Postcard: From Bayfield, WI
Author Archives: Leslie Schultz
MEZZO CAMMIN’s Summer Issue (2023) is Out! It Includes My Poems, “Action,” and “Bands of Brass”
The brand-new issue of Mezzo Cammin: An Online Journal of Formalist Poetry by Women has just been published. I have been sampling poems–rather like bon bons but with a lot more substance–all day. I have to say that I love the cool and fresh image of the fish. For me, it is a perfect evocation of summer–makes me want to slide my feet into a freshwater lake.
It is an honor to have two poems in a journal I admire and to be in such good company, especially those poets who make the formal constraints they embrace look natural and easy. A tip of the hat to two in particular: Barbara Lydecker Crane and Jean Kreiling, both Powow River Poets centered in Newburyport, Massachussetts, and both have been awarded more than one prize in the Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest. In this issue of Mezzo Cammin, I liked Lydecker Crane’s terza rima poem, “Caving in Slovenia,” very much, with its descriptions of entering and exiting a curated dark space. I was also very drawn to Kreiling’s different take on the terza rima form’s end, and I loved the subject matter of “Young Reader: For Tommy.” This poem succinctly captures the joy of seeing and helping a very young reader to embark on a lifetime of power and pleasure that the act of reading offers.
One final poem I cannot help mentioning here is “‘Thelma and Louise:’ Alternate Ending” by Californina poet Kathleen McClung. A third terza rima (always a dazzling form when it works, as it does in the three poems I mentioned here) and this one packs a powerful punch of timely reimagining, positing an updating of legal and cultural assumptions and options.
This issue’s feature artist’s work, too, is powerful and intriguing, combining as it does text and images. Maureen Alsop is a celebrated poet, fiction writer, reviewer, and translator, as well as being skilled in the graphic arts.
My own two poems, “Action,” and “Bands of Brass” are different versions of Shakespearian sonnets. I am just thrilled that they found publication in this special journal.
Happy reading, writing, and cogitating! LESLIE
In Praise of Delays
Yesterday, Tim and I completed a journey that should have taken an hour (to the Faribault Goodwill to drop off a donation) but ended up taking two days. How glad we were that it did, for we were in the right place at the right time for an unexpected and refreshing cloudburst and then for spotting a full rainbow over the Minnesota countryside. The frustration of unexplained closed doors (Faribault Goodwill on Wednesday) coupled with not one but two northbournd detours on our route home inspired us to plot an alternate route and, in doing so, we saw something we needed to see on a heat-addled, hectic day.
We will keep these principals in mind on Saturday, as we meander through Wisconsin for a few nights on the edge of the Apostle Islands archipelago.
Wishing you beautiful surprises on your own journey!
LESLIE
Updated Link! Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest “Celebrating the Sonnet” Event on July 15, 2023; Winning Sonnets Can Be Read Online, and Video of Celebration Event Posted
My apologies! The first version of this post did not link to the full video. This one does!
Last Saturday held one of the year’s highlights for me: the celebration of sonnets that was the culmination of hundreds of people’s love of the power and delight of poetry. Tim and I traveled to Winona, Minnesota to participate. Altogether, 18 poets of the 28 winning poets gathered via Zoom to share their work in their own voices; one was expertly read by the poet’s daughter; and three of the four judges–Emilio DeGrazia, Ken McCullough, and I–each read three sonnets for winning poets who could not attend. The administrative aplomb of Heidi Bryant and Johanna Rupprecht made everything flow smoothly. Rob Thomas served as an able and enthusiastic emcee. Ted Haaland, contest benefactor and poet-husband of the late Maria W. Faust, was present, too, making the event even more meaningful. Many thanks to Sonnet Contest partners, the Great River Shakespeare Festival and the River Arts Alliance, for supporting this annual project.
Below, is the press release in its entirety, with links to the video and to the flipbook of winning sonnets!
Winners of the 2023 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest Announced
WINONA, MN — The winners of the 2023 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest were announced at a hybrid in person / Zoom event held at the Winona County History Center on July 15, 2023. Eighteen of the twenty-eight winners read their sonnets live over Zoom with the remaining sonnets being read by contest judges Ken McCullough, Emilio DeGrazia, and Leslie Schultz. This year’s winners were as young as thirteen and read from as far away as Turkey. The video of the celebration can be viewed at sonnetcontest.org/events.
