trishhopkinsonpoet Poetry Events

Winners Announced! – 3rd Annual Provo Poetry Contest

Congratulations to all our winners in the third annual Provo Poetry contest! We received over 200 poems! It was difficult whittling them down to the top ten finalists, but we did it! Then we sent those finalists off to our judge Star Coulbrooke and she selected the winners. We’re still selecting poems to be included in our POEMBALL machines and will send those acceptances out sometime in the next month or so. See the list of winners and finalists below.

We had originally planned a reading and celebration with Speak for Yourself open mic in downtown Provo, and we will likely still do so in the future, so watch for that in coming months. The posters of the all the finalists poems have been printed and will be displayed at a future Provo Art Stroll as well.

1st PLACE WINNER OF $100 CASH!

Victoria Childress for: “City Spring”

Judge’s comments: This multi-layered comment on the facets of a cityscape rising from the ravages of winter, with everything from “pollen graffiti” to “a crop of food carts” proving the release of all that has waited frozen in time and emotion, is brought to a profusion of color and fragrance before it ends, surprisingly, in a somber intellect, the “druidic circles of deer.”

2nd PLACE WINNER OF $50 CASH!

Dayna Patterson for: “Our Lady of the WIC Check”

Judge’s comments: A stunning, credible sensitivity in this praise song to one of the most prevalent and stigmatized conditions of American experience, entirely observant of detail, transforming each from the quirky and the mundane to the beautiful, to pure joy, “praising all the way home.”

Two honorable mentions receive a $25 gift certificate to Pioneer Book:

Rob Carney for “Why We Have Spiders”

Judge’s comments: What we think we don’t want, what we get, what we give up, described in winsome imagery.

Dayna Patterson for “[Pummel my tough heart, oh Mother-Goddess]”

Judge’s comments: The images here are fascinating, an incredible modern motherly feminist take on the old Donne classic.

Finalists (in no particular order)

“Forwards” by Maria Rosa Mills
“Héloise to Abelard” by Natasha Sajé
“I. In the Style of Emily Dickinson” by Victoria Childress
“One Morning” by Maurine Haltiner
“to the twelve muskrats moving in a line behind my chain link fence at dawn in Salt Lake City on the first of September 2019” by Natasha Sajé
“Why We Have Blue Jays” by Rob Carney

Want to know more about Provo Poetry? Follow our website, Facebook, or Twitter. Open mic poetry readings happen the second Tuesday of every month at Pioneer Book. Click here for more information.

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Provo Poetry Contest – free to enter, cash prizes! Deadline: Feb. 1, 2020

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Third Annual Provo Poetry Contest–Cash Prizes!

Send your short poems to help promote poetry in Utah!

DEADLINE: February 1, 2020

ENTRY FEE: Free to enter.

JUDGE: Star Coulbrooke

Star Coulbrooke is the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Logan City Utah, founder and coordinator of the Helicon West reading series, and director of the Utah State University Writing Center. Star’s poems are published internationally in journals, magazines, and anthologies. Her most recent poetry collections are Thin Spines of Memory, Both Sides from the Middle, and City of Poetry.

PRIZES:

  • 1st PLACE – $100 cash and an optional feature reading at Speak for Yourself Open Mic at Enliten Bakey and Café in historic downtown Provo
  • 2nd PLACE – $50
  • 2 HONORABLE MENTIONS: $25 gift certificate for Pioneer Book
  • FINALISTS – Up to 10 Finalists will be selected for poems to be displayed during April for Beehive Poetry Month and the Provo Art Stroll on April 3, 2020.
  • POEMBALLS: All poems entered into the contest will be considered for inclusion in POEMBALL machines

CONTEST GUIDELINES:

  • Poets must have lived or spent significant time in Utah at some point in their lives.
  • Poems must be appropriate for a general audience (rated PG).
  • Provo Poetry is an all-inclusive community. Do not send poems with topics/speech related to hate, shaming, or cultural appropriation.

POEM LENGTH: Short poems of about 20 lines or less.

NUMBER OF POEMS: Send up to ten poems as individual attachments in a single email.

EMAIL POEMS: Send a single email with a separate attachment for each poem (up to 10 poems attached separately) to provopoetry@gmail.com.

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED: Previously published poems are permitted.

WINNERS/FINALISTS: You will be notified via email by April 1, 2020 if one of your poems is a winner or a top-ten finalist.

ACCEPTED POEMS: You will be notified via email if your poems are accepted for inclusion in the POEMBALL machines. POEMBALL machines are located at Pioneer Book and Enliten Bakery and Café in downtown Provo, as well as at KRCL 90.9 FM in Salt Lake City. Poets names will be mentioned on the poems.

Distribution methods may vary. No monetary payment will be provided to poets other than the winners as noted, but please know your contribution is important and appreciated! The key objective of Provo Poetry is to instill the love of poetry within the general community, bring poems to a wider audience, and to support local poets.

UPDATES: For contest updates and other events, please follow us on Facebook or Twitter or via email by entering your email here.

trishhopkinsonpoet Poetry Events

Sidewalk Poetry for the Provo Art Stroll – Friday, May 4, 7 – 9pm @ Pioneer Book

Sidewalk Poetry is back with Provo Poetry at Pioneer Book at 450 West Center Street to host a night of community poetry and open mic storytelling. On Friday. May 4th, 2018, from 7:00pm – 9:00pm, poetry slam performers and the local community will gather together to celebrate spoken word. Those who sign up to read at the open mic will receive a free poetry book of local community poets, donated by the Rock Canyon Poets.

The upcoming Art Stroll is a perfect night to enjoy the charming heart of Provo. Red-brick buildings, kiosks plastered with local flyers, and rows of mom-and-pop shops remind us of our growing town’s pulse. “As we near summer, I long for my walks to Pioneer Book where I’d linger and read behind the shelves. On my way, I liked to stop for a  mouth-watering pastry at Enliten Cafe (the turtle cheesecake is my favorite),” said Fabian Trujillo, a local poet and Provo Poetry volunteer.

These open mics are a unique experience, sometimes breath-taking. Provo Poetry was founded at the beginning of last year by our own Trish Hopkinson and Marianne Hales Harding, two fast-moving poets with the work ethic of honeybees. These two have their hands in other pots and jars as well—including the creation of Provo’s POEMBALL machines. For just a quarter, you can encourage and be a part of the Utah literary art scene. Enjoy a short tidbit from their POEMBALL Machines, available at Pioneer Book or Enliten Bakery & Café. Poems include work from top Utah poets, including Rob Carney, Meg Day, and others. Among these, POEMBALLS also feature local writers who often visit Enliten’s Thursday night creative writing open mics.

Provo Poetry’s mission is to nurture the artistic soul of our small town-city.  To make public the potential of poetry and document the profound way that language stirs our feelings and changes the world–one word at a time.

To learn more, get in touch with Provo Poetry // provopoetry@gmail.com

For all things poetry in Utah County, visit our official website: http://provopoetry.org