Welcome to Rachel Chidester of Utah Poetry Slam

RACHEL CHIDESTER is a native of Utah who gained interest in poetry as a teenager in high school while looking for her voice. Poetry Coach Chris Atkin got her into the competitive scene. After graduating from The New York Institute of Art and Design, Rachel joined Utah Poetry Slam, Rocky Mountain Poets, and Utah State Poetry Society to pursue her love of poetry and competition. She will be representing Utah while competing on a national stage in the Blackberry Peach National Prizes for Poetry: Spoken and Heard this coming October in Daytona Beach, Florida. (For more info, see https://www.nfsps.com/BBP3Guidelines.html) 

Her first chatbook The Cost of Living in Utah is Good Poetry has been published and will be available at Amazon. Rachel is also a locally awarded Visual Artist & an awarded Civic Engagement Advocate. Welcome to our group.

 

HUMILITY by Rachel Chidester

                              Humility is the butterfly we catch as children

                              And crush its wings

                              In an effort to play.

                              But it's the only way

                              to metamorphose

                              into peaceful creatures. 

Meet Our New Poet Laureate of Utah

LISA BICKMORE was born in Dover, Delaware, and grew up living all over the United States and in Japan. She earned a B.A. and an M.A. from Brigham Young University and is Professor Emeritus of English at Salt Lake Community College, where she was the recipient of the SLCC Foundation Teaching Excellence Award in 2006. At SLCC, she taught writing of all sorts, as well as publication studies, and is one of the founders of the SLCC Publication Center. As of 2019, she is the founder of the new nonprofit Lightscatter Press, which published its first book in April of 2021. 

We give her a warm welcome as an honorary member of the Utah State Poetry Society! She is the author of three books of poems: Haste (Signature Books, 1994), flicker, which won the 2014 Antivenom Prize from Elixir Press, and Ephemerist (Red Mountain Press, June 2017).Read her published poem O Take and Seal It from the online journal Psaltery & Lyre. See https://psalteryandlyre.org/2021/04/12/o-take-and-seal-it/  

Meet Willy Palomo of Utah Slam Poetry Chapter

WILLY PALOMO (he/they/she) is the son of two immigrants from El Salvador. In 2018, he graduated with an MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and an MFA in Poetry from Indiana University. Writings can be found in Best New Poets 2018, Latino Rebels, Antologia de Posguerra, The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States, and more. He is a founding member of Plumas Colectiva, a literary and art collective of Latin creators in the 801. He is the Director of the Utah Humanities Book Festival and President of the newest UTSPS Chapter-UTAH POETRY SLAM. More info on how to join this group, see https://www.utahpoets.com/chapter-utah-poetry-slam/

   

                                    How I learned to read by Willy Palomo  

¿Are you mi Mama? 

beckoned the birdie in our favorite book. 

Cuddled and coddled, I want to brag, 

decirte that she read to me the most,

every night. Except if you ask Mama, it was 

faith, not education, not knowledge, but the Holy 

Ghost which gave her the power to understand the scriptures, when she,

humiliated, confessed to the missionaries she didn’t know how to read. 

It never occurred to me until 

just now that if her story is true, then she never actually read me anything as a 

kid. She must have looked at 

letters & saw nothing but another endless 

maze of streets & signs, another 

nameless map of New York, left to navigate

on pure faith and instinct. She’d interpret 

pictures the same way she’d memorize streets the same way she’d read

quiet gringos, smirking as she passed. In 1st grade, I made it my goal to teach her to

read. I took out all our books in front of guests, 

spilling a library of shame into the room. I’d correct her English 

the same way I’d correct her children’s stories the same way I now write her story 

under a language she will never call home. There’s not a word for her

verdad in English, no matter how many times I try 

write it down. From a country where poets are 

executed & literacy meant little more than signing away

your name next to an X, she taught me to walk without 

zapatos, to read without an alphabet shackling my tongue.

 

Steven Leitch UTSPS President graduates...

