The death of Thomas Lux on Sunday, February 5, 2017, has left all of us bereft.
In addition to Tom’s biographical history, his 14 collections of poems, his well-earned prizes, awards and accolades, his teaching and reading at every festival, his service as chair of the Poets Advisory Board, and his boundless and enduring friendship, our Founder has addressed Thomas Lux’s role of fatherhood of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival in his Note From Miles Coon.
The 14th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival will be an homage and celebrate our friend, including A Tribute to Thomas Lux, on Saturday, January 20, 2018. The festival is and shall be an homage to Thomas Lux who made it all possible.
The 13th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival welcomed participants, auditors, local audiences, and faculty from over 23 states in the U.S., and three foreign countries.
Poets traveled from as far away as Minnesota and Israel, and as nearby as Boynton Beach to be a part of this annual Delray Beach event: six days and nights of the most extraordinary poetry events featuring past poet laureate & special guest, Charles Simic, winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critic’s Circle and more.
Winners of the High School Poetry Contest were celebrated at the Annual Palm Beach County High School Poetry Contest Award Ceremony, in the Crest Theatre, at Old School Square in Delray Beach, January 16th.
Open to Palm Beach County public and private high school students, five winners were selected from over 400 entries by Dr. Jeff Morgan, Lynn University, contest judge.
In addition to cash prizes, all winners received a pair of tickets to Sizzling Spoken Word!, the Festival’s Performance Poetry Event on Saturday night featuring Mayhem Poets: Mason Granger & Scott Nason, who also visited Palm Beach County High Schools offering workshops and performances during festival week. It is estimated that these programs reached over 2,000 students. Winners will also receive subscriptions to Poets & Writers Magazine.
2nd Prize ($100): Haleigh McGirt, Jupiter High School, Grade 12, for “To the Boy in my Fourth Period Debate Class Who, Unprompted, Took it Upon Himself to Proclaim ‘Rape Culture Doesn’t Exist’.
3rd Prize ($100): Aleah Searfoss, Wellington High School, , Grade 11, for “The Great Egret”
4th Prize ($100): Owen Gable, Spanish river High School, Grade 11, for “Songbird”
5th Prize ($100):
Samantha Marshall, Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Grade 12, for “Elegy for Evangeline”
“This year the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest had a banner year,” says Dr. Allen. “Our judge, Lynn University’s Dr. Jeff Morgan had to narrow down to give talented finalists from a highly competitive pool of 448 submissions – 100 more than we received last year.”
“The Poetry Festival has been honored to work with high school teachers throughout Palm Beach County for the past 13 years. We have visited hundreds of classrooms to discuss the craft of poetry and encourage students to write original poems, and every year we are amazed by the quality of their submitted work. In fact, many of our past winners have gone to college to become teachers themselves, and we are always hopeful that the Festival is nurturing a future Poet Laureate of the United States,” she adds.
WINNERS WILL SOON BE ANNOUNCED!
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival invites you to submit an original poem inspired by the “FISH TALES Exhibit at the Delray Beach Historical Society!
As anglers cast into the mysterious lake of possibility seeking perfectly scaled gems, writers cast into the sea of language seeking the perfect word or phrase. Those quests are sometimes frustrating and often challenging, but regardless of results, they are always rewarding: having examined our deepest worries and wonders while writing or fishing, poets and anglers alike often produce memorable tales. from: The Poetry of Fishing, by Chris Justice, in “The Tackle Box”
Fish Tales refers to the stories, memorabilia, artwork, writing and history surrounding the sport and art of fishing in Delray Beach and specifically the items chosen to inspire poems in this contest. Poets are invited to visit Fish Tales in person at the Delray Beach Historical Society.
Five cash prizes and five honorable mentions will be selected by contest judge, Stephen Gibson. First Prize: $100.00; Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth Prizes: 4 awards of $25.00 each; Five Honorable Mentions. Entries that win cash prizes and honorable mention will be published online and announced in press releases.
Take inspiration from one of the following images /items from Fish Tales, or visit The Delray Beach Historical Society to be inspired in person!
First Sailfish, Diane (Martini) Brewer (1980) “I almost went overboard.”Uncle Bob’s First Fish, a pompano, 1928. “A manatee nearly knocked over the boat.”Delray Fisherman and writer Randall Wilson Davis, circa 1937Samuel Ogren, Sr., Father of Delray Beach Architecture, fishing with familyPioneers’ Catch of the Day, Every Face a story, Delray Beach circa 1910Dorothy Zill Susleck with Bluefish, Delray Beach, circa 1953.Irwin J. Sinks’ Tackle Box, 1926. Original fishing paraphernalia.Fisherboy & Bonehead Shark (Siane Glover, June 2007)Sam Ogren Sr. & Jr. Father Son Fish from Delray Beach to BiminiFisherman returning to Boynton Inlet (Photo: Peter W. Cross)
Ekphrastic Poems come from the poetic tradition of taking inspiration from objects and works of art known as “ekphrasis” from the Greek. These may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art.
The Contest Judge is Stephen Gibson, author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror, winner of the 2017 Miller Williams Prize, selected by Billy Collins, (Univ. of Arkansas Press). His poetry and fiction have appeared in such journals as American Arts Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, North American Review, The Paris Review,Pleiades, Poetry, River Styx, The Sewanee Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and The Yale Review among others. He taught for thirty-two years at the Belle Glade campus of Palm Beach State College.
Poems must be no longer than 30 lines and inspired by one of the designated works that are part of the Fish Tales Exhibit.
Contest Opens: January 16, 2017
Deadline: March 1, 2017
What to Do: Visit the “Fish Tales” Exhibit at the Delray Beach Historical Society, 3 NE 1st Street, Delray Beach, Florida to be inspired in person, or choose one of the images on this page to inspire our 30 line poem!
Second, Third, Fourth Prizes: 4 awards of $25 each
5 Honorable Mentions
Top 10 entries will be published online
Results Announced: April, 2017, National Poetry Month
Delray Beach Historical Society, Fish Tales Exhibit is open to the public, Thursday – Saturday, 11am – 3pm, DBHS members – Free, Non-members – Suggested donation of $5 per person. Children 16 and under – Free
Every year we work to bring poetry, in its every aspect, to our audiences, and fill a whole week with poetry events that feature America’s most extraordinary poets–at the festival. As we celebrate 18 years of presenting these extraordinary poets, an archive of amazing events and featured poets has been built.
