TIME is running out

Keep in mind some poetry DEADLINES coming up soon.

1. UTSPS DUES are due by Jan 5, 2019 which will be here before you know it right after the holidays. Dues are $25 and entitle you to lots of benefits including: Panorama, Book of the Year, reduced rates on UTSPS's Contest, and 12 poems that can be critiqued for free by the Critique Bureau. See details at http://utahpoets.com/join/join.html

2. ENTRIES for our annual UTSPS April Awards festival are due by Feb 1, 2019. Start now selecting your poems and getting ready to submit them. Contest categories: http://utahpoets.com/contests/2019/UTSPSrules2019.pdf Then mark down the date of Apr 11-12, 2019 for our annual UTSPS conference at the Provo Courtyard at Marriott. There are new fun categories for the contest. Who knows this may be your year to win. You can't win if you don't enter.

3. REGISTRATION for UTSPS's 10th annual POETRY IN THE PARK to be held Fri, Mar 1, 2019 in ZION PARK will open online Jan 1-Feb 15th, 2019. Details on this fun poetry weekend are available at poetry-in-the-park.com and register also for Sat, Mar 2, 2019 Redrock Creative Writing Workshop in St. George. http://redrockwriters.org Don't miss this weekend of poetry workshops starring award winning poet Kimberly Johnson of BYU's English dept.

PANORAMA 2017 is out

Thanks to Jennifer & Russell Asplund for their work on pulling together another terrific PANORAMA issue filled with great poetry from UTSPS members who submitted their poems last June and were paid members. There will be an opportunity for other UTSPS poets to submit their poems for the next issue. Don't miss out, deadline to be announced.

Also coming up Redrock Writers-a chapter of UTSPS announces their Chaparral Poetry Contest for 2019. Poetry can be submitted starting Sep 1, 2018 , details at redrockwriters.org

THINK SPRING 2019

Here’s your chance to visit ZION PARK on its 100th anniversary before the crowds and shuttles begin in Southern Utah. The 10^th annual POETRY in the PARK workshop presented by Utah State Poetry Society and Zion Park Forever Project will feature award winning poet KIMBERLY JOHNSON, BYU English professor, on Friday, March 1, 2019 from 9 am to 3 pm. Registration: Adults-$50, College-High School students-$20. 

On Thurs, Feb 28, a FREE optional poetry reading at 7 pm in Springdale's Canyon Community Center will be held sponsored by ZArts. (Overnight lodging in Springdale is available at winter rates for those wishing to attend the lecture on Thursday night and Poetry in the Park on Friday.)

Johnson’s PIP workshop at the Zion Park Lodge will focus on Paying Attention to details to improve your poetry. Experience a guided nature walk or explore Zion Park on your own, bring a picnic lunch or dine at the Redrock Grill upstairs at the Lodge, this will be a time to remember and meet new friends. Details at poetry-in-the-park.com   

Following PIP on Sat. Mar 2, 2019, Redrock Writers presents their CREATIVE WRITING SEMINAR  in nearby St. George for a separate fee. Presenters include Johnson, historical romance novelist Amy Jarecki, and Journalist-writing teacher Reuben Wadsworth. Details at redrockwriters.org.

Meet Debra Csenge of Willow Wind Poets

Debra Csenge writes, paints, and grows vegetables in Kanab, Utah. She left her former home in Maine over 10 years ago, and now hikes the trails of southern Utah. She holds a bachelor’s degree in studio art which she received as a “non-conventional” student in 2004. She has worked as a self-employed furniture maker and upholsterer, for the outdoor company LL Bean in Freeport, Maine, and as a library assistant at Kanab City Library. She now thoroughly enjoys her retirement.

She started writing poetry as a young woman, and then took it up again about 10 years ago. She has been published by Green Horizon Quarterly (Topsham, Maine) and by Red Rock Review, now called Kanab Arts Magazine (Kanab, Utah). She has performed her poetry, along with other local poets, at the Amazing Earthfest, a weeklong celebration of public lands based in Kanab, Utah for the past 12 years.

Sunset

Feathery branches

Dark against peach glowing clouds

And patches of surprising pale cerulean.

The sunset

And this expansiveness

Pushes aside my small thoughts

And busy circuitry.

I am clear and still,

     Like the tree branches.

     Like the red cliffs.

     Like the sky windows

Into infinity.

I linger gratefully

To drink at the well

Of inner silence.

My small struggles

And my knowing

Of the great losses

Dissolve in this sweet moment.

There is nothing

That triggers this reverie

Like dark trees

Against the sun’s

Parting gift

Of pure expanding deep.