Sad news...too many of our poets are leaving us this year: our sweet energetic UTSPS president Steven Leitch graduated Jan 31, 2022. His leadership and enthusiasm will be greatly missed. Here's a blog about him. More details on his funeral, etc. soon.

2021 UTSPS Book of the Year-Michael Parker

 

MICHAEL PARKER's award winning book "Divining the Spirits in the House of the Hush and Hush" is now published. UTSPS members should be receiving their copy in the mail. 

Don’t miss his concert on Oct 16th at 2 pm via Zoom. All are invited but will need to register by Oct 9th at the latest to received a link. 

Contact Jon Sebba at <yossi.yasser.soldiers@gmail.com> AND Paul Ford <pmford3@gmail.com> to attend virtually. 

Meet MICHAEL PARKER  https://utahpoetry.blogspot.com/2017/05/meet-michael-parker-of-hinterland.html 

Meet ROBERT RIPPY from Dixie Poets

        Robert Rippy started writing in the early 1970's when he became friends with the poet DeWayne Rail. Through his encouragement and guidance, Robert enrolled in an MFA program in Creative Writing at the University of California-Irvine and received his degree in 1977. 

        For the next five years, he wrote poems which were published in small magazines. When his position at the college where he was teaching changed into a combination of administration and teaching, he pretty much stopped writing. 

        Thirty years later in 2016, he moved with his wife from Southern California to Sunriver in St. George and became involved in their Creative Writing group. Later, he joined Dixie Poets in St. George and is now an award winning poet. He has just published a collection of poems that is entitled Eroding into Something Else that features thirty-nine poems: fifteen from his early period and twenty-four from the last five years. 

        His poems cover a full range of topics from historical themes to observations of nature's beauty, family life and beyond. His skill and techniques are amazing.

Browse,  No Services

Sign along the highway says Browse 

highway that climbs through

this red part of Utah.
I pull off, note
there's not much
to be seen here,
just a dirt road losing its way
through the junipers.
I judge the car wouldn't make it,
that it's too damned hot
and move on.

But the sign stays with me–
that invitation and denial.
Come browse these mountains,
it says, mark the few homes
and wonder how this place
got started, got named,
survives. But don't stay.
Don't hope for a fill-up
or the burgers you haven't had
since Vegas. Just pass on by
and know what can never be yours,
and dream tonight you could stay
and grow old with the mountains.  

Meet JON SEBBA of Valley Winds Chapter

 JON SEBBA has been a UTSPS member on and off since 1997. In 2013 his poetry collection entitled Yossi, Yasser & Other Soldiers was chosen as UTSPS Book of the Year. He tells us…that book prompted by my combat experience in 1967, has given me a new mission in life. I use it to show vets and others survivors of trauma how writing and poetry in particular can help calm the stormy waters of our memories. Jon has recently taken over as chair of the Valley Winds Chapter of UTSPS from Steven Leitch who is our new State UTSPS President. Since Jon spends his winters in Arizona, he is hoping to set up his chapter with virtual meetings which may be the way to go for us during the current pandemic.

 A retired design engineer he loves fishing in the beautiful lakes east of SLC, fishing and writing poetry. He feels that…I have learned much and my poetry has improved thanks to the help and kind critiques of my friends at UTSPS. If one is a good observer, one can find poems anywhere, or more accurately everywhere. This one was hanging out at sunset, near a bridge on the Provo River as it enters Jordanelle Reservoir:

Arcs by Jon Sebba

 Above the splash and ripple damsel-nymphs

dance in sepia tones, dragonflies hesitate

in and out of spider silk traces

dangling from dusty bones

of a rusty bridge arch over the low sun.

 

A lone youth, knee-deep in a pale-beer current,

twitches the rod in his hand,

sends a sunlit spark along a loop

in a wide oval arc that settles on water,

light-as-a-fly.

 

Like a conductor at the philharmonic,

he swings his arm back.          Twist-flick,

the point of light vaults higher and wider,

streaks from hand to hook,

kisses the wet surface

and lingers like a feather for a beat.

 

Suddenly, a spring rainbow

explodes in a splash. 

Vees radiate from the line

 

and race away.

