Walt Whitman 2014

Walt is all around us lately.

Did you take note of the Apple television ad for the iPad Air? It quotes Whitman's “O Me! O Life!” to promote the idea of creating, and it uses Robin Williams from his English teacher role in Dead Poets Society.

“That the powerful play goes on,
and you may contribute a verse.”

Walt is also on the new poster designed by the Academy of American Poets for this year's  National Poetry Month.  You can request a copy online.

The poster uses the closing lines of “Song of Myself,”

“Failing to fetch me at first, keep encouraged;
Missing me one place, search another;
I stop somewhere, waiting for you.”

If you want to go deeply into Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself," you can enroll in a free course offered online by the University of Iowa. This course - known as a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) - will be open to thousands of people at no cost (and for no credit).

”Every Atom: Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself" will take a collective approach to a close reading of America’s democratic verse epic, first published without a title in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass and later titled "Song of Myself" in the 1881 edition.

Carriage House Poetry Prize: Observance of Arbor Day

The Carriage House Poetry Series and The Fanwood Shade Tree Commission announce The Carriage House Poetry Prize in Observance of Arbor Day 2014.

A first prize of $250 and publication in the Autumn 2014 print issue of TIFERET: Literature, Art, and The Creative Spirit. Selected finalists will receive certificates.

Guidelines

• Entries should consist of no more than two poems—no more than 40 lines each.
• Each poem must be single-spaced on a separate sheet of paper.
• Submit 2 copies of each poem, one copy with the poet’s name, address, phone number,and email address in the upper right corner.
• Poems must be previously unpublished and must contain reference to a tree or trees (not necessarily poems about trees). Any style or form. (Not re-writes or take-offs on Joyce Kilmer’s famous poem “Trees.” Judges will look for poems characterized by technical proficiency, striking imagery and strong sound quality.)
• Entry is free.
• Poems will not be returned, so please keep a copy for your files.
• Deadline: In-hand by March 1, 2014. Winners will be notified via email by April 7, 2014.

Send entries via snail mail to:

Carriage House Poetry Prize

c/o Adele Kenny & Tom Plante
Fanwood Borough Hall
75 North Martine Avenue
Fanwood, NJ 07023


Judges
Tom Plante (Publisher/Editor Exit 13 Magazine)
Linda Radice (Award Winning Poet & Fanwood Arts Council Member)

Final Judges
Donna Baier Stein – Founder/publisher of Tiferet; Pen/New England Discovery Award & NJ State Arts Council Fellowship recipient; awards from the Poetry Societies of Virginia and New England; founding poetry editor of Bellevue Literary Review; Breadloaf Writers Conference scholarship; Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars fellowship; author of Sometimes You Sense the Difference; Iowa fiction awards finalist for Sympathetic People (published by Serving House Press, 2013).

Adele Kenny – Author of 23 books (poetry & nonfiction); Carriage House Poetry Series founder/director; Fanwood’s Poet Laureate (appointed March 2012), Tiferet Poetry Editor; two NJ State Arts Council poetry fellowships; Writers Digest Poetry Award; Thomas Merton Poetry Award; first place Merit Book Award; 2012 International Book Award; former creative writing professor (College of New Rochelle); twice featured at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival; has read in the US, England, Ireland, and France.