Ed Madden, undefined's new poetry editor.

Jun.20-24: Poetry instructor for SWA workshop, St. Simons Island, GA

JUNE 20-24, 2010
St. Simons Island, GA
Southeastern Writers Association
2010 Writers Workshop -- 35th annual workshop

The time is fast approaching for this gathering of writers, the opportunity to immerse ourselves in writing and talk/classes about writing. The daily schedule includes workshops pertaining to numerous subjects/genres, as well as nightly readings and activities. I'll be teaching a daily one-hour poetry workshop entitled "Which Words, What Order: Diction and Syntax." The first two days we'll work with diction, the last two with syntax.

Here is this year's faculty:

David Robbins, Advanced Fiction
Katharine Sands, Agent in Residence
Susan Meyers, Poetry
Gail Karwoski, Writing for Young Readers
Berta Platas, Beginning Novel Writing
J. M. Lacey, Writing for Business
Ricki Schultz, Writing Journalism
Darrell Huckabee, Humor
Louis H. (Bud) Hern, III, Inspirational Writing
Sheila Hudson & Amy Munnell, Bright Ideas
Charlotte Babb, Science Fiction

St. Simons Island, here we come!

For further info: 2010 SWA Writers Workshop

May 17-24: Artist residency at Oconee State Park

I leave for Oconee State Park this coming Monday, after being awarded a week's residency in the South Carolina State Park 2010 Artist-in-Residence Program. I'll have the opportunity to hike and explore the park, take field notes, and write some poems about the natural surroundings there. After the residency my main responsibility is to send the park a framed poem that resulted from the experience. Am I ever looking forward to the week--my chance to retreat from the busy world for a few days!

Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry Column 267

American Life in Poetry: Column 267

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

Here’s a poem by Susan Meyers, of South Carolina, about the most ordinary of activities, washing the dishes, but in this instance remembering this ordinary routine provides an opportunity for speculation about the private pleasures of a lost parent.



Mother, Washing Dishes

She rarely made us do it—
we’d clear the table instead—so my sister and I teased
that some day we’d train our children right
and not end up like her, after every meal stuck
with red knuckles, a bleached rag to wipe and wring.
The one chore she spared us: gummy plates
in water greasy and swirling with sloughed peas,
globs of egg and gravy.

Or did she guard her place
at the window? Not wanting to give up the gloss
of the magnolia, the school traffic humming.
Sunset, finches at the feeder. First sightings
of the mail truck at the curb, just after noon,
delivering a note, a card, the least bit of news.


American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by the Univ. of So. Carolina Press. Susan Meyers’ most recent book of poems is Keep and Give Away, Univ. of So. Carolina Press, 2006. Poem reprinted from Tar River Poetry, Vol. 48, no. 1, Fall 2008, by permission of the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

----------------

American Life in Poetry provides newspapers and online publications with a free weekly column featuring contemporary American poems. The sole mission of this project is to promote poetry: American Life in Poetry seeks to create a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. There are no costs for reprinting the columns; we do require that you register your publication here [at the Web site] and that the text of the column be reproduced without alteration.

The poem in each column is brief and will be enjoyable and enlightening to readers of newspapers and online publications. Each week, a new column will be posted. Registered publications will receive new columns by email. Our archive of previous columns is also available for publication.

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Susan's note: After the week of May 3, 2010, Column 267 can be located in the archives of American Life in Poetry. Many thanks to Ted Kooser and his staff for recognizing this poem!

Saturday, May 1: Poetry Workshop, The Song of Syntax -- Jacksonville, NC

Saturday, May 1
Poetry Workshop: The Song of Syntax
Susan Meyers, instructor
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Comfort Suites, 130 Workshop Ln. US 17 N.
Jacksonville, NC 28546
Registration $25 ($20 for Coastal Poets Consortium members)
Bring your own lunch.
For registration and further details: Coastal Poets Consortium

Crucial to the art of a poem is its syntax, how the words are put together for the sake of ideal phrasing. In this workshop we’ll focus on the role of syntax in orchestrating a poem’s music—how it affects pacing, tension, and tone. We’ll pay attention to not only what the poem says but also how it goes about saying it. The class (open to poets of all levels of experience) will discuss numerous syntactical approaches, read sample poems, and generate new work. Participants may bring a poem, with SASE, to turn in for critique.

Sunday, Apr. 25: Georgetown, SC, Reading

Reading by Susan Meyers, Ray McManus & Worthy Evans
Sun., Apr. 25
2 - 4 p.m.
Goudelock's, 711 Front St.
Georgetown, SC
Sponsored by Harborwalk Books
Free & open to the public

Three of the winners of the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize will read poems, followed by a brief Q&A session and book signing. Refreshments provided. Featuring the books Keep and Give Away (2006), Driving through the Country before You Are Born (2007), and the newly released Green Revolver (2010).