 

He pants and wrestles,

trout twists and turns,

rod bends and bows.

The line sings out. 

 

The rod and reel play until the tired fish concedes.

He draws her to him, cradles the rainbow in water,

eases hook out of her jaw, 

 

admires her sleek lines,

 

then opens his hands. She gives

a tail-flip and smack that sound like, Thank you.

You’re welcome, he murmurs and sighs.

 

Meet MICHAEL SPEARS of Rhyme and Reason Chapter

          Welcome to Michael Spears new President of Rhyme and Reason Chapter and UTSPS Membership Coodinator. He just joined UTSPS in March 2019 and loves the association with his poet friends. Here's some background on him in his own words. "Early life was spent on the north end of the Portland Peninsula, growing up in a "Stand By Me" environment (in the most literal sense).  When Mom found out her three young sons were hopping freight trains and skinny dipping in Triangle Lake, she packed her five children up and moved to Provo.  I thought my life had ended.  

          Learning to love the imagery, I developed an early love for poetry from the rare visits I had with my father, who could quote poems for hours on end.  Army veteran of Vietnam era, graduate of Weber State University and also the University of Utah.  Enjoy reading, especially history and anything anthropological.  Spring to fall is spent with wife Donna in our varied flower gardens and the vegetable garden (we are both licensed pruners and weed pullers).  We have loved growing pumpkins for the grandchildren and now we have a whole new generation of Bumpkins to share them with (they are quickly outnumbering the grandchildren)."  

          How to Make a Memory —m spears 

Take one grandmother
any size
with a welcoming lap
and smiling eyes;
one granddaughter
short or tall
tightly holding
her favorite doll. 

Add a dozen sheets
of paper
two pairs of
safety scissors
several pencils
(with erasers),
a medium amount
of patience,
one kitchen table
or rocking chair
with lots of love
and hugs to share—

Just start cutting
memories
to hang atop
the fireplace
above the mirror
or frame of door,
it really doesn’t matter where.

Meet SUSAN GIBBONS-WOLF of Dixie Poets

Susan Gibbons-Wolf, a St. George resident, recently received word her non-fiction children’s picture book, “P.S. Boats, Around Puget Sound” was a finalist in the 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.  The book, containing “cheerful, rhyming text” and “stunning artwork,” received rave reviews last fall at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association tradeshow.  The Next Generation Indie Book Awards is the largest international awards program for independent authors and publishers.  Awards are presented by Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group www.IBPPG.com in over 70 categories.  This year’s competition received thousands of entries from all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces.  

Gibbons-Wolf and her husband retired to Saint George two years ago from Washington state.  She is a free-lance writer and studied creative writing at the University of Washington.  She is a member of the Society of Children’s book Writers and Illustrators as well as the Dixie Poet Society.  She joined the Utah State Poetry Society only this year.  Her book is available locally at The Book Bungalow in St. George, on her website www.wolfpublishingllc.com and on Amazon. 

Excerpt from her book 

"P.S. Boats, Around Puget Sound"

“Small and round and

Rather plain,

I’m a helper:

Tugboat’s my name.

Push and tug

And come alongside

Moving big ships

Is my pride.”

Corona Virus POEM by Marleen Bussma

SHE'S COVID-19 FREE by Marleen Bussma
Hear it read at https://www.marleenbussma.com/poems

DEADLINES for the NEW YEAR 2020

Time seems to be going faster and faster. Do want to remind you all that you can still pay your dues for this year $30 and coming up next month deadlines:

1. Feb 1st-Entries due for UTSPS April Awards Festival Contest (See utahpoets.com)

2. Feb 20th-Register for POETRY IN THE PARK-our 11th year in ZION PARK will feature poet ROB CARNEY from UVU on Friday March 6th at Zion Park Lodge 9 am to 3 pm. Only $50 includes free park pass. Free POETRY READING on Th night March 5 at 7pm this year at Hurricane Community Center 60 S 100 W.  https://zionpark.org/event/poetry-in-the-park/ 

3. Feb 15th-Register for REDROCK CREATIVE WRITING SEMINAR on Sat Mar 7th 9 am to 1:30 pm in St. George  $50+  https://redrockwriters.org/seminar_2020_registration. Click flyers below to enlarge.