No matter what is happening in the world, as readers and writers of poetry, we are all engaged in a poetry conversation. We know that poetry can take chaos and make it understandable; can deepen our sense of empathy and humanity, and infuse life with beauty and meaning, on the page and in the world. The impact lasts for more than one week of the year. Many say attending the festival is life-changing.
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival invites all Palm Beach County High School Students to send in one original poem.
The winner will receive $200 and a pair of tickets to the Sizzling Spoken Word Performance Event featuring Elizabeth Acevedo and G Yamazawa
The four runners up will each receive $100 and a pair of tickets to Sizzling Spoken Word Performance Event
All winners receive a one-year subscription to Poets and Writers Literary Journal
All of the prize-winning poems will be posted on the festival website: palmbeachpoetryfestival.org and will be included in press releases
Prize winners will be invited to participate in exclusive photo-ops with the featured poets, for local press releases
ELIGIBILITY: Palm Beach County public and private High School students, Grades 9-12 RULES:
Poems may be submitted October 1st through December 1st, 2017, as follows:
Submit one poem, 30 lines maximum, single-spaced, 12-point type.
Your name, address, phone number, email address, name of high school, teacher’s name, and grade levelmust appear in the upper, right-hand corner of the page.
DEADLINE: Your poem must be emailed by midnight, December 1st, 2017.
Send by email to PBPF1@aol.com (copy & paste poem into the body of email*); OR mail your submission to Dr. Allen, 1134 SW 44th Ave., Deerfield Beach, FL 33442.
*Attachments will not be opened and will be automatically disqualified.
All contest participants agree to be subjects of press releases and media stories about the contest and the festival.
In order to collect the prize, the winner must be present at the awards ceremony.
Your submission is an agreement that you will attend the Festival Awards Ceremony to read your winning poem on
Monday, January 15, 2018 at 5:00 p.m.
Submissions that do not adhere to these rules will be refused. Keep a copy of your poem, as the original will not be returned.
Winners and runners up will be notified by January 1st, 2018.
DISTINGUISHED JUDGE:
Dr. Jeff Morgan, Chairman, Department of English, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida
For More Information about the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest, contact drblaiseallen@aol.com, or by phone: (561) 868-2063. Be prepared to leave a message. Your call will be returned promptly. Ask your high school principal, English teacher or Poetry Club Leader about the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest. Visit: https://www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/news/2017-high-school-poetry-contest-awards/ to see the past winners and the winning poems!
Congratulations to current and future Faculty Poet Tim Seibles who in July 2016 was appointed poet laureate of Virginia by Governor Terry McAuliffe. Seibles, who is the author of five collections of poetry, including 2012’s Fast Animal which won the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize and was a National Book Award nominee, was a Festival Faculty Poet in 2014 and will be joining us again in 2018!
Tim Seibles currently lives in Norfolk, VA and teaches at Old Dominion University. His two-year tenure as Virginia’s Poet Laureate began in July 15, 2016.
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce it will offer three fellowships that provide full workshop tuition and lodging in Delray Beach for the upcoming 13th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 16-21, 2017. The fellowships are offered to open the festival workshop doors widely to qualified poets and to insure the festival’s workshops provide an enriching variety of experiences through working with poets from a wide variety of cultures.
Each fellowship recipient will be an outstanding poet who will benefit from, and contribute to participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships applications are now open. For details, please visit the links below to each for specifics, details and to apply. The deadline to apply for these fellowships is November 14, 2016.
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival African American Fellowship is available to African American poets who wish to attend the 13th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. The deadline to apply for these fellowships is November 14, 2016. Use this link to apply for the Palm Beach Poetry Festival African American 2017 Fellowship.
These fellowships are supported by generous donations of individuals who wish to remain anonymous. We welcome inquiries from donors who may be interested in our efforts to expand the availability of these fellowships and seek to support the festival’s dedication to inclusiveness and enrichment of its workshops and public events. Donors may contribute to the PBPF Diversity Fellowship Fund, established to support these efforts. Interested donors may contact Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson or President & Founder, Miles Coon.
Pulitzer Prize winner and former United States Poet Laureate Charles Simic is announced as Palm Beach Poetry Festival’s Special Guest Poet in 2017. Charles Simic will be interviewed by fellow poet and Festival Faculty David Baker. Simic will also headline the Festival’s Gala Reading.
The 13th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival will take place in Delray Beach, Florida, January 16-21, 2017. Focus on your work with America’s most celebrated poets. Apply to attend a workshop today!
Join us for six days of extraordinary poetry events: workshops, readings, talks on the craft of writing poems, manuscript conferences, panel discussion, social events and so much more in beautiful downtown Delray Beach, Florida.
Join us for six days of extraordinary poetry events, January 16-21, 2017 in Delray Beach, Florida: workshops, readings, talks on the craft of writing poems, manuscript conferences, panel discussion, social events and so much more in beautiful downtown Delray Beach, Florida.
Thank you to National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu, who approved an Art Works award of $10,000 to the Palm Beach Poetry Festival (PBPF) to support the nonprofit organization’s 13th annual festival next January 16-21 in Delray Beach. The Festival’s award is among more than $82 million that will fund local arts projects and partnerships in the NEA’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2016.
“We are very grateful to the NEA for their incredible support of the arts in general and of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival in particular,” says PBPF Director Susan R. Williamson. “We look forward to working with the NEA to finalize the grant paperwork as we prepare for next year’s event, which will include Special Guest Poet Charles Simic, a distinguished Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate.”
The Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields.
“The arts are all around us, enhancing our lives in ways both subtle and obvious, expected and unexpected,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Supporting projects like the Palm Beach Poetry Festival offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”
The 13th annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival will be held January 16-21 at Old School Square in Delray Beach. The Festival features top poets at numerous ticketed public events, including readings, talks, interviews, panel discussions and more. Nine workshops will be offered for which applications are required. The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is generously sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts, Morgan Stanley, The Legacy Group of Atlanta; the Cultural Council of Palm County, the Palm Beach County Tourism Development Council and the Board of Commissioners of Palm Beach County; The Palm Beach Post; Visit Florida; WLRN; and Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach’s independent bookseller.
To join the Twitter conversation about today’s NEA announcement, please use #NEASpring16. For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, go to arts.gov.
“It is with greatest pleasure that we announce the winning poems for the WILD Ekphrastic Poetry Contest. Announcing and presenting the accomplishments of the poets, in collaboration with the wonderful Plein Air Palm Beach artists is a grand finale to the festival’s celebration of National Poetry Month,” said Director, Susan R. Williamson.
