POETRY WORKSHOP AT GREEN LAKE, WISCONSIN IN AUGUST

65^th Annual

Green Lake

Christian

Writers

Conference

Sunday, August 18, 3 p.m. to Friday, August 23, 10 a.m.

including

Pilgrimage with Poetry: Writing from My Life

led by Wilda Morris

There’s an endless list of possibilities to write about: childhood experiences, chores, colleagues at work, an object in your home, a favorite Bible story, book or fable perhaps. We’ll read and discuss published poems, enjoy prompts and explore writing styles. We’ll also discuss how memory works, the use of poetic license, a few poetic forms and publishing possibilities.

Additional workshops include:

Write the Story Only You Can Tell

lead by Mary Pierce

Using your life’s anecdotes, personal experiences, special events and/or encounters with memorable people, decide what format is best to tell your stories. Develop them into meaningful pieces. Learn to tell these stories to inspire others and touch readers’ hearts.

Fun with Fiction!

led by Cynthia Ruchti

Play with “story” and shape it into an amazing piece, short story, memoir, or longer fiction. Know your audience. Learn skills to present your story in the most engaging way possible. Explore scene-making and plotting, character development, point of view and much more.

Your First Book: Write What You Love to Read

lead by John Lehman

Tackle the process, learn the skills and consider the many ways to market your material. Practice writing (perhaps impromptu or 1000 words exercises) and work on your own project (fiction or nonfiction). Get the guidance you need to move your writing along. Write with scenes, drama, and action/reaction. You may also learn how writers can actually make money doing what they love.

Keynote Speaker - Jane Rubietta

Worship Leader - Rich Rubietta

Eight one-session workshops on Sunday

Free time possibilities include swimming in the lake, hiking in the woods

or on the Winnebago Trail, climbing Judson Tower,

taking a pontoon ride, enjoying the flowers

or the collection of nativity sets from around the world

For more information, see

http://glcc.org/Files/Conferences/GL%20CWC%202013%20%20FINAL%20Mailing%20Packet%2010pp.pdf

May 2013 Winners - Fairy Tale Poems

There were a lot of interesting poems submitted to the May Poetry Challenge. The judge for this month was poet and editor John Lehman. John is the founder of Rosebud Magazine. He is literary editor of Wisconsin People & Ideas as well as editor of Lit Noir (a digital magazines).   John has had seven books of poetry, four of short stories and two nonfiction books published. You can read more about him at http://lakepoets.com/?page_id=405.  If you follow John on Facebook, you may get an opportunity to snatch up a free copy of one of his e-books or an Kindle of Lit Noir.

John selected four winning poems. We begin with third place:

Little Red Cap

Red walks into The Dirty Shame

and orders her nightly Glenlivet.

Though experience is etched on her face,

she is still a striking woman.

Fashionably thin, she curls her booted feet

around the chipped barstool,

rolls a cigarette, lights up and takes a long drag.

Tonight, the bar empty, she sits alone

enveloped in smoke,

halfheartedly watching late-night TV,

wolves on the prowl in Wyoming,

calves killed on open range.

That old story. Again.

She remembers the wolf she once met,

walks through the thicket of memory

to the young girl, the blonde ringlets,

the red cape, soft and warm.

Gramma had sewed protection against the fists

of mountain wind that swept across the plains.

The wind was wild that day, and blew her off the path,

but whispered in the woods like the voice

of the "silver-voiced man" who called her Goldilocks.

That he called himself the" Big Bad Wolf"

made her laugh. He would show her an easier way.

She can still smell the acrid tobacco,

the sweet ripeness of apples in her wicker basket,

hear the rip of the red hood, feel the heaviness

as she runs, longing for Gramma's safe arms

the rhythmic creek of her rocker.

   ***

There’s no action in the bar except Nancy Sinatra

making a TV comeback with These Boots

Were Made For Walkin’. Red instinctively slides

off the barstool, pushes open the rain swollen door.