Meet SHARON ST. JOAN of Willow Wind Poets

      A poet, a writer, an artist, and one of the co-founders of Best Friends Animal Society near Kanab, SHARON ST. JOAN is a retired licensed wildlife rehabilitator and a life-long advocate for wildlife, wild lands, the earth, and all animals, wild and domestic. The inspiration for her poetry is the world of nature. As a child, she spent hours and days roaming among the woods of Connecticut, Maryland, and South Carolina. In recent years she has traveled over several continents, always seeking out forests, wildlife refuges, other wild places and the intriguing people who work to protect them, as well as the art and culture of earlier times, which was intertwined with the natural world. She feels that all of our wild lands, especially the magnificent lands of Utah which are among the most beautiful wild lands anywhere in the world, are in need of our protection, more now than ever before.

     Sharon recently presented the poem, In Gratitude, she wrote for the occasion of the Grand Opening of the Gratitude Garden at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in southern Utah. 

                    In Gratitude (*just an excerpt) by Sharon St. Joan

Traveling far
Through
Sunlight and shadow
We arrive at a place
Where we pause in the snow-
Winged light
Of many blessings.
The tall, towering cliff, ancient
Guardian,
Whose face
Shines gold
In the setting
Sun,
Watches over
All those who walk in the spirit of kindness,
Wherever they may go.

*Visit this link to hear Sharon read all her poem...  https://app.frame.io/reviews/9f33db97-7890-43fd-9cfe-ca4595534e6b/1d6341d0-bc19-433d-a103-4fec1ef606d8?version=03a36122-7f99-4c51-821b-41c45683fbb2 

UTSPS POETRY PLANS FOR FALL

Lots happening now that our summer vacations are over. Don't miss the UTSPS Poet of the Year MARKAY BROWN's presentation of her book...Planted in a Storm. 

Here's a link to a fun podcast recently published online that will tell you more about MARKAY BROWN-her background, why she writes poetry and how it happens. Great insights hosted by Segullah Magazine. 

https://segullah.org/words-fall-in/words-fall-in-a-segullah-podcast-with-markay-brown/

UPCOMING POETRY EVENTS

MARKAY BROWN is UTSPS POET OF THE YEAR and will be presenting her award winning book on Oct 26th in the Orem Library, 58 N. State St., Orem, UT 84057, at 2 pm, also presenting at  poetry class and reading on Saturday Oct 12th at Dixie State University, in conjunction with the St. George Literary Arts Festival. See details below.

ST GEORGE  LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL-Fantastic speakers, activities, etc see details and register-it's FREE and coming soon Oct 8-12 at Dixie State University  https://www.stgeorgelitartsfest.org/

KANAB WRITING CONFERENCE NOV 7-9 in Kanab Details https://kanabwritersconference.com/

POETRY CONTEST DEADLINES:

 
t. ADULT CHAPARRAL Sept 1-Dec 1, 2019 see details https://redrockwriters.org/adult_chaparral_poetry_contest_rules

2. UTSPS APRIL AWARDS FESTIVAL-Feb 1, 2020-more details later on https://utahpoets.com

NEXT SPRING 2020

Friday March 6, 2020 POETRY IN THE PARK with Poet ROB CARNEY from Utah Valley University’s English Dept at Zion Park  and at REDROCK CREATIVE WRITING SEMINAR the next day in St. George Sat, March 7 with two other writers/poets. Details at poetry-in-the-park.com and at redrockwriters.org

Friday, April 17, 2020 UTSPS APRIL AWARDS FESTIVAL in SLC area, one day only of awards, so we can participate in the FREE UTAH POETRY DAY the following day Sat, April 18, 2020 in SLC. Details coming on http://utahpoets.com

Another new member ESTHER MERRITT MANNING

Welcome to a new member of the Valley Winds chapter ESTHER MERRITT MANNING. She discovered poetry early in her high school days when asked to do a collage in English Class telling about herself. Not knowing how to make a collage using pictures, she put together some poems she had written. Esther tells us...When the assignment was handed back, it had a note attached written by the teacher assistant who encouraged my writing.  I was able to have two of my poems selected to be published in a book with other student’s writings. 