Judge Stephen Gibson said, “Judging this year’s contest was a difficult delight, … the quality of the work was such a delight that it made deciding so difficult. My congratulations to these fine poets and to all of those poets who submitted their works, though not mentioned in this final selection process.”
The contest project, in its second year, provides a platform for artists and poets to explore the relationship between visual and poetic inspiration. Ekphrastic Poems may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art. The poetic tradition of taking inspiration from works of art is “ekphrasis” from the Greek. The term “plein air” refers to or relates to painting in outdoor daylight.
“We are honored to feature the work of these poets and join with the artists and the work that inspired the poets, to celebrate the creative process.” said founder, Miles Coon. The winning poems & poets are:
About the First Place Poem, “Mermaids of Morrison Springs” Mr. Gibson wrote, “—a terrific poem, a ghazal I think that Agha Shahid Ali would have wanted to include in his anthology of ghazals Ravishing DisUnities. Wonderful and playful in tone, precise in image, yet with a carpe diem motif that works its way through the piece with aplomb, careful not to hammer the reader over the head with that moral.”
About the Second Place Poem, “Imagining Lily Ponds”—”an equally terrific poem, which approximates blank verse in its free verse approach, a poem understated in tone as it compares Monet’s lily ponds to the contest’s painting submission, and then moves in a surprising, unexpected direction, toward a darker theme involving the natural world whose surface placidity may be disarming but is also misleading. A wonderful piece.”
Cash awards are: First Prize: $100, Second, Third, Fourth Prizes: 4 awards of $25 each, 5 Honorable Mentions. Poems will be added to this page upon receipt of approvals of the poets.
Paintings were selected from the “WILD” Exhibit at the Cornell Art Museum, Delray Beach, Florida and poets were inspired by the selected award-winning plein air art.
The Contest judge, Stephen Gibson, is the author of five poetry collections: Rorschach Art Too (2014 Donald Justice Prize, West Chester University), Paradise (Miller Williams Prize finalist, University of Arkansas Press, 2011), Frescoes (Lost Horse Press book prize, 2009), Masaccio’s Expulsion (MARGIE/Intuit House book prize, 2006), and Rorschach Art (Red Hen, 2001). His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Ploughshares, and Poetry. His latest collection is “The Garden of Earthly Delights, A Scrambled Abecedarian.” He is professor emeritus, Palm Beach State College, and lives in West Palm Beach.
The Cornell Art Museum is located on the Old School Square campus at 51 North Swinton, just south of the Crest Theatre building. Hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 10:00 am-4:30 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission is a suggested $5 donation. For information on all Old School Square programs and services, call 561-243-7922 or visit OldSchoolSquare.org.
The 13th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival will be held January 16-21 at Old School Square in Delray Beach. The Festival features top poets at numerous ticketed public events, including readings, talks, interviews, panel discussions and more. Nine workshops will be offered for which applications are required. The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is generously sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts, Morgan Stanley, The Legacy Group of Atlanta; the Cultural Council of Palm County, the Palm Beach County Tourism Development Council and the Board of Commissioners of Palm Beach County; The Palm Beach Post; Visit Florida; WLRN; and Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach’s independent bookseller.
Submit an original poem inspired by the Cornell Art Museum’s “WILD” Exhibit at Old School Square. Write a poem of up to 30 lines inspired by one of ten paintings. Deadline to submit is April 17, 2016. First Prize: $100, Second, Third, Fourth Prizes: 4 awards of $25 each, 5 Honorable Mentions. Entries that win cash prizes and honorable mention will be published online and announced in press releases.
Mangroves, Lorrie B. TurnerFlorida’s Old Tree, Jensheng Song
To submit use our Submittable link. Visit the “WILD” Exhibit at the Cornell Art Museum, Delray Beach, Florida and be inspired by the selected award-winning plein air art, or visit the paintings on this page.
Mulenbergia Movement, Joseph PalmieroSearching for Breakfast, Elfreda ShragenBacklit Banyan, Sheila WolffSurfer’s Path – Jupiter Beach Park, Ted Matz
Early Morning, Connie Kerwick-KearnsAt Riverbend Park, Ralph PapaLast Light-Hillsboro Bridge, Susan ListAt The Lily Pond, Stan Dornfest
WILD EKPHRASTIC POETRY CONTEST GUIDELINES
Write and submit one ekphrastic poem inspired by the award-winning paintings at the WILD Exhibit at the Cornell Museum, no longer than 30 lines. This poem should be your own original work. Poems must be previously unpublished.
Prizes and Publication First Prize: $100, Second, Third, Fourth Prizes: 4 awards of $25 each, 5 Honorable Mentions. Top 10 entries published online.
Entries that win cash prizes and honorable mention will be published on the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Website and announced in press releases. Visit the “WILD” Exhibit at the Cornell Art Museum, Delray Beach, Florida and be inspired by the selected award-winning plein air art. Write and submit a poem. If you cannot visit the Exhibit, see an album of the Ten Inspiring Painting Selections by Plein Air Palm Beach Artists on Facebook, or in the images on this page.
The Contest judge is Stephen Gibson, author of five poetry collections: Rorschach Art Too (2014 Donald Justice Prize, West Chester University), Paradise (Miller Williams Prize finalist, University of Arkansas Press, 2011), Frescoes (Lost Horse Press book prize, 2009), Masaccio’s Expulsion (MARGIE/Intuit House book prize, 2006), and Rorschach Art (Red Hen, 2001). His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Ploughshares, and Poetry. His latest collection “The Garden of Earthly Delights, A Scrambled Abecedarian.” He is professor emeritus, Palm Beach State College, and lives in West Palm Beach.
Entry Fee: No fee. Submit one poem only, please.
Ekphrastic Poems may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art. The poetic tradition of taking inspiration from works of art is “ekphrasis” from the Greek.
The term “plein air” refers to or relates to painting in outdoor daylight.
No Country Restriction; English Language
Poets of all nations may enter. However, the work you submit should be in English. If you have written a work in another language, you may submit an English translation.
No Age Restriction
Poets of any age may enter.
Privacy
Your privacy is assured. We will not rent your information to third parties. Your submission will result in joining our e-mailing list for the contest. We will communicate with you by email.
Copyright
You retain the copyright to your submission. If your entry wins any cash prize, you agree to give Palm Beach Poetry Festival a nonexclusive license to publish your work online and in electronic media such as our newsletters. This includes possible publication in one or more ebooks, or a limited edition chapbook. We may ask you for a photograph or to attend a photo session for the contest winners.
