Poetry Events
WHO: Standing Rock Cultural Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit cultural arts
organization in Kent, Ohio
WHAT: First SRCA Poetry Chapbook Competition
-Poetry Chapbook Contest – to result in publication & prize
to winner, copies to submitters. Submissions begin July 1st and end September
30th.
WHERE: Electronic entries are encouraged. Send to SRCAChapbook@gmail.com
with a subject line of (your surname)/SRCA Chapbook Competition.
-Snail Mail Entries may be sent to SRCA Chapbook, 257 N. Water St., Kent,
OH 44240.
-Please read all guidelines and rights prior to sending submission.
ENTRY FEE: $8 per manuscript submission, payable by check, paypal, or
money order to SRCA; Fees will be used to defray expenses of the contest.
Any remaining fees will benefit our nonprofit programming which includes
routine poetry readings. PAYPAL submissions begin July 1, 2010.
-Please indicate method of payment on entry form
CLICK HERE for printable Entry Form
Pay $8 Entry Fee now through PAYPAL
WHEN: See calendar outline below:
- Entries accepted: Jul 1-Sep 30th (postmark must be dated by Sep 30th)
-Winners Notified by Nov 30th via email or mail
-Books mailed or ready to be picked up by Feb 1, 2011
PURPOSE: To promote the literary arts in our general area, promote poet/s with publication, potentially provide a literary series to SRCA, and raise funds for SRCA programming through any remaining entry fees/gallery sales of winning chapbook.
PRIZES: The winner of the contest will receive 25 copies & $50 minimum.
-Each contributor to the contest will receive a copy of the winning chapbook
-In the event of a tie, each winner will receive 15 copies & $25 minimum.
JUDGES: Guest Judges Andrew Rihn and T.M. Göttl with Chapbook
Editor/Judge Tina Puckett
Andrew Rihn is the author of several slim volumes of poetry, including recent chapbook "Outside the Clinic" (Unlikely Stories) and forthcoming chapbooks from New Sins Press, sunnyoutside press, and Pudding House. Andrew was the 2008 First Place Stan and Tom Wick Undergraduate Poetry competition winner and runner-up in the 2009 Working Peoples' Poetry Competition. He has run poetry workshops at both Kent State at Stark and a domestic violence shelter. His online blog can be read at http://arihn.wordpress.com/.
T.M. Göttl is a member of the Buffalo ZEF creative community and recently-elected vice president of the Ohio Poetry Association. Her work has appeared in Pudding Magazine, Verse Wisconsin, Common Threads, The Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology, Opium Press, The Poet’s Haven, Deep Cleveland, The Mill, Waynessence, and others, as well as on 91.3 WAPS The Summit and 89.7 WOSU radio. Her first full-length collection, Stretching the Window, was published in 2008. She can be found online at www.buffalozef.net.
Tina Puckett is the author of six chapbooks, most recently “Crushed Sunlight” from Spare Change Press. She also served as a Poetry Editor and Editor-In-Chief (1994-1998) for then national literary journal, Canto, at Kent State at Stark where she also studied in numerous creative writing and poetry workshops with poet Robert Miltner. Her most recent individual publication appeared in MUSE and most recent poetry award was with The University of Akron’s Women’s Studies 2010 Poetry Competition.
Entry Guidelines:
Target Contributors: At least somewhat experienced, beginners also welcome; contributors limited to residents of the United States
Pages: Fifteen to Twenty, Single-Side 8.5 x 11 Pages of Poetry (not number of poems) Per Manuscript, use 1” page margins, no special page formatting (formatting within poem is acceptable), indicate if poem continues (i.e., continued with line break, continued without line break), size 10 Arial font
-Electronic Entries including Entry Form - must be in .rtf format only
-In addition, include completed Entry Form as well as one Title Page with only title (Editor/judge may see author info for tracking purposes only/2 additional judges will be 100% blind guest judges); name not to appear on manuscript itself
-Copies must be clean and legible (please also spell-check and proofread); poems must be based primarily in the English language
-No previously published manuscripts – individual poems can be
published/
must be acknowledged on a separate Acknowledgments sheet and permission
for re-publication from previous publisher must be obtained (or first
rights for author must have been retained); Simultaneous submissions are
accepted and entrant is expected to notify competition immediately if
submission is accepted elsewhere.
-Self-addressed, stamped postcard must be sent if confirmation of manuscript receipt is wanted; Electronic entries will receive email confirmation. No late entries will receive response. All manuscripts will be recycled after final judging.
