Poetry Notes

Poetry is alive and well in northern Michigan. Down in southern Leelanau County, this Saturday evening, October 10, at 7 p.m., there will be a poetry reading at the Empire Township Hall on Front Street. The poet is Marian Aitches, a seasonal Empire resident and academic-year professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her first book of poetry, Fishing for Light, won a national competition in 2008, and her second book will come out in 2010.

Closer to home, an evening evening of food, poetry and community fellowship was announced in an e-mail from Friends of the Leelanau Township Library president, Suzanne Landes:

At the September general meeting of the Friends of the Leelanau Township Library, we decided to host a poetry night on Monday evening, October 19 from 6-8. Guests may read an original or a favorite poem or you may come and just listen and enjoy.

To keep it early, we opted for a 6:00 meeting time. We will serve chili--traditional, vegetarian and chicken varieties, corn bread, apples and cheese, water and decaf coffee.

I need hosts for this event, which will take place at the library, who will serve as greeters. I also need volunteers for the food. If you would be willing to make one of the chilis, cornbread, or provide apples or cheese, please email me ASAP. We will ask for donations from those who attend with proceeds covering our expenses and the balance going to the "Friends."

A separate e-mail two days earlier came from the people who bring us the Dunes Review:

It's Annual Shaw Prize Submission Time!

Dunes Review literary journal is now seeking your submissions for its annual William J. Shaw Memorial Prize for Poetry. The contest is open to all Michigan poets who reside north of U.S. highway10, including part-time residents. The entry deadline is midnight on October 21.

The top three winning poems will be published in the Winter 2009-2010 issue. The first place winner will receive $100, the second place winner will receive $50, and the third place winner will receive $25. 

Poets may submit up to three previously unpublished poems of no more than forty lines each by e-mail to: dunes.review@yahoo.com, preferably as attached MS Word files. Please include a cover letter listing your name, mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, poem titles, and a short bio. Contact information must not appear directly on the poems. 

Poets should mail a $10 entry fee separately to: Michigan Writers, P.O. Box 1505, Traverse City, MI 49685, along with a note listing name and poem titles. Hard copy submissions are strongly discouraged.

The William J. Shaw Memorial Prize for Poetry is named for a late professor of literature from Northwestern Michigan College.