The 2023 contest received entries from 16 countries and 43 states. Almost 700 sonnets were submitted by 262 individuals, including 73 in the youth category. Prizes totaling $3,200 were awarded in the following categories: Top Four, Regional (4), Youth (4), and Laureates’ Choice (16). The winning sonnets are published on the website at sonnetcontest.org/2023-winners.
Top Four: Fire and Ice — Cynthia Erlandson (Royal Oak, MI); Smash Room — Erica Reid (Fort Collins, CO); Palo Colorado Fire, Big Sur 2022 — Laura Schulkind (Carmel, CA); and Getting Clean — Jason Sommer (St. Louis, MO).
Regional [Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa]: Capricorn — Scott Lowery (Milwaukee, WI); Skiing Sonnet — Barbara McAfee (St. Croix Falls, WI); On the Death of a Journalist at 44 — David Southward (Milwaukee, WI); and A Toast from the Musical Nobodies to the Also-Rans — Marilyn Taylor (Madison, WI).
Youth [high school and under]: The Upward Growth — Susannah Abel-Zucker (Northampton, MA); Honorable Mention: Climate Change — Yunzhe Hong (Fontana, CA); Ocean Sonnet— Sachi Tyagi (Fremont, CA); and People Love Sad Songs — Allison Xu (Rockville, MD).
Laureates’ Choice: Tandem — Jeff Balch (Evanston, IL); Tapetum Lucidum — John Beaton (Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada); To This Day They Won’t Admit It — Charlotte Blair (Utterson, Ontario, Canada); Ejusdem generis — James Brooks (Signal Mountain, TN); Longer than timeless waters — Almila Dükel (Muğla, Turkey); A Bleak Spring Day — Maya Fritz (Chevy Chase, MD); Russian Nesting Dolls — Jonathan Greenhause (Jersey City, NJ); Never Again — Mia Grogan (Philadelphia, PA); In the County Jail at Natchez — Deborah L. Halliday (Warwick, RI); Twenty-one — Michael Harty (Prairie Village, KS); The Math Teacher — Jean Kreiling (Plymouth, MA); For a squirrel that did not die in the street — Libby Maxey (Conway, MA); The Talk — Rosemarie Moore Morell (Brooklyn, NY); I can’t go out today, please understand — Romy Negrin (New York, NY); How to Love the Moon — Laura Plummer (Gloucester, MA); and Big Game — Michael Waterson (Napa, CA).
About the Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest:
The Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest is an annual event that welcomes entries from around the world to Winona. The contest honors the memory of Maria W. Faust: a Winona State University graduate in Communications; a twenty-year resident of Winona; an avid supporter of varied local arts; and a lover of poetry. Maria’s husband, Ted Haaland, is the contest’s benefactor, with the goal of keeping Maria’s love of poetry alive in our community and beyond.
The contest judges are Winona’s Poets Laureate James Armstrong, Ken McCullough, and Emilio DeGrazia, and Leslie Schultz of Northfield, MN. Heidi Bryant is the managing director of the contest. Johanna Rupprecht, Rob Thomas, and Ned Bryant assisted with the closing event. Great River Shakespeare Festival is a partner and River Arts Alliance acts as the fiscal sponsor.
To learn more about the Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest, please visit sonnetcontest.org or email entries@sonnetcontest.org.
The Orchards Poetry Journal (Summer 2023) is Now Published! It Includes My Poem, “Consanguinity”!
Always cause for celebration at my house is the biannual publication of The Orchards Poetry Journal. Yesterday, the Summer 2023 issue was released! I am so happy that it contains a poem of mine inspired by the garden Tim, Julia, and I have been making for nearly three decades here in Northfield. The poem, “Consanquinity,” (found on page 77) highlights red flowers and features an ancient pollinator, the little, green-headed sweat bee, Halictidae, the second largest family of bees with more than 4,500 separate species. Above is a photo of said bee in said garden; below, a few others from recent years.
This journal is generously available for free digital download; paper copies can be purchased at Kelsay Books website or on Amazon. It is definitely worth a look. You’ll find your own favorites, of course. A few of mine include,
*Featured Poet Rebecca Brock’s poem, “A Friend Texted to Interrupt This Poem” (page 26);
*Adina Polatsek’s poem,” Houston,” (page 49); and
*B.R. Strahan’s poem, “At Random,” (page 102).
Thanks for reading this! Happy Summer!
LESLIE