**No staff or routine volunteers of SRCA (defined as those volunteering on a consistent monthly basis or on a basis of 6-12 months of the year) nor judges will be permitted to enter to allow for fair judging. Judges can opt not to score due to any conflict of interest if a bias might occur. Judges must opt not to score if submitter is a known student or relative of the judge. “Opt-out” can be marked on the response sheet to prevent scoring issues upon final score tallies.
Rights:
SRCA will reserve rights to print/reprint and sell chapbook only – all first publication rights to the individual poems will return to the author(s). Additional author rights include the ability to make additional copies at author’s expense. Additional rights to SRCA are the ability to reprint chapbooks and receive all profits from sale of chapbooks other than author’s initial copies or author’s subsequent self-paid copies, from which author may profit free and clear from SRCA. No additional revenue aside from initial 25 copies and initial cash prize will be received by author from SRCA.
***Please indicate on Entry Form that your rights and organization’s rights have been understood. Hard copies must be signed/dated by author. Emails will be considered electronically signed/dated. No publication can take place without this agreement.
Judging Criteria – Scoring of 1-10 on the following criteria:
*No Hallmark verse (overly sentimental; light, inspirational) or hate
poetry
*Cohesiveness of the manuscript/success of theme if there is an actual
theme (strong seam?)
*Vivid and/or innovative use of language and imagery (Have our brains
been tickled? Do we see a film of what your words say?)
Publication specifics:
Finished product will be 5.5 x 8.5 chapbook printed on 24# acid-free fine linen or fine parchment paper stock with a card stock cover, saddle stitch stapled
Cover sheet, acknowledgments page, and contents will be published; Chapbook will also include a brief synopsis of contest including short bio about each judge & a brief overview of SRCA. There is a possibility that printer’s logo may appear on back cover.
This event will be promoted through Facebook, press outlets, flyers, and bulk e-mailings.
Standing Rock staff will not be responsible for any loss or damage during submission process. Submitting an entry to this competition constitutes an understanding and agreement with all conditions. Entries will be recycled upon judging completion. Please do not send any only original copies!
Standing Rock Cultural Arts assumes the right to use quoted lines of
poetry from the winning chapbook in promotional materials. Any quotes
used will be
credited to the poet(s).
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Standing Rock Cultural Arts is a non profit art and educational organization located at 257 N. Water St. in downtown Kent, Ohio, whose mission is to build community through the arts. We always welcome donations to assist in the operation of our programs, and all donations are tax-deductible. Checks may be mailed to:
SRCA
257 N Water St
Kent OH 44240
330.673.4970
info@standingrock.net
Chapbook inquiries to: SRCAChapbook@gmail.com
Thank you to our current sponsors: The City of Kent, The Kent Environmental
Council, The Ohio Arts Council, The Christenson Foundation, The Home Savings
Bank, The Hall-Green Insurance Agency, Woodsy's Music, Kent Parks and
Recreation, City Bank Antiques, Wild Goat Cafe, Taco Tantos, Rays Place,
EcoWatch Journal, Akron Life and Leisure Magazine and the Kent Area Chamber
of Commerce.
Thank you for supporting the Arts! Good luck to our chapbook competitors!
All events at the NORTH WATER STREET GALLERY (257 N. Water Street, Kent, OH) unless indicated.
JAWBONE POETRY READINGS:
Jawbone Poetry and Pie Festival, Saturday, May 1st, 11am-2pm.
-a fundraiser for SRCA
-open poetry with Maj Ragain
-pie by the slice or whole pie.
-call Jeff @ 330-673-4970 to order or donate a pie.
The North Water Street Gallery. 257 N. Water St.
That’s right. It’s pie time once again. Come on down for
some delicious
organic yumminess. This will be the seventh annual poetry and pie event.
Thanks to Maj Ragain, the Kent State University poetry professor who
continues to be a creative driving force in our community. The gallery
will be hosting the 24th annual Jawbone Reading on Friday, April 30th,
8pm and Saturday, May 1st, 8pm and Sunday, May 2nd, 2pm as well.
Hope you can make it.
MMMMMMMmmmmmmmm.
Full Schedule For Jawbone Poetry. April 30-May 4.
-April 30, 8pm. N. Water Gallery
-Saturday, May 1, 11am-2pm. Pie and Poetry. N. Water Gallery
-Saturday, May 1, 2pm. John Brown Tannery Park.