The Cornell Art Museum is located on the Old School Square campus at 51 North Swinton, just south of the Crest Theatre building. Hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 10:00 am-4:30 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission is a suggested $5 donation. For information on all Old School Square programs and services, call 561-243-7922 or visit OldSchoolSquare.org.
Winners of the High School Poetry Contest were celebrated at the Annual Palm Beach County High School Poetry Contest Award Ceremony, kicking off the festival in the Crest Theatre, at Old School Square in Delray Beach.
Open to Palm Beach County public and private high school students, the five winners were selected from over 300 entries by Dr. Jeff Morgan of Lynn University who served as judge of the contest.
In addition to cash prizes, all five winners received a pair of tickets to Sizzling Spoken Word!, the Festival’s Performance Poetry Event, presented as part of Old School Square’s JAMnasium series. The Saturday night event featured Marc Smith, the founder of Slam Poetry, and Dominique Christina, Woman of the World Slam Champion, who visited Palm Beach County High Schools offering workshops and performances during the festival week. It is estimated that the programs reached over 2,000 students. Winners will also receive subscriptions to Poets & Writers Magazine.
The 12th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival welcomed participants, auditors, local audiences and faculty from over 22 states in the U.S., and three foreign countries.
Poets travelled from as far away as North Dakota and Ireland, and as nearby as Boynton Beach to be a part of this annual Delray Beach event: six days and nights of the most extraordinary poetry events featuring past poet laureate & special guest, Robert Hass, winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critic’s Circle and more.
Special Guest, Robert Hass, U.S. Poet Laureate (1995-1997), National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner at his evening Gala Reading
Kevin Young’s Craft Talk: “Throw Your Voice,” interpreted in American Sign Language
National Book Award Winner, Mary Szybist, captivates the audience at her evening reading in the Crest Theatre
High School Poetry Contest Award Winners on stage with Festival Staff and Workshop Faculty
The WILD Ekphrastic Poetry Contest seeks original poems of up to 30 lines inspired by one of ten selections from the “WILD” Exhibit, which runs through April 17, 2016 at the Cornell Museum of Art in Delray Beach.
The contest runs through April 17, 2016. Results will be announced in April, 2016, after the deadline.
Visit the “WILD” Exhibit at the Cornell Art Museum, Delray Beach, Florida and be inspired by the selected award-winning plein air art. Write and submit a poem. If you cannot visit the Exhibit, see an album of the Ten Inspiring Painting Selections by Plein Air Palm Beach Artists on Facebook, or in the image here:
Entry Fee: No fee. Submit one poem only, please.
WILD EKPHRASTIC POETRY CONTEST GUIDELINES
Submit one ekphrastic poem inspired by the award-winning paintings at the WILD Exhibit at the Cornell Museum, no longer than 30 lines. This poem should be your own original work. Poems must be previously unpublished.
Ekphrastic Poems may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art. The poetic tradition of taking inspiration from works of art is “ekphrasis” from the Greek.
The term “plein air” refers to or relates to painting in outdoor daylight.
Prizes and Publication
First Prize: $100, Second, Third, Fourth Prizes: 4 awards of $25 each,
5 Honorable Mentions. Top 10 entries published online
Entries that win cash prizes and honorable mention will be published on the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Website and announced in press releases.
The Contest judge is Stephen Gibson, author of five poetry collections: Rorschach Art Too (2014 Donald Justice Prize, West Chester University), Paradise (Miller Williams Prize finalist, University of Arkansas Press, 2011), Frescoes (Lost Horse Press book prize, 2009), Masaccio’s Expulsion (MARGIE/Intuit House book prize, 2006), and Rorschach Art (Red Hen, 2001). His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Ploughshares, and Poetry. His latest collection “The Garden of Earthly Delights, A Scrambled Abecedarian.” He is professor emeritus, Palm Beach State College, and lives in West Palm Beach.
No Country Restriction; English Language
Poets of all nations may enter. However, the work you submit should be in English. If you have written a work in another language, you may submit an English translation.
No Age Restriction
Poets of any age may enter.
Privacy
Your privacy is assured. We will not rent your information to third parties. Your submission will result in joining our e-mailing list for the contest. We will communicate with you by email.
Copyright
You retain the copyright to your submission. If your entry wins any cash prize, you agree to give Palm Beach Poetry Festival a nonexclusive license to publish your work online and in electronic media such as our newsletters. This includes possible publication in one or more ebooks, or a limited edition chapbook. We may ask you for a photograph or to attend a photo session for the contest winners.
If you have questions, you may email the contest administrator at wild@palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.
Talks on the craft of writing poetry with some of America’s most engaging and award-winning poets, January 19-24, 2016. Consult the full schedule of public events to purchase tickets. Craft Talks are every afternoon at 2:00 pm Tuesday-Friday. Two poets will speak for 1/2 hour each, followed by an informal Q&A. Titles for the talk:
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 Carl Dennis: “Four Virtues”
Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Conveying Emotion through Imagery, Address,
Personification and Pathetic Fallacy
(A Close Read of “Two Trees” by Larry Levis)
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Denise Duhamel: It Takes Two: Collaborative Poetry
Tom Sleigh: From the Top Down and From Side to Side: Line/Syntax/Stanza”
Friday, January 22, 2016
Carol Frost: The Imperative in ‘The Emperor of Ice Cream”
Thomas Lux: Two Sonnets by Bill Knott
The festival, through its program of Community Outreach, offers special events and 1-day workshops throughout the year. We welcome the community to join us for informal round-robin readings at Green Cay Nature Center; readings with the Alzheimer Poetry Project; a series of Saturday 1-day workshops, held at Old School Square; the annual High School Poetry Contest, open to high school students throughout Palm Beach County; and the annual Morikami Haiku event, held at the wonderful Morikami Museum with walks and writing in the gardens.
Join us for community outreach programming and other special events throughout the year and especially in April, National Poetry Month. Stay tuned as we prepare to announce news of the 14th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 15-20, 2018 in Delray Beach, Florida.
For questions or to RSVP, contact Dr. Blaise Allen, Director of Community Outreach, at drblaiseallen@aol.com, or phone and leave a message for us at: (561) 868-2063.
(Many of these events are free, and all are open to the public.)
For a Complete Schedule of Public Events, and to order tickets, visit Old School Square, Crest Theatre Box Office, 51 North Swinton Avenue, Delray Beach, FL 33444, or call 561-243-7922, Extension 1, or you may purchase tickets online.
Individual Event Ticket Prices are: $18 General Admission, $15 for seniors, and $12 for students. Student Group discounts available for groups of ten or more. Service charges apply for tickets purchased online.