The book prize is sponsored annually by the SC Poetry Initiative, in conjunction with the University of South Carolina Press.

Friday, Apr. 23: Classes at Richland Northeast High in Columbia, SC

What a pleasure it was yesterday to meet with young poets in Barbara Thomson's classes at Richland Northeast High. We circled up and read a number of poems rich with concrete details--list poems, poems of advice/instruction, poems in the voice of an inanimate object, and others. Then we spent time writing lines of a group poem, plus poems of our own. A talented group!

Monday, April 19: Hub City Master Craft Series workshop

HUB CITY, Spartanburg, SC
Master Craft Series workshop
Poetry Workshop with Susan Meyers
Mon., Apr. 19, 2010
7 - 9 p.m.
Subject: Syntax

Crucial to the art of a poem is its syntax, how the words are put together for the sake of ideal phrasing. In this workshop we'll focus on the role of syntax in orchestrating a poem's music-how it affects pacing, tension, and tone. We'll pay attention to not only what the poem says but also how it goes about saying it. The class (open to poets of all levels of experience) will discuss numerous syntactical approaches, read sample poems, and generate new work. Susan Meyers is the author of Keep and Give Away, winner of the SC Poetry Book Prize, the SIBA Book Award for Poetry, and the Brockman-Campbell Book Award. Her poems have also been published in The Southern Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, jubilat, and other journals, as well as Poetry Daily and Verse Daily. A long-time writing instructor, she has an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte.

Location:
The Showroom at HUB-BUB
149 S. Daniel Morgan Ave
Spartanburg, SC 29306
(864) 577-9349

$25 ($20 for college students and Hub City members)
Register here

April 16-17: University of Central Florida Book Festival

University of Central Florida Inaugural Book Festival
Saturday, Apr. 17, 2010
9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
UCF Arena in Orlando, FL
Morgridge International Reading Center
Friday events by invitation
Saturday, free & open to the public
National/local authors, exhibits, book appraisals, children's activities

I'll be participating on a panel based on the anthology After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events. I'll be on it with After Shocks editor Tom Lombardo, of Atlanta; London poet Satyendra Srivastava; and Marjory Wentworth, Poet Laureate of SC. The panel is scheduled on Saturday from 3:30 to 4:20 p.m. Other featured authors in the Festival include former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, novelists Ann Hood and Carl Hiassen, and NC poet Laura Hope Gill.

UCF Book Festival

Thur., Apr. 1: Litchfield Tea & Poetry

Two fine poets will be featured on Thursday, April 1, in the Litchfield Tea & Poetry Series. JIM LUNDY, of Charleston, is new on our schedule this month. We're lucky to have this chance to hear him! He has a wry sense of humor and a delightfully quirky take on his many and varied subjects. He and PAT RIVIERE-SEEL are a perfect pairing. Pat will keep the emotional tenor high with poems about a serial killer and her daughter, inspired by the true story of NC murderer Velma Barfield.

What a broad range of poetry we're in for--from wit to murder and mayhem, and more. It's spring--what a grand time to come out to a poetry reading. Hope to see you there!

Litchfield Tea & Poetry Series
Reading by Jim Lundy & Pat Riviere-Seel
Thursday, April 1
3 - 4 p.m.
Waccamaw Higher Education Center
160 Wilbrook Boulevard
Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Book signing after the reading
Refreshments: homemade confections by Deloris Roberts
Free & open to the public
843-349-4032
Co-sponored by OLLI at CCU & The Poetry Society of SC


Jim Lundy, current president of the Poetry Society of South Carolina, whiles away his time as a poet, songwriter, and longtime emcee of Monday Night Blues, a weekly literary and music event in Charleston. He is the author of two chapbooks: All I Can Be is Myself (2006) and Funny, in the Trenchant Way of Brilliant Men (2009). He uses humor and storytelling in his work to explore the human condition.

Pat Riviere-Seel is the author of The Serial Killer’s Daughter (Main Street Rag Publishing, 2009), which won the Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry, and No Turning Back Now (Finishing Line Press, 2004). A former political reporter for The Fayetteville Observer, she received her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. She and her husband live in Asheville, NC.

Mar. 15: Monday Night Blues reading by the Long Table Poets

Monday Night Blues
Mar. 15, 2010
8 - 10 p.m.
Reading by Long Table Poets
East Bay Meeting House
160 East Bay St.
Charleston, SC

The following members of Richard Garcia's Long Table Poets group will read:
Richard Garcia, Mary Harris, Kit Loney, Susan Meyers, Carol Peters, Katherine Williams, and Joe Zealburg. Jim Lundy, emcee. Open mic to follow the reading. Free & open to the public.