Esther discovered that writing was a good source of therapy to deal with pain that she had experienced in her family from abuse. Her therapist encouraged her writing and suggested compiling and self publishing them in 1990 in a book entitled My Castle Wall, which is used as a tool to help other victims of abuse to know there is hope. Here’s a poem of hers to enjoy:

DO I BELIEVE?

I am successful.

Let me repeat;

I AM SUCCESSFUL.

But do I believe?

Intelligent words

escape from my lips,

but the feelings within

tell me I’ve lied.

I can see what I’m told;

the truths are clear.

But images within

mar the picture without.

When will my heart

believe my mind?

How will I know

when I am whole?

I reach, I grope,

then touch and understand.

All things come with time

and gentle guiding hands.

Someday my part

will be whole

and words will not be words alone

but emotions of my soul.

Our newest member RAYMOND CHRISTENSEN

As winner of the nonmember's UTSPS April Festival contest, Raymond Christensen's prize was a year's membership in UTSPS. A published poet, he tells us he has always lived in Utah-Sanpete, Salt Lake, Weber and Davis County. Married with three sons, he's a tradesman, precision machinist, journeyman and has a BS in Design Engineering Technology. Raymond started writing in high school and has published his collection of poems entitled  A Few More Words Aloud in Everybody's Ear, available from https://www.liferichpublishing.com/ He was welcomed at the Ben Lomond Chapter in 2018 and is our newest member of UTSPS. Welcome to our organization.

Skylines

In a look; a contained field of view.

Out of the can into the land.

A circle centered by you;

near to hand. 

Unfettered boundaries

only painted on horizons.

Half spheres with bottoms

mesmerizing. 

Far reaches, the mind’s eye

understands before reaching.

The end in sight; 

of sea or land. 

Cities, people, places and things.

Modified caves with old windows.

Surroundings; some entrapments,

some square holes. 

Circles of friends; cheery, trusted.

Well known pets and people too.

Who all see something

special in you.

Skylines ©2018 Raymond D Christensen

Welcome to TWILA WOOD

Welcome to Twila Wood who is the new Chapter president of Hinterlands-a friendly group of UTSPS poets who connect via the Internet. (Thanks to Margaret Pettis who began this unique chapter several years ago.) Twila grew up on a dairy farm in Wellsville, Utah, where she learned to love the land, animals and the mountains next to her home.  She graduated from Utah State University with a degree in English. After teaching piano lessons for 20 years and school for 25 years-9^th grade English, speech and drama at North Cache, she retired in 2016 and has been able to more fully enjoy her hobbies of writing, piano and reading, along with her love of hiking, camping and boating.  With various poems and personal essays published in local newspapers and books, including “Her Touch” in Mothers of Faith published by Covenant Communications, Inc, she won two first place awards and two honorable mentions in the UTSPS Poetry Contest last April 2018. Twila is excited to be part of a society who shares the unique passion of poetry.

Winter Birch

by Twila Wood

                                                                        When snow draped

                                                                        our front birch in cotton candy,

                                                                        stacked cold sugar upon each limb,

                                                                        I’d swing one drooping branch

                                                                        for a shower of dazzling powder,

                                                                        sprinkling my face with magic

                                                                        of a million tiny diamonds.

                                                                        At night she froze

                                                                        into a white-haired ghost,

                                                                        floating in the brittle air outside

                                                                        my bedroom window. Wind weaved

                                                                        through her icy tresses in tinkling

                                                                        chimes, moon beams peeked

                                                                        through her strands in chilling glow.

                                                                        Her frosted waterfall sparkled

                                                                        through the morning fog;

                                                                        by noon, her explosion

                                                                        stunned the blue sky. Graceful

                                                                        crystals clung to her branches

                                                                        like dainty pinwheels, spinning

                                                                         enchantment into winter.