2015 High School Poetry Contest Winner & Runners Up
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival invites all Palm Beach County High School Students to send in one original poem.
The winner will receive $100 and a pair of tickets to the Coffee House Performance event, featuring Dominique Christina and Marc Kelly Smith
The four runners up will each receive $25 and a pair of tickets to the Coffee House Performance Event
All winners receive a one-year subscription to Poets and Writers Literary Journal
All of the prize-winning poems will be posted on the festival website: palmbeachpoetryfestival.org and will be included in press releases
Prize winners will be invited to participate in exclusive photo-ops with the featured poets, for local press releases
ELIGIBILITY: Palm Beach County public and private High School students, Grades 9-12 RULES:
Poems may be submitted October 1st through December 1st, 2015, as follows:
Submit one poem, 30 lines maximum, single-spaced, 12-point type.
Your name, address, phone number, email address, name of high school, and grade levelmust appear in the upper, right-hand corner of the page.
DEADLINE: Your poem must be emailed by midnight, December 1st, 2015.
Send by email to PBPF1@aol.com (copy & paste poem into the body of email*);
*Attachments will not be opened and will be automatically disqualified.
All contest participants agree to be subjects of press releases and media stories about the contest and the festival.
In order to collect the prize, the winner must be present at the awards ceremony.
Your submission is an agreement that you will attend the Festival Awards Ceremony to read your winning poem on Monday, January 18th , 2016 at 4:00 p.m.
Submissions that do not adhere to these rules will be refused. Keep a copy of your poem, as the original will not be returned.
Winners and runners up will be notified by January 1st, 2016.
DISTINGUISHED JUDGE:
Dr. Jeff Morgan, Chairman, Department of English, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida
For More Information about the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest, contact drblaiseallen@aol.com, or by phone: (561) 868-2063. Be prepared to leave a message. Your call will be returned promptly. Ask your high school principal, English teacher or Poetry Club Leader about the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest. Visit: http://palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/other/hs_contest/winners to see the past winners and the winning poems!
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce it will partner with three very special organizations, Cave Canem, CantoMundo and Kundiman, to offer three fellowships for the upcoming 12th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 18-23, 2016 in Delray Beach Florida.
Each of three fellowships include application fee, tuition, and lodging near the venue. The recipient will be an outstanding poet who will benefit from and contribute to participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships are open by application to past and present CantoMundo, Cave Canem, and Kundiman fellows. The deadline to apply for these fellowships is November 9, 2015.
Fellowships are open to past and present CantoMundo, Cave Canem, and Kundiman fellows. Those wishing to apply may visit the links above for applications and review our website: https://www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org for workshop offerings. Inquiries may be sent to news@palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.
Workshops are limited to 12 qualified participants and three auditors to provide a meaningful level of discussion, and careful, informed attention to your work. You may apply online to attend a workshop as a participant. Beginning poets, or those shy about sharing their poems, should consider auditing a workshop as a great way to learn by observing and listening. Review our Application Guidelines for more details and the workshop descriptions that follow below.
Faculty includes: Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Carl Dennis, Denise Duhamel, Carol Frost, Thomas Lux, Tom Sleigh, Mary Szybist and Kevin Young, eight of America’s most celebrated poets. Special Guest, Robert Hass.
A full week of poetry events with some of America’s most award-winning and extraordinary poets: readings, craft talks, interviews and panel discussions, workshops, all to be enjoyed with a community of poets from all over the United States, who gather in Delray Beach to experience the best of the best poetry has to offer. Festival events are open to the public and take place over six days and evenings. Six days of workshops, readings, craft talks, manuscript conferences, panel discussion, social events and so much more.
We’re pleased to announce that the interview of Natasha Trethewey by Chard deNiord has been published at World Literature Today. A video of the interview is available on YouTube or see the link below. Ms. Trethewey was our special guest for the 10th Annual Festival, January 2014.
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is presented in partnership with Old School Square and is generously sponsored by Art Works of the National Endowment for the Arts, Morgan Stanley, The Legacy Group of Atlanta, GA, the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, The Tourist Development Council of Palm Beach County; the Board of Commissioners of Palm Beach County, The Palm Beach Post, a grant from Visit Florida, WLRN-FM, and Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach’s independent bookseller. The Palm Beach Poetry Festival in 2010 received an Arts Challenge Grant from the The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and in 2011 was presented with The Muse Award for Outstanding Cultural Organization (with a budget under $500,000) by the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.
Be a friend of the Festival and join these terrific organizations in supporting the festival. Visit our Give Now page!
About the winning selections, Mr. Gibson said, “Judging the Plein Air Poetry Contest was both a pleasure and a task, a pleasure because of the overall high quality of the poems submitted, and a task for this same reason—a task made the more challenging because of the high quality of the poems submitted.”
About the First Place poem, “Another Version of the Many Ways He Left Me,” Gibson said, “In the long line of Romantic poetry going back to Robert Burns, and before, we have the encounter with nature taking place and the long-felt impact that such an encounter entails. This poem is a beautifully crafted and evocative pantoum about gain and loss, emotional as well as physical. As line 4 of stanza 1 reminds us. “Someone’s always leaving, always coming back.” That leaving and return can both leave damage as well as renew. A wonderful work.” About Second Place poem, “The Circle of Life,” by Todd Mercer, Mr. Gibson remarked the poem is “an engagingly gritty, free-verse noir piece steeped in Florida gangland and Everglades lore.”
Entries to the contest were read “blind,” the author’s name eliminated from the poem title and inspiring poem. We congratulate all the poets who participated in the contest, and are pleased to offer the winning poems here below:
The complete list of winners and honorable mentions linking to the poems follows:
First Place:
“Another Version of the Many Ways He Left Me,” by Lynne Knight
(after Chris Kling’s Misty Waters at Riverbend)
Second Place:
“The Circle of Life” by Todd Mercer,
(Ekphrastic on Gator at Loxahatchee Wetlands by Kerry Ericksen)
Third Place:
“Gator at Loxahatchee Wetlands,” by Meredith Davies Hadaway,
(after the painting of that title by Kerry Ericksen)
Fourth Place:
“Cycling Open Roads Ghazal,” by Jari Thymian,
(after All Pumped Up, by Manon Sander)
Fifth Place:
“Enticements & Push Mowers” by Sheila Kelly,
(after “Spring Rush at Jupiter Ridge” by Ruth Weiss)
Honorable Mention:
“The Tires Hold the Road on their Rims,” by Elizabeth (Betsy) Aoki
“New Year’s at The Inlet,” by Jennifer Greenberg
“En Plein Air,” by James Penha
“The Witching Hour,” by Amanda Brahlek
“Gator at Loxahatchee Wetlands,” by Mary E. Galvin
Contest Judge, Stephen Gibson is the author of five poetry collections: Rorschach Art Too (2014 Donald Justice Prize, West Chester University), Paradise (Miller Williams Prize finalist, University of Arkansas Press, 2011), Frescoes (Lost Horse Press book prize, 2009), Masaccio’s Expulsion (MARGIE/Intuit House book prize, 2006), and Rorschach Art (Red Hen, 2001). His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Ploughshares, and Poetry. His collection in progress is “The Garden of Earthly Delights, A Scrambled Abecedarian.” He teaches at Palm Beach State College, and lives in West Palm Beach.
