"I love Illinois State Poetry Society"

2022-08-16 10:44:34

TopBottomHome PagePoetry CompetitionISPS Member PoemsPoem Index by PoetPoem Index by TitlePoet BiosISPS Member BooksSubmitting PoemsAbout ISPSTo Join ISPSOther SitesControversial BeautyBenefactors ($50)Mary Jo BalistreriMary Beth BretzlaufDan FitzgeraldJoe GlaserLee JohnsonDonald LylesJenene RaveslootTom RobyArthur VoellingerPatrons ($30)Jocelyn AjamiDavid LaRue AlexanderCandace ArmstrongDiane Lotko BakerMary Jo BalistreriCamille BallaEva BoczonWilliam T. CareyThomas ChockleyPatrice ClaeysJennifer DotsonDan FitzgeraldGeorgiann FoleyMichael FrevelettiKaren Fullett-ChristensenLeo GehrJohn J. GordonSusan GundlachLarry HaysJoris HeiseM. E. HopeMelissa HuffPhyllis JanikSteven KappesSheila KirscherS. Michael KozubekJim LambertJill LangloisWilliam LedererG. Jordan MaclayCarol MarcusKarian MarkosGeorgina MilstedTom MoranWilda MorrisLeslie A. PeetMarcia PradzinskiMarjorie RissmanNancy SchaeferIrfanulla ShariffRuth SiburtJoe SolbergJudith TullisMaggie Van DykeArthur VoellingerLinda WallinIn MemoriamSally Hanson CalhounNancy Jean CarriganDavid ChristensenDon CornwellPhillip EgelstonJonathan Foster, OFMMichael GalatiPatricia GangasChris HolavesGlenna HollowayUsha MahisekarJohn MahoneyMarguerite McClellandMartha S. MossHugh MuldoonJohn PawlikIna PerlmuterJohn QuinnJames ReissKathleen RobinsonMarge SamuelDoyle Raymond VinesPaul J. WolfMarvin R. Young (2017)New ISPS PoemsNew ISPS HaigaRandom ISPS Poemfrom our 22-year collectionRandom ISPS Haigafrom our haiga collection A Message from the President, July/August, 2022Read ISPS members' poems posted August 2022"Illinois Poets" Newsletters"Last Sunday" Reading at Brewed Awakening on August 28, 2022Upcoming ISPS MeetingsHaiga Gallery (haiku within photo)ISPS Anthology Submissions and Orders - 2022Reviews of ISPS Members' Poetry Books2022 ISPS Poetry Contest AnnouncementOrder Distilled Lives, Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5(ISPS Poetry Anthologies)Order The First Six Months, Poems During a PandemicOrder Remember: Poems for the 20th Anniversary of 9/112021 Poetry Month publication by Southern Chapter membersArchived "Messages from the ISPS President"Special Edition: Poems on the theme of "water"Contact UsWelcome to this website for the Illinois State Poetry Society, connecting ISPS members with each other and with the general public. Here you'll find information for and about this group of serious poets. Since June of 2000 we have been posting bimonthly (monthly since 2021) editions of poetry written by ISPS members. ISPS members are invited to submit a poem each monthly submission period (according to last initial). (How and when to submit) You are invited to read the ISPS member poems and haiga posted in August 2022 as well as previous postings. In March, 2020 we published a special edition of poems on the theme of "water".To join ISPS through June, ,please fill out our Membership Form and mail it with a check for $20.00. You don't have to be an Illinois resident to join ISPS, but you do need to be an ISPS member to have your poems posted in this website.Upcoming ISPS MeetingsA Message from the ISPS President, July/August, 2022by Susan T. Moss, ISPS PresidentPoems have been submitted for our next anthology. This biennial collection is oneof the benefits of ISPS membership and a popular way to share with each otherand those who have an opportunity to read the poetry. As always, the topics andstyles vary and create optimal insights and reading pleasure.One of the themes that has occurred more than once is Covid in its variousiterations. The need to express our fears, loneliness, gratitude to the caretakers,and efforts to cope with a pandemic are some of the common threads that havebeen addressed.Poetry offers this opportunity to share our views of whatever concerns us. Wepoets are fortunate to have the ability to express these ideas in a compact andliterary format that focuses on the heart of a subject in an explicit, artistic andinteresting way.What do nature, politics, familial and friendship ties, among other topics, have tosay to us? What can we learn from daily events and connections and how can wecondense our creativity into the essence of chosen topics? Sometimes it's helpfulto sit or go for a walk and think about ideas. When some thoughts occur, recordthem on your phone or carry a little tablet of paper and a pen. Some good ideascan fly away if not held fast.While thinking about what to write next, keep in mind that our annual fall contestwill offer opportunities to put your work out for a little competitive word jousting.Summer can be a relaxing time to open the floodgates of word possibilities. Whatgood ideas may be hiding among blooms and green leaves, cheerful bird calls,longer days into shorter nights? What can we learn from living in each preciousmoment that offers both the good and bad news of our lives? Naomi Shihab Nye'spoem "A Single Slice Reveals Them" finds deeper meaning in an apple:An Apple on the tablehides its seedsso neatlyunder seamless skin.But we talk and talk and talkto let somebodyin.Happy writing,Susan T. [email protected] Archive of Presidents' MessagesISPS Collage Poetry Reading - Downers Grove 4/29/22Poems written by members of the ISPS will be read on Friday, April 29, 6:30-8:00 p.m., at the Downers Grove Public Library, Downers Grove, IL. The poems were written in response to artwork by members of the Midwest Collage Society. For more information, see midwestcollagesociety.blogspot.com. All the poems submitted are posted on the wall at the library. At least one poem responding to each artist will be read aloud Friday as pictures of the art works are projected on the wall."Last Sunday" Poetry Reading, August 28, 2022The Illinois State Poetry Society and Brewed Awakening have another exciting poetry reading scheduled for Sunday, August 28, 12:30 - 2:00 PM Central Time. Featured poets are Maggie Kennedy and Albert DeGenova. You are invited to participate in the open mic (in person or virtually). You may listen or participate by going to Brewed