Monday Night Blues

Poem meets photo: Melons

How nice to have my prose poem "Melons," which first appeared in qarrtsiluni online journal, paired with a photo on Flicker:

Lynn Morag's Flicker page

"Ovals and balls,

Bright green and thumpable
Laced over with stripes

Of turtle-dark green."

~ Sylvia Plath, 1932-1963 ~
From "Fiesta Melons"


"Two melons on the kitchen counter are reading yesterday’s newspaper. One of them would like to turn the page but the other is a slow reader, mouthing inimitable and acerbic as if they were frozen spoonfuls. The smallest melon doesn’t want to get an ice cream headache. What she wants is the companionship of ginger ale. What the larger one wants is good lighting on a paid vacation. Who can blame each for this one dream? I once knew a girl who loved a melon. For two years her parents refused to claim her as theirs. This is not our daughter, our daughter is gone, they’d say, naming a country she was lost in. One time, Yemen; the next, Nepal. To them, the daughter was better suited to yogurt. They were sure the melon had spoiled her, but who’s to say? I’m told she eventually eloped, that the noticeable change in her — some called it a ripening — was a matter of time and temperature, a tender story, a happenstance of seed."

Feb. 27-28, 2010: South Carolina Book Festival

South Carolina Book Festival
Saturday & Sunday
February 27 & 28
Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center
Columbia, SC

There are several sessions at this year's SC Book Festival that I'm looking forward to being a part of:

Saturday, Feb. 27
4:30 - 6 p.m.
Special tribute to the late Stephen Gardner
A reading by poet friends that will include poems by the much-loved poet Stephen Gardner who passed away last fall.

Sunday, Feb. 28
11:30 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.
Poetry Panel
Linda Annas Ferguson, Linda Lee Harper, Susan Meyers, and Marjory Wentworth
Each poet will read a few poems and talk about what particular passion fuels her poetry.

Sunday, Feb. 28
2 - 2:50 p.m.
USC Poetry Initiative Book Prize Winners
Susan Meyers, Ray McManus, DeLana R.A. Dameron
Each winner of the SC Poetry Book Prize will read a few poems and talk about the writing life, as well as specifics about the Book Prize.

Book signings to follow these last two events.

Saturday, Feb. 20 -- Workshop: The Usefulness of Silence in a Poem

Workshop: The Usefulness of Silence in a Poem
Saturday, February 20, 2010
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Waccamaw Higher Education Center
160 Wilbrook Blvd.
Pawleys Island, SC 29585
OLLI at Coastal Carolina University
Instructor: Susan Meyers

A poem’s silences fulfill a purpose just as the words do. Thus, poets need to know how to use white space, punctuation, elliptical syntax, the unspoken—and the many other ways to be silent in a poem. In this workshop we’ll read sample published poems, discuss how they manage their silences, and write poems of our own.

Lunch can be purchased at a nearby deli, or bring your own.

Registration, $30: Coastal Carolina University Lifelong Learning, 843-349-4032 or www.coastal.edu/outreach.

Thur., Feb. 4: Litchfield Tea & Poetry with Barbara G. S. Hagerty & Ray McManus

Join us in Litchfield/Pawleys Island, SC, for the second event of the 2010 Litchfield Tea & Poetry Series. Charleston poet BARBARA G. S. HAGERTY and Columbia poet RAY MCMANUS will be featured:

Thursday, Feb. 4
3 - 4 p.m.
Litchfield Tea & Poetry Series
Waccamaw Higher Education Center
160 Wilbrook Blvd.
Pawleys Island / Litchfield
Book signing after the reading
Refreshments: homemade confections by Deloris Roberts
Free & open to the public
843-349-4032
Co-sponsored by OLLI at CCU & The Poetry Society of SC

Barbara G.S. Hagerty is author of The Guest House (Finishing Line Press, 2009). Her poems, essays, and columns have appeared in a wide variety of national and regional publications. A member of Richard Garcia's Long Table Poets workshop in Charleston, she holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from The Johns Hopkins University.

Ray McManus is the author of two collections of poetry: Left Behind (Stepping Stones Press) and Driving through the country before you are born (USC Press, 2007), winner of the SC Poetry Book Prize. His poetry has appeared in many journals throughout the United Sates and Canada. He is an Assistant Professor of English at USC Sumter.

Finalist for the Cider Press Review Book Award

Cider Press Review has announced the results of its 2009 book award, and I am pleased that my manuscript was a finalist. David St. John, the judge, selected Second-Skin Rhinestone-Spangled Nude Soufflé Chiffon Gown, by Landon Godfrey, for the award. The winning book will be published in January 2011.

Cider Press also publishes the journal Cider Press Review, which appears annually. The press's reading periods are April-August for the journal, September-November for the book award.

See Cider Press Review for a complete list of the 2009 book award finalists and further info about the award, journal, and press.