2015 PLEIN AIR POETRY CONTEST WINNERS
FIRST PLACE
Another Version of the Many Ways He Left Me by Lynne Knight
after Chris Kling’s Misty Waters at Riverbend
He was out there somewhere.
Lost in mist and fog, in moss and tangle.
I called and called.
Someone’s always leaving, always coming back.
Lost in mist and fog, in moss and tangle,
I saw the boat a thousand times.
Someone’s always leaving, always coming back.
I’m not talking suicide.
I saw the boat a thousand times,
slipping away from the dock, the oars like gulls, flashing.
(I’m not talking suicide.)
He said nothing, like someone who’d lost his language.
Slipping away from the dock, the oars like gulls, flashing,
the river like a road into nowhere,
he said nothing, like someone who’d lost his language
suddenly, in the middle of a confession.
The river like a road into nowhere
I could easily reach,
suddenly—in the middle of a confession?—
the sound of his voice vanished in the heavy morning air.
I could easily reach
one conclusion: he longed not to be seen again.
The sound of his voice vanished in the heavy morning air,
the boat already gone.
One conclusion: he longed not to be seen. Again
I called and called,
the boat already gone.
He was out there. Somewhere.
SECOND PLACE
The Circle of Life by Todd Mercer
Ekphrastic on “Gator at Loxahatchee Wetlands” by Kerry Ericksen
Sometimes, like right now, they only show their eyes
above the waterline. They blend in masterfully.
You will have to stay aware to keep off the menu.
Under those cypress roots, there’s the same beast
that finished Jimmy Valentine when a crew of wise-guys
drove him here in the trunk of his own vehicle. I heard
they tracked him to Havana Nights, a club over in Boca.
They walked him out of there voluntarily. He’d been talking
to the Feds, but must have thought that no one knew
the score. A bystander said Valentine was eating gator steak.
He had the leftovers boxed up, just before they disappeared him.
It was wasted food. The circle of life, Everglades style.
The guy thought he was out with friends. Then
he was amphibian fare. It’s beautiful
in this preserve, but don’t get careless.
One poor judgment? That’s the end.
Those cold-bloods can see you clear. They move
before your eye tracks movement. Flaring nostrils
rippling surface, little hints are all they give away.
This is the wrong place for daydreaming.
THIRD PLACE
Gator At Loxahatchee Wetlands by Meredith Davies Hadaway
Pillows stacked around her cloud-on-cloud, like a sky when
rain gathers, my mother is propped in her new hospital bed.
Above the swell of a gray duvet, her small arms waver,
brittle as downed trees.
A month ago we were fishing off the pier at Loxahatchee
Wetlands. Not much point, the ranger told us as we cast
our line and sinker. Anything decent, the gator gets before
youreel it in.
My mother sleeps in the whir of a machine that keeps
her bed inflated. Rows of captured air that rise
and fall beneath her, as if she’s floating through
the overheated winter afternoon on a raft of breath.
We tiptoe in and out, adjust the heaped covers.
And you know, the ranger said, that’s a tug of war
you are not going to win.
FOURTH PLACE
Cycling Open Roads Ghazal by Jari Thymian
after All Pumped Up, oil painting, Manon Sander, 2014
I pump the tires, check the brakes before cycling open roads.
Those who say Kansas is flat have never pedaled many open roads.
“Been through the desert on a horse with no name,” I sing aloud.
No one hears me pumping up steep hills, nameless on the open road.
This seat, these pedals, spokes, chain, handlebars, I know, I know.
Our cells exchanged like vows over weeks and miles together on open roads.
Lost love, the yellow jersey ascending the Col du Tourmalet.
My dream climbs blue as distant peaks, a cloud-lined open road.
The wind, the rain, the heat, a punctured tire can mark a route with tears.
Beyond the bridge, euphoria can blow curved shadows down the open roads.
Jari, a treasure map holds clues that lead to the gleaming spot marked X
but “Here there be dragons” is the interior journey on the open road.
FIFTH PLACE
Enticements & Push Mowers by Sheila Kelly
after Spring Path at Jupiter Ridge, by Ruth Weiss
If I could have taken him to Jupiter Ridge,
dragged him up and out of his usual places,
he may have even liked it—bushy bluestem,
buttonbush, and the four-petal pawpaw igniting
our jaded eyes in spring—but like so many
men of his generation, Dad spent his entire life
at work or at a bar or reading The Morning Call
at the right end of a mid-century modern sofa
courtesy my mother’s taste in Broyhill.
The annual sting of balmy air spelled suffering—
dragging up screens from the cellar, switching
out storm windows for those porous cousins
so April could open its soft throat and sneeze.
The enticements of spring awakening were few
for Dad. It meant brushing off the cobwebby
push mower whose blades were never sharpened,
and the hand clippers which could have doubled
as vise grips. His hands broke out in a spotty rash
if he touched newly-cut grass and after our doctor
prescribed a dubious hodgepodge of ointments
and creams, a 10 cent bar of Fels Naphtha cured it.
We shared a few walks late in his life, after bypass
and beta blockers, for exercise sake at a local park
where sugar maples lined a path around a duck pond.
My Manhattan-born father, more at home indoors,
may have agreed to walk a spring path at Jupiter Ridge
if I’d insisted on its health benefits, him knowing
the purple lovegrass needed no clipping or pruning,
at home in its natural state, far from the miseries
of mowed lawns.
HONORABLE MENTION
The Tires Hold the Road on their Rims by Elizabeth Aoki
After the “All Pumped Up” painting by Manon Sander,
Cornell Museum, Delray Beach, Florida
On the street of steamed tar
I pedaled all the years backward
to the time of no hands necessary,
loose hair floating like a paper napkin
above a picnic blanket.