Welcome to Steven Duncan-a new UTSPS member

I (Lin Floyd) met Steven Duncan at the recent UTSPS April Awards Festival in Provo held last weekend. He won lots of awards for his excellent poetry. Here's some info he shared about himself: Steven Duncan is a Utah Valley poet whose writing has been published by Silver Birch Press, Rock Canyon Poets, Prolific Press, and others. He lived in Siberia for two years as a missionary for the LDS church and now speaks fluent Russian. Steven loves both written and spoken word poetry, and enjoys spending his evenings playing with language and exploring new forms of expression. He recently graduated from Brigham Young University and will attend medical school this fall in Dallas, Texas. See stevenduncan.tumblr.com/poems

The Other Side of Paradise

For F. Scott Fitzgerald

Paradise is not a warm place.

It is not a glass of milk

creamy and sweet,

left on the table

to turn over in a week.

It is chilling, bracing.

There are no stagnant souls

in need of stirring

in God’s cupped palms.

Paradise is not a quiet place.

It is not an empty hallway

waiting for an echo

to paint across the walls.

It is deafening, gripping.

No man there will speak

without a tremble.

Earth is milky and mild.

Earth is silent when it should speak.

Heaven is one voice short of a protest.

Don't Miss it...UTSPS APRIL AWARDS FESTIVAL

 

It's time to gather this year in Provo at the Marriott Hotel for our annual Awards Festival. This year featuring two outstanding poets Natasha Saje from Westminister College and past Utah Poet Laureate Lance Larsen from BYU plus an opportunity to see if your poems submitted won any awards. Preregister at utahpoets.com by April 10th.

Starts Friday April 20th :
2:30 pm UTSPS Officers Board Meeting
4:45 pm Registration Opens-$40 for festival, dinner on your own
5:30 pm Festival Welcome
5:40 pm Poet to Poet Conversation
7:00 pm Guest Poet Natasha Saje
8:00 pm Awards presentations
Night Owl Read-around follows

Sat, April 21st
8:00 am Chapter President's breakfast at nearby Dennys
9:00 am Award Presentations
10:00 am Guest Poet Lance Larsen
Lunch on your own
1:30 pm Awards presentations, finishing with Book of the Year winner.

New Visiting POET for Poetry in the Park

Because of ill health Jim Barton won't be teaching for us this year, but we are excited to have SHANAN BALLAM of Utah State University's English Department joining us in our three days of poetry activities in Southern Utah in early spring. An award winning poet, exciting teacher of poetry and creative writing, Shanan will be presenting some fun ideas on how to improve our poetry skills. She has chosen the theme for her presentations as A CELEBRATION OF SOUND AND SENSE. 

She says: Poets of all ages and levels of experience will benefit from this energetic workshop where participants will learn and practice basic poetic sound techniques, such as alliteration and other kinds of sonic repetition. We will use our experience in the park to gather sensory details and images for poems. Using poetry exercises as a guide, and using the materials we have generated and gathered during the workshop and our experiences in the park, we will write poems that will surprise and delight writers and audiences alike.
 
This year's POETRY IN THE PARK will be held Friday, March 2, 2018 at Zion Park Lodge from 9 am to 4 pm. Register by Feb 15th to receive your free Zion Park pass. Fee-$55, register online zionpark.org/programs/

Come early for a free ZARTS LECTURE by Shanan on Thursday, March 1 at Canyon community Center in Springdale at 7 pm. Inexpensive lodging available in Springdale, come join us before the crowds and shuttles begin. Note there is some construction in Springdale city so come early.

Stay overnight in St. George and enjoy REDROCK CREATIVE WRITING SEMINAR on Saturday, March 3 from 9 am to 1:30 pm featuring Shanan Ballam and others Dr. Cindy King of DSU's English Dept. and Lara Candland-another award winning poet. Details at redrockwriters.org

Meet a new member WILLIAM KOFOED

          William A. Kofoed was born in Logan Utah and now lives in Magna Utah. He was a member of Mormon Youth Chorus and the Jay Welch Chorale, and is a published photographer. He started writing poetry in high school and has been published in Poetry Quarterly. With three self-published books of poetry , he is currently finishing his fourth book of poetry. He has a youtube  channel,  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCprIXBJR0qY2voBDuUAmyyQ and a blog, https://williamakofoed.wordpress.com and a webpage, www.kofoedprojects.com. Some of his works can be seen on; Poetry.com  Allpoetry.com  Postpoems.com His poem below was published in Poetry Quarterly.

GENTLE THOUGHTS

A flowing line
A gentle thought
A sweet memory
Of loving you
Time has past
It was long ago
Yet these things
Still stir me
Still I sigh
And I long
For your touch
To feel again
Long ago
Still it is sweet
Yes these things
Still stir me