Arts Festival Poetry Contest

The Arts Council of Mercer County
Presents
Arts Festival Poetry Contest


Three Categories
1. Adult
2. High School Students
3. Middle School Students
(This includes ALL Home School Students)

Entrants may submit up to 4 poems

Any length is ok but the subject must be “Art”
Entry fees are:
$1.00 for one poem
$3.00 for four poems

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS
October 12th, 2009

Winner will receive 5 copies of a chapbook of their poetry up to 20 pages. Entrants will be able to read some of their work at The Writer’s Café booth at the festival.


Entries and fees should be sent to The Arts Council of Mercer County, 235 Ashley Camp Rd. Harrodsburg, KY. 40330. Any questions should be sent to Tony Sexton at contentedme@hotmail.com

Fall Images: A Poem

Fall Images: A Poem

Pumpkins and varicolored leaves, candles
and festivals in the country
Funnel cakes, dealers of faux designer goods:
watches, purses,
cut-rate tapes for an old player, eight track or cassette
made in an old farmer’s garage last night
Dunking booths, dances and carnival games:
Shoot the water gun! Pop the balloon!
Win a tee shirt in glitter and a NASCAR guy’s face.
Painted faces of Halloween, candy hunters for gum
and chocolate crèmes- dispose of the goods in plastic
baskets, or cups— if you don’t, those kids might show up
at a later time less convenient for you, doing something
they ought not to do. Football games on cooling nights
under the glare of the halogen lights, where students toss
pigskins on hills above as players do on the field to excite.

-Earl P. Dean 2009

September 24th Assignment

The assignment for the next Speaking Out Workshop on September 24th is to take a visual image from the collaborative poem in the post before this one and explore it as an individual poem or essay or any form of writing you choose. Or you can choose another visual image as your prompt. Come prepared next week to read your poems.

Also, the deadline for submissions for the next Speaking Out book is November 16th. Please be finalizing your work and email to Roni Gilpin.

Fall

The following poem was a collaborative effort from the workshop on September 17th. Everyone was asked to write down vivid images of what autumn feels like to them. We then read a few of our responses, which were weaved together into this poem. Enjoy!

Fall

Bright red maple leaves
Slowly slipping colors caressing the horizon
Clothed in royal purples and red
Candles and festivals in the country
First fire of the season in the fire place
Dainty spider webs glistening with dew

Allergies, dead gardens, produce lined up in jars
The leaves litter the ground in a cloak of copper pennies
And the softer sun kisses the geraniums on my front porch inviting one more blaze of blossoms

Piles of mysterious leaves pondering a past life on multiple trees
Coolness of the autumn sunset turns the forest into a growing fire
Win a t shirt in glitter and a Nascar guy’s face
Fallen leaves, blazing color, bare naked branches fingering a deep blue sky
Ooey gooey caramel apples in the early hint of twilight
The old farmers almanac weather predictions for the coming winter
In a time long ago when cedar shavings carried dreams on a gentle wind.
Athletic fields are alive once again

A strong fortress belying the thoughts of an autumn requiem