We were angry dolls on a ride to better times:
cardboard action figures, dotted line
trajectories for paper airplanes.
Every swerve, we meant something by it.
We cut and twisted in circles like the spikes
of a metal soda pop cap.
**
My scars have no brakes.
My scars carve me round.
I want you, like I wanted black rims
and silver spokes, yellow mustard on the tongue
and the blue vinyl seat of things I can’t name.
I want you like I once dreaded dark shadows,
the depths of bushes where we thought
the swamp monster stayed all night.
I suppose I want the monster too.
**
I want you, like a banyan grows
around a host tree, a green memory,
and then as the host dies inside
winds tree fingers in a spiral of leathery leaves,
holding the center space hollow.
I am ready to touch the lines of your face.
I am ready as a bicycle
to be stolen.
HONORABLE MENTION
The Witching Hour by Amanda Brahlek
(A response to Brennan King’s “Rainy Day at Boynton Inlet”)
For Florida fishermen, sunset is “the witching hour.”
It is a superstition: they may not fish.
With a knife gunked and scaled
my brother slices sardines,
then chucks the cloudy-eyed heads
into the waves impasto.
He rests his pole against the transom,
keeps his eyes hooked
on the raw and bleeding sky—
he braces himself, pressing hip
into gunwale, foot into deck.
Waves thump against our hull
like the thrumming of a heart.
The anchor rope holds us steady,
that thin, nylon vein.
Now, we do not fish. We wait. We sit
in our skin pulled tight from salt and sun
as fish pulse below. The sky drains of blue
and the water boils black.
I search the Boynton skyline,
for our pump house tipped red—
our chapel of the inlet churned
blotted out by sea-storm shroud.
HONORABLE MENTION
Gator at Loxahatchee Wetlands by Mary Galvin
That eye had marked me
Long before I drifted into sight.
That eye clenched me from a time
Long before any I could know.
I clung to a raft drifting into dark water edged
by rushes and saw-toothed grasses rustling
with secretive creatures. Pleased or displeasured
it’s difficult to know. Ahead, in lumpy torpor
an object stretched which seemed and was
not to be a rough hewn log, tossed
across our passage as to dam our way but was
in its coarse reptilian skin intent on turning on us
its evil eye. Frozen in that gaze it was not the first
but certainly the most convincing time
I was certain to but instead would only nearly die.
It turned in its desultory menace and perhaps
this was what offended most, its obscene
insouciance. The way the sunlight glistened
on the surface of its swamp washed skin. Its hunger
impersonal and muted for now.
HONORABLE MENTION
New Year’s at The Inlet by Jennifer Greenberg
It’s just the way we remembered it,
the temperature and the tones,
the attempt at romance
by the subtle pink accents along the coast.
How could the painter have known?
Down to the very angle of the clouds streaked
toward the blue lined chop of the Atlantic
that New Year’s night you led me
onto Boynton’s barren beach
with a stack of rainbow tissue lanterns
and a tiny, weak Bic in hand,
at which a storm was mocking.
The painter has seen it too,
seen the rain looming in sheets to the North
riding the quickening currents toward the inlet,
that packed humidity into the sand beneath our feet,
made our skinny legs unsteady.
And in that angle of the dimming clouds,
where the sun sank off to the West,
the lights of a shrimp boat gloated
under a blue building fog. That night
we realized love moves a lot like wind.
And what the painter neglected to portray
were the silhouettes of two soggy lovers
flicking sparks out on the lonely sand,
heavy air holding down the lift
of our hands and our lips and our lanterns.
HONORABLE MENTION
En Plein Air by James Penha
My bike and me, and hue, we’re all pumped
up to travel hill and Dale and Sande beaches
to ‘scape by spokes and strokes to sea and land,
over ridge and bridge, on a rainy Boynton day
or, since Hope does Reiss, roundabout a sunnier
day at a greener cay where, we are reminded,
human beings share this earthen canvas with wolf,
kerry and the gator waiting at the Loxahatchee
for cimarron too easily misled by river bends
and sausage trees midst misty waters from Hobe
to Jobe to Jove and Jupiter and the bright lights
of Ceres. Neither outer planets nor self-portraits
of ruthless kings in smoke-filled rooms can save us
without we sit in the full air, pause
and paint.
Painting Title Reminders:
“Rainy Day at the Boynton Inlet” by Brennan King
“Misty Waters at Riverbend” by Chris Kling
“Sunny Day at Green Cay” by Dale Stryker
“Arts Roundabout” by Hope Reiss
“Gator at Loxahatchee Wetlands” by Kerry Eriksen
“All Pumped Up” by Manon Sander
“Spring Path at Jupiter Ridge” by Ruth Weiss
“Sausage Tree” at Society of the Four Arts by Sheila Wolff
POET BIOS
Elizabeth (Betsy) Aoki completed her MFA at the University of Washington. She has received grants/fellowships from the City of Seattle, Artist Trust Foundation, Jackstraw Writers Program and a Hedgebrook residency. Her chapbook, Every Vanish Leaves Its Trace was published by Finishing Line Press. (Honorable Mention)
Amanda Brahlek is an MFA candidate at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. A Florida native, she earned her BA in English at Florida Atlantic University and worked as an English teacher in Greenacres before moving to the bayou. Her work is inspired by art, place, and family. (Honorable Mention)
Mary E. Galvin is Professor of English at Palm Beach State College and advisor for The Creative Writers Alliance. She is the author of Queer Poetics (Greenwood / Praeger), a horror novel, and a memoir. Her poetry has appeared in Southern Women’s Review and East Coast Literary Review. Mary lives in Lake Worth, Florida. (Honorable Mention)
Jennifer Greenberg is a Florida native and self proclaimed tree hugger. She is a Palm Beach State alumni with a history of extra curricular activities in writing and English. Her work has been published in anthologies with The Creative Writers Alliance. She currently resides in Lake Worth with her cat Lucille.”
