It’s a lovely Cinco de Mayo morning here in the Carolinas! May all your celebrations include something delicious.
Some of you have seen on Facebook that I was recently awarded two Honorable Mentions in the Poetry Society of South Carolina’s poetry contest. Thank you for all the ‘Congrats!’ I was excited about the awards, especially since I’d forgotten I’d entered two poems. I thought I’d entered only one. Forgetfulness was a problem I had the last time I entered a PSSC contest, too. So, here’s about the first Good News …
For the Fall Contest, I submitted and actually won First Prize!! I was thrilled. I’d not entered contests or submitted to journals in a while so winning a category on the first submission out was exciting. But with it came the Bad News …
Have you ever had that feeling in your gut that something just wasn’t right? I did when I received the notice. The gut feeling had nothing to do with the Poetry Society, it had to do with the poem. I kept ‘seeing’ it in print, as if it’d been published. Previously published poems are a no-no for submitting to many poetry contests, including this one. I went back and double-checked my publications and sure enough, my winning poem had been published ten years earlier in an anthology. A careless mistake on my part, but just have to laugh.
I immediately emailed the president of the Society, explained the situation and apologized, and withdrew my poem. I also ate a nice piece of humble pie. Tamara was very understanding and let me know it happens more frequently than I might think. I still felt like an idiot, but I was also glad my old poem held up! So, it was especially Good News over this last weekend when I found out some of my new poems were also holding up.
In the Poetry Society of South Carolina’s contests, there are specific prizes you submit to, each one having their own requirements and focus. You have to designate which prize you’re submitting a specific poem to. One of my choices was The Oliver Bowman Memorial Prize, dedicated to the memory of long-time PSSC member Dr. D. Oliver Bowman. The requirement for this prize was a poem of any style describing a significant moment or event blending sorrow and joy. The poem I submitted was Quilting, honoring the AIDS Quilt Project and the men and women who have died from AIDS.
The poem expresses sorrow in the deaths; and joy as families gathered to honor their loved ones and share their stories. The AIDS Quilt was first displayed on October 11, 1987 made up of 1,920 ‘panels’ – 3’x 6’ (the size of a human coffin) quilted pieces, each bearing the name of an AIDS victim. It was unfolded on the Mall in Washington, DC and covered a space larger than a football field. The project continues and today includes almost 50,000 panels and weighs 54 tons. Here’s a link to a short video about the quilt and you can see how massive and beautiful it is.
Last month I mentioned writing poems to prompts, and Quilting was a response to one. During one of my Sister Poet retreats, (the above photo was taken at Mast Farm Inn where we stayed), we read James Agee’s ‘Knoxville: Summer 1915’ and one of the lines, ‘… and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of night.’ rather jumped out at me. Agee is writing as a child, describing his family–including aunts and uncles–all gathered on quilts on a summer evening, and the quiet talk around him. He writes of stars, the goodness of his loved ones, the love and blessings of it all. But that line …
The image of the AIDS quilt spread out on the Mall immediately came to mind, with similar sensations of a cool evening and quiet talk all around, the love and blessings of it all. I’m very grateful the judge(s) of the competition saw the sorrow blended with joy in the poem. And I’m keeping better records so I don’t mess up again.
I hope all of you have a great week. I’m dealing with my annual blooming of poison ivy. I have absolutely no idea how I got it. I worked in the yard knowing I’d encounter it, so I wore a long-sleeved, long-underwear thermal shirt, my bibbed overalls, heavy latex gloves, AND my farmers’ defense sleeves that cover my arms from my palms to my biceps. When I finished, I came in through the laundry room and put everything right into the washing machine. And still, I have a lovely patch on my elbows and my knees. Trust me, I was not kneeling in the stuff.
The Good News–I did get the elderberry bushes cleaned out. They’d survived being crowded by a sprig of poison ivy, random sweetgum and pine saplings … the Bad News is before I got the fencing back up around them, they didn’t survive an evening of feasting by deer we’d not seen for months. Just have to laugh. The Good News is there are fresh leaves at the base so fingers crossed the bushes will come back.
Leaving you with these two images. A year ago today, Hubby and I were leaving Burgos and this huge mural was part of a series of murals on buildings in the middle of nowhere. The inscription is Matthew 2:10, ‘They were overjoyed at seeing the star.’ With warmer weather upon us, maybe grab a quilt, go out and lie on the grass, and look at the stars. See you back at my window on Monday!
A Writer's Window 