(Summit Street by the Cuyahoga River)
-Saturday, May 1, 8pm. N. Water Gallery
-Sunday, May 2, 2pm. Poetry Pot Luck in the Yard nextto The north Water
Street Gallery
-THERE WILL BE AN ADDITIONAL READING AT LAST EXIT BOOKS, 124 E. MAIN
STREET IN THE ARCADE ON MAY 4TH AT 7PM.
ABOUT MAJ RAGAIN
Maj Ragain, one of the premiere poetic writers of our fair city of Kent
and professor of English and writing at Kent State University, will host
the many wondrous voices of people from all over the country this
week-end at The 24th Annual Jawbone Poetry Reading.
He is a Creative Writing Professor at Kent State University and hosts
monthly Poetry Readings during the school year at The North Water Street
Gallery
Dr. Major D. Ragain, an instructor of English at Kent State since 1981,
teaches courses such as Creative Writing (introductory and advanced
poetry writing workshops), Survey of American Literature 1800 to Present
and Survey of American Literature, and Introduction to Poetry, among
others. He previously taught in Illinois at Frontier College, Olney
Community College and Southern Illinois University and in North Carolina
at Winston-Salem State College. He earned his Ph.D. at Kent State in
1990, his master’s at the University of Illinois in 1963 and his
bachelor’s from Eastern Illinois University in 1962. Today, Ragain
is a
successful poet with both written and audio publications.
Ragain received much praise from his peers and students. One student
wrote, “Maj is active in the local and regional poetry scene, and
his
genuine love of the use of language is unprecedented. The energy of
genuine love and respect between poet, faculty and students was a once
in a lifetime thrill I am honored to have witnessed.” Another student
said, “Maj is a selfless professor, and KSU is indeed fortunate
to have
the dedicated Major Ragain on faculty. I have seen Maj’s positive
impact
upon students; their self-esteem rockets with astonishing work by
semester’s end. He draws the very best out of each and every student.
I
have the deepest respect for this man.”
One of Ragain’s colleagues said, “A devotion to poetry and
its unique
power to heal, to unite people around a single purpose, and to create
the fire of creative energy in groups of people is characteristic of all
of Maj Ragain’s work as writer, teacher and reader. … His
classroom is
rigorous in its demand that students push the work beyond where they
thought they could go with it. He makes innovative assignments, requires
a lot of writing and reading of poems, and teaches, by precept and
example, the ways in which a life can be grounded in the life of the
imagination. …I learn from Maj Ragain every day, and I carry his
gifts
to my own students and into my own poems.”
In Ragain’s teaching statement he said, “Before I ever taught
a class, I
came across this sentence in Louis Sullivan’s Kindergarten Chats,
a
singular book about organic principles in architecture and the forms in
which spirit resides. I can still see my hand writing it down in an old
notebook, ‘To teach is to touch the heart and impel it to action.’
In 33
years of teaching, that has remained a guiding principle. …I believe
that, as a teacher, I am also an apprentice, a learner and in the poet
Gary Snyder’s wonderful phrase, ‘a fellow worker in the Buddha
fields.’
I often write with my students. Of all the ‘strategies,’ that
seems the
most fruitful. It brings certitude to the classroom a sense that the
teaching is being translated into action, that the work is shared. I am
teaching myself to listen."
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Standing Rock Cultural Arts is a 501(c)(3) organization. We are always
looking for sponsors to help cover expenses for our art and educational
activities. Donations are tax deductible.
Checks payable to:
SRCA
257 N. Water St.
Kent, OH 44240
Thank you to our current sponsors: The City of Kent, The Kent
Environmental Council, The Ohio Arts Council, The Christenson
Foundation, The Home Savings Bank, The Hall-Green Insurance Agency,
Woodsy's Music, Kent Parks and Recreation, City Bank Antiques, Wild Goat
Cafe, Taco Tantos, Rays Place, EcoWatch Journal, Akron Life and Leisure
Magazine and the Kent Area Chamber of Commerce.
Thank you for supporting the Arts and Mama Earth!
For information: http://www.standingrock.net
Contact: info@standingrock.net
Phone: 330-673-4970
Gathered Under the Full Wolf Moon
It has been a couple of years since I’ve heard from Wild Bill Towers,
who once wandered the streets of Kent, now in Mesilla, New Mexico. He
used to call me an old lion and reminded me that every heart is a jewel,
that always we must offer mercy before judgment and never wade in Bitter
Creek. Bill had just bought an teepee and LuAnn and I were welcome to
stay as long as we want. He called with a new poem he’d written,
the
kind that never ever turns up in poetry writing workshops, a poem I
could live on for a week. I copied it down.