The only sound is the crunch of gravel as she walks

to the car. She continues to muse on the barren,

wind-swept countryside, Gramma, the red cap,

that wolf.  She takes care of herself now, has made

her talisman permanent. She laughs as she drives away,

knowing she will die a redhead.

~ Mary Jo Balistreri

To learn more about Mary Jo, and read more of her poems, go to maryjobalistreripoet.com.

The following poems tied for second place:

Words For My Prince

When you kissed me, I awoke

from a long sleep,

from an almost endless sleep.

Your soft lips spoke of honesty, had

the smoothness of milk being

poured from a pitcher into a waiting cup.

When you kissed me, you promised -

no more wicked stepmother who thought

only of her own shallow beauty.

You kissed me again, and

the second time was sweeter yet.

So I ask, “How can love be held

in such a small gesture?”

Seems impossible, but it can.

I know.

~ Eve Lomoro

Eve has been writing since her high school days.She is working on her second novel (the first one is still on the shelf. She began taking her poetry seriously two or three years ago. She participates in a small poetry writing group that meets once a month. She has been published in two of June Cotner's gift anthology books, and has received preliminary acceptance for another. This is not her first time as a winner in the Poetry Challenge. Eve lives with her husband Joe, and little dog, Gracie in Aurora, Illinois.

 

Passed Over Princess

That’s why I wasn’t picked?

Welcomed into the home of a prince,

luggage searched

by his private TSA gropers,

questioned about my princess skills

over cocktails,

interrogated about my heritage

at dinner,

sent away before breakfast

and not once, not once

did Prince Brilliant Ego ask

what land I was Princess of!

What kind of nut

stacks up mattresses

on top of a pea

to find a wife anyway?

No bother,

I’m happy to stay

in the rocky hills

where things are not soft,

not weak.

Where I’m not too proud

to put my back

into a day’s work,

sweat pouring out

that could boil

that damn pea

to a soft smudge

of soup!

That soft backed,

soft brained debutante

of Look At Me Land

can have the Prince

of Kingdom Pea Brain!

~Pamela Larson

Pamela Larson lives in Arlington Heights, IL. Pam has been published in the Daily Herald, Karitos, Cram Poetry Series and on Poetry Super Highway.com. She has won many awards, including a recent 1^st Place for haiku in the Highland Park 2013 Poetry Challenge. She is working now on trying to write under deadlines and with given prompts. She appreciates opportunities given by others to challenge the craft.

John Lehman picked a poem by Sheila Elliott as first place winner. He commented that he found this poem moving, and liked the unusual spin.

A Wood Duck Explains Departure

We’re marginals here, drab as gingerbread,

If truth be told, content to winter in high reeds,

To feed on rice scattered loose as dark confetti,

Rice that falls like stems thin as sparrows’ feet.

She never understood all of this,

That we're rich, at our best

Beneath blankets made of mist, that

We’re skilled. We know silence,

That it outsmarts the smartest hunter.

She never understood, truth be told,

The simple beauty of wings, damp and dark

As tree bark after rain, or our snouts

Sturdily shaped like some discarded human thing.

She never understood.

Wood ducks flock around, they

Breed furtively and often.

That thrashing in the high grass?

It is us releasing ripples that scatter like

Sudden silver streamers, that are

Splayed across a pond and become still

Only when they lap, gasping on a shore.

She never saw that, if truth be told.

Never understood what we are,

That this is our home, that

She was born to beauty, not us.

That she had to sail off, alone.

                                                                               

~ Sheila Elliott

Sheila Elliott's poetry has been published in Keystrokes, the annual anthology published by the Oak Park Writers Group, as well as by other regional writing organizations.  She is a member of Poets and Patrons of Chicago and the Illinois State Poetry Society. This is her first appearance in Wilda Morris’s Poetry Challenge. 

These poets retain ownership and copyright on their poems. Please do not copy and distribute them without their consent.

Congratulations to these four winners, and to the other poets who submitted this month. I enjoyed reading all the poems!

A new challenge will be posted on June 1.

© 2013  Wilda Morris