Meredith Davies Hadaway’s most recent collection is At The Narrows (Word Poetry, 2015). Her poems have recently appeared in Salamander, poemmemoirstory, New Ohio Review and Mantis. She was the 2013-14 Rose O’Neill Writer-in-Residence at Washington College. (Third Place)
Sheila Kelly is a retired psychotherapist from Pittsburgh who writes poems and plays. She leads writing workshops in libraries, art galleries and community centers and loves “non-writers.” Recent poems in The Brentwood Anthology and Voices from the Attic: Volume XX. Sheila lives with her husband, daughter, 2 cats and 8 chickens. (Fifth Place)
Lynne Knight has published four full-length collections and four chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in a number of journals, and her awards include a Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, an NEA grant, and a RATTLE Poetry Prize. She lives in Berkeley, California. (First Place)
Todd Mercer moderates the Writers Squared Series for Great Lakes Commonwealth of Letters. His digital chapbook is Life-wish Maintenance (Right Hand Pointing.) His poetry and fiction appear in Apocrypha & Abstractions, The Camel Saloon, Dunes Review, Eunoia Review, Kentucky Review, The Lake, Main Street Rag Anthologies, and Spartan. (Second Place)
Jari Thymian’s poetry has appeared in publications including tinywords, The Pedestal, FRiGG, The Furious Gazelle, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, and American Tanka. Her poetry has been nominated for Best of the Web and a Pushcart Prize. She volunteers year-round in state and national parks in the USA. (Fourth Place)
A native New Yorker, James Penha lives in Indonesia. His adaptations of Indonesian folk tales won the Cervena Barva Press fiction chapbook contest. No Bones to Carry, a volume of poetry, won the 2007 New Sins Press Editors’ Choice Award. Penha edits The New Verse News, newversenews.com (Honorable Mention)
PLEIN AIR PALM BEACH ARTIST PROFILES
Kerry Eriksen (“Gator at Loxahatchee Wetlands”) An oil painter for over 30 years, Eriksen has focused on Colorado and Florida plein air landscapes and seascapes for the past decade. A participant in juried plein air events, Eriksen recently won Best of Show at Loxahatchee Refuge Plein Air Festival. www.KerryEriksenFineArt.com.
Brennan King (“Rainy Day at the Boynton Inlet”) Award-winning artist King’s paintings have been featured in Florida museums, the Copley Society of Art and prestigious galleries in Florida and Atlanta. Corporate collectors include Croquet International, West Palm Beach, and Via Mizner, Palm Beach. www.brennanking.com.
Chris Kling (“Misty Waters at Riverbend”) earned a BFA and an art career distinguished by numerous awards for both landscape and portrait work. Kling is a member of the Portrait Society of America as well as other local and national art organizations. She is shows in galleries throughout Florida. www.chrisklingartist.com.
Hope Reis (“Arts Roundabout”) From Connecticut with a degree in Interior Design from FIT in NYC, Reis began painting in oils fifteen years ago upon her move to Florida. It’s the energy and passion that comes from painting from life and her appreciation for beauty that Reis enjoys. www.hopereis.com
Manon Sander (“All Pumped Up”) painted murals professionally and studied under well-known California painters developing her own style. Her paintings continue to win awards and are in private collections in the US and Europe. Sander also teaches and maintains a studio in Tequesta. www.ManonSander.com.
Dale Stryker (“Sunny Day at Green Cay”) Plein air painting offers Stryker the opportunity to explore nature’s color in all its varied light. Working in Florida for more than 30 years, career highlights include awards from the Boca Raton Artists Guild and a Special Merit Award in a Figure in Landscape Competition. www.LightSpaceTime.com.
Ruth Palombo Weiss (“Spring Path at Jupiter Ridge”) With a BA in English from Boston University, Weiss continues her 40-year career as a freelance writer who went back to school to study art. To Weiss the most wonderful aspect of art is the opportunity to continue to learn, explore and grow artistically and intellectually. www.ruthweissart.com.
Sheila Wolff (“’Sausage Tree’ at Society of the Four Arts”) studied portrait and figure painting in NYC and began plein air painting 25 years ago after moving to Florida. Wolff enjoys working to improve her craft and is grateful for the opportunity and joy of being an artist. www.sheilawolff.com.
Our gratitude to Ralph Papa, Plein Air Palm Beach, who facilitated artist participation in this project. Papa studied art and architecture at Queens College, City College, and the Art Students League. He is a founder of Plein Air Palm Beach, former President of the Boca Guild, and teaches at Delray Center for the Arts and his Delray studio. His work garners many awards. www.papagallery.com.
What is an Ekphrastic Poem?
The poetic tradition of taking inspiration from works of art is “ekphrasis” from the Greek. Ekphrastic Poems may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art.
What is Plein Air?
The term “plein air” refers to or relates to to painting in outdoor daylight .
Prizes and Publication
First Prize: $100, Second, Third, Fourth Prizes: 4 awards of $25 each,
5 Honorable Mentions. Top 10 entries published online
What is an Ekphrastic Poem?
The poetic tradition of taking inspiration from works of art is “ekphrasis” from the Greek. Ekphrastic Poems may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art.
What is Plein Air?
The term “plein air” refers to or relates to to painting in outdoor daylight .
May 22, 2022 – Palm Beach — It is with deep sadness that we report that Festival Founder & President, Miles Coon, passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 21, 2022 in Palm Beach. He leaves ... Read more >
We are pleased to announce that the festival has created a Guestbook! We invite all past participants, faculty, interns and friends of the festival to share memories of past festivals or their recent poetry news ... Read more >
May 20, 2022 — The Festival Archive contains descriptions and images from past festivals has been updated in May 2022. The archive includes descriptions by year of each of the eighteen festivals that began ... Read more >
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is presented in partnership with Old School Square and is generously sponsored by Art Works of the National Endowment for the Arts, Morgan Stanley, The Legacy Group of Atlanta, GA, ... Read more >
Every year we work to bring poetry, in its every aspect, to our audiences, and fill a whole week with poetry events that feature America’s most extraordinary poets–at the festival. As we celebrate 18 years ... Read more >
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival believes in nurturing the creativity of the community’s young writers. Listening to their voices could not come at a better time for all of us. We have published their winning ... Read more >
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce the 2022 fellowships and scholarships for the 18th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival. Fellowships included the Langston Hughes Fellowships for African-American Poets; Kundiman Fellowships for Asian-American ... Read more >
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The Palm Beach Poetry Festival African American Fellowship is available to African American poets who wish to attend the 13th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. The deadline to apply for these fellowships is November 14, 2016. 
Join us for six days of extraordinary poetry events, January 16-21, 2017 in Delray Beach, Florida: workshops, readings, talks on the craft of writing poems, manuscript conferences, panel discussion, social events and so much more in beautiful downtown Delray Beach, Florida.
The festival, through its program of Community Outreach, offers special events and 1-day workshops throughout the year. We welcome the community to join us for informal round-robin readings at 
An 
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is presented in partnership with Old School Square and is generously sponsored by Art Works of the National Endowment for the Arts, Morgan Stanley, The Legacy Group of Atlanta, GA, the 