A young coal miner,
crawling on his belly
with a short, small pick,
had great big balls and a great big dick.
He could see in the dark.
He’d rather cut his wrists
than go underground.
He couldn’t cuss.
God wouldn’t let him
because he had a baby son around.
This is a poem for me. It is all heart, all love, no packaging, no
smirk in behind the knowing. This poem knows what is precious.
Tenderness before mercy.
The midpoint of winter. All downhill toward spring from here. I have
been spending too much money and time these gray, snowy afternoons
playing horses simulcast from around the country. The infernal
satellite dish, that concave blind eye, is bolted to the roof of our
house. It feeds the horse races right into my living room. From palm
tree lined Gulfstream in Miami, from sun kissed Santa Anita in Los
Angeles. I am right there as long as I don’t look out the window
here
in Kent into the whiteout. I got a telephone betting account -- $58.41
to the good as of this moment. It is a hard way to make a living. A
strange, capricious god presides over this business. Accept loss
forever and get on with it.
Most days I feel as dumb as a bag of rusted hammers, as boneheaded as
Oedipus searching for himself. Yet I play on, putting my shoulder to
Eziekiel’s wheel, that shining celestial hubcap. My one winner last
night was at Delta Downs. I was in balmy Louisiana, at least during the
8th race. I doubled all my money, short odds. The horse’s name was
All
Time, a front runner. Early speed holds up at Delta. It is the
action I love, contending with the faceless god Chance, the god with two
left hands, one open, the other closed. It is squarely between me and
him.
And I have been trying to survive the winter by reading Anton Chekhov’s
short stories again. I bought a portable collection of Chekhov stories
at the Last Exit bookstore here in Kent -- for $2.50, used. What does
it mean that a book is ‘used’ and worth less than a new one?
Are some
of the words lost or worn out? Lebron James signs a contract with Nike
for ninety million dollars -- and I can buy the sweet fruit of Chekhov’s
genius for $2.50. How do we assign such value to things? What brand of
shoes has that young coal miner got laced on? The dark doesn’t care.
The poet, my friend Mac Lojowsky phoned me from Moscow, his drunken
heart lifting off from California and dragging him across half the
world. I asked him to search for Anton Chekhov’s grave, to thank
him
for me. He found it amidst the pomp of the military and politicians,
marble stallions reared, the dead mouths of cannon. Chekhov’s grave
is
marked by a simple stone in a galaxy of monuments: Anton Pavlovich
Chekhov, January 17, 1860 - July 2, 1904. Mac spoke my name over his
grave and said he froze his ass off doing it. Today, I write Chekhov’s
words in my notebook:
My holy of holies is the human
body, health, intelligence, talent,
inspiration, love and absolute
freedom -- freedom from violence
and falsehood, no matter how
the last two manifest themselves.
And this, speaking of himself, and for all who wish to be free.
Write how this youth squeezes the
slave out of himself drop by drop,
and how, waking one fine morning,
he feels that in his veins flows
no longer the blood of a slave
but that of a real man.
My work this day: to squeeze the slave out of myself drop by drop and
word by word. Poem by poem. You can’t tell the difference by looking
at me. I squeezed hard today, for a few drops. The work is long.
There is not enough time. Drop by drop. In the cold. In the dark.
Maj Ragain
- An Old Man Lies Down with the Lion
In an old book
of Zen teachings,
I come now across a note,
written in my own hand,
twenty five years ago.
The lion must slay the dragon.
Each scale bears the words,
‘Thou shall.’ When the dragon
is slain, one is reborn as a child.
I was delivered into this world
with the dragon’s egg
nestled in my breast.
I cannot remember the day
it emerged from its shell,
first a peep, later a snarl.
I have felt its hunger
since boyhood.
One midnight it moved its lair
to the lower bitter regions of my soul.
It began to feed on
what I feared and prayed against.
Neither of us knows what it guards or why.
Nights, the dragon climbs my rib ladder
to lay its head against my heart, lulled to sleep
by the drumbeat.
It is prisoner to the heavy coat of mail
which no sword can pierce, prisoner
to the weight of idle years,
the taste of sulphur and ash, the bars of bone.
Its every dream beckons the lion,
the great jaws tearing open the soft underbelly,
releasing the dragon from its troth.
The dragon’s death marks my birthday.
I do not wish to be a child again.
Thou shall lie down with the lion.
Thou shall be reborn as an old man.
Maj Ragain