Awakening (19 W Quincy Street, Westmont, IL, just off Cass Avenue, across the street from the train station), or by joining us on Zoom. At the coffeeshop, there is a $12 cover charge, which entitles you to a beverage and snack. Or you may listen to the featured poets and read your own poem on Zoom for $5.00. Tickets may be purchased here.Maggie Kennedy spends early mornings staring out her window at a row of sycamores towering over her neighborhood in Brookfield, Ill. Once in a while, a poem comes along. Her work has appeared in Epiphany, Meat for Tea, Cloudbank, Atticus Review, and other publications. She got the creative writing bug by studying under Bruce Guernsey at Eastern Illinois University. She went on to get a Masters in English and creative writing from the University of Chicago.Albert DeGenova is a poet, publisher, and teacher. He is the author of four books of poetry and three chapbooks. His most recent book is Black Pearl: poems of love, sex and regret; his collection of haibun and poetry, Postcards to Jack, was recently released in a second expanded edition. His chapbook, Mama's Blues, is forthcoming this August from Finishing Line Press. His work has also appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. He received his MFA from Spalding University in Louisville. He is the founder of After Hours Press and co-editor of After Hours magazine, a journal of Chicago writing and art, which launched in June of 2000. DeGenova is also a blues saxophonist and one-time contributing editor to Down Beat magazine. He splits his time now between Sturgeon Bay, WI, and the metro Chicago area.Order Remember: Poems for the 20th Anniversary of 9/11Remember: Poems for the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 offers a two-decade look back at the terrorist attack. Set in 30 poems interspersed with photos and news notes, the collection closes with a chapter of peace poems. In diverse styles and forms, 18 members of the Illinois State Poetry Society Southern Chapter bring to these pages personal reflections on the horrific event, the nation's aftermath of loss and grief, and, still, our longing for peace.To Sample and Order at Amazon.comOrder The First Six Months - Poems During a PandemicThe First Six Months, a pandemic snapshot of March through August 2020, features work by 22 diverse southern Illinois poets as they learned to sequester, social-distance, mask, and deal with both uniquely personal and worldwide challenges. Though the anthology's themes of COVID-19 and racial justice protests reflect this period, the in-the-moment viewpoints are as individual as the poets themselves. Photos, art, and snippets of news reports accompany the poetry, adding to a creative record of the unprecedented months of one spring, one summer.To Sample and Order at Amazon.comOrder Distilled Lives, Volume 5, ISPS Poetry AnthologyDistilled Lives, Volume 5 presents recent poems from 70+ writers new and established, all members of the Illinois State Poetry Society. The observations, memories, triumphs, laments—yes, and comic moments, too—presented by the assembled pieces reflect the diversity of the members and the breadth of interests they represent.To Sample and Order at Amazon.comOrder Distilled Lives, Volume 4, ISPS Poetry Anthology"What I love most about this wonderful 4th edition of Distilled Lives is its clarion call to pay thoughtful attention to the world around us and within us. For indeed, as these remarkable poets make clear in these poems, all of life is worthy of such sustained attention and creative response. In these pages, readers will be treated to unfamiliar experiences made viscerally accessible. So too, readers will be moved by fresh perspectives on familiar themes. Spanning a broad range of subject matter, style, and treatment, there are poems in this collection to appeal to every reader." —Arlyn Miller, Senior Editor of Poetic License PressTo Sample and Order at Amazon.comOrder Distilled Lives, Volume 3, ISPS Poetry AnthologyDistilled Lives, Volume 3, showcases the talented voices of sixty-seven Illinois State Poetry Society member poets who deal in a variety of styles about personal catastrophes and triumphs, grounded by the seasons and values of America’s heartland. Quiet pleasures along with quiet griefs are given the same dose of wit and wisdom honed by the work of those with rolled-up sleeves in overalls as well as those with daily commuter passes in briefcases. This is a collection of powerful human stories lived with uniquely Midwestern ethics.To Sample and Order at Amazon.comOrder Distilled Lives, Volume 2, ISPS Poetry AnthologyDistilled Lives, Volume 2, is a rich and diverse collection of poetry from members of the Illinois State Poetry Society. Represented in the anthology are new word-crafters alongside poets in their nineties who have been writing throughout their lives. There are first-timers as well as Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominee James Reiss and the prolific Joan Colby and Jacob Erin-Cilberto, each with more than a dozen volumes to their credit. You will find formal forms, poems with stylized messages, rhymed lines, and prose-poem paragraphs.The lives distilled here offer a panoply of poetic style and individual creativity, a challenging and comforting gift of words offered by eighty-one representatives of ISPS.To Sample and Order at Amazon.comOrder Distilled Lives, Volume 1, ISPS Poetry AnthologySeventy-five members of Illinois State Poetry Society have, as their 20th anniversary anthology's title promises, distilled life with its vicissitudes and revelations. Poems weave universal themes in rhyme and free verse while presenting fresh, provocative and sometimesmetaphysical insights. Humor, pathos, reverie and existentialism, among other diverse tones, combine in this entertaining and insightful collection.Sneak PeekTo OrderContact UsIf you have questions or feedback regarding this website, please click the link below to send us an email. We welcome your thoughts.Alan HarrisWebsite design and maintenance by Alan Harris at