Below is a list of the winner, runner-up, and four finalists for the Maxine Cassin Poetry Contest.
Honor them. They deserve praise.
Winner: Joanne Durham for “You Can’t Put the Red Sea in a Poem”
Runner-up: Albert DeGenova for “A Good Hammer”
Finalists:
Gloria Hefferman for “At the World War II Museum in New Orleans”
John Linstrom for “Thunder and Lilies”
Rikki Santer for “Bluebells”
Lola Willis for “Birds Eye View of East Colfax Before Flying | May 17, 2024”
Joanne Durham’s “You Can’t Put the Red Sea in a Poem” was an ambitious tour-de-force work which made out heads swirl.
Joanne Durham is the author of To Drink from a Wider Bowl, winner of the Sinclair Poetry Prize (Evening Street Press 2022) and the chapbook, On Shifting Shoals. Her poetry appears widely in journals and anthologies, including Poetry South, NC Literary Review, CALYX, Vox Populi, and The Nature of Our Times anthology. She lives on the North Carolina coast, where she teaches poetry workshops and co-hosts the Island Arts Council’s Poetry Thursday readings. Visit her at https://www.joannedurham.com.
Albert DeGenova’s “A Good Hammer” is a lucent, vibrant poem in which a father uses a tool to connect to his son.
Albert DeGenova is a poet, editor, teacher, and blues saxophonist. He is the author of five books of poetry and two chapbooks. In June 2000, he launched the literary/arts journal After Hours; he continues as publisher and co-editor. DeGenova holds an MFA from Spalding University in Louisville and is the Executive Director of Write On, Door County, a literary arts center based in Door County. Wisconsin.
Please watch our website. (poetrysocietyoflouisiana.org) Soon we will publish the winning poem, the runner-up poem and the four finalists’ poems with its own page. That page will soon include a downloadable Broadside edition of the winning poems.
After we post the poems on the website, we will also print a Broadside. The Broadside will be placed in coffeehouses, bookstores, and such in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We are even working on distributing these poems by “tossing-something-mister” in a Mardi Gras parade or two.
Broadside Submissions
Our broadsides are printed to introduce the larger community to the work of outstanding Louisiana poets and their poetry.
Submissions for our seasonal BROADSIDES are open only to pSOL members (unless a non-member receives a personal invitation). Submissions are free for all members.
There are no current calls for Broadside Submissions.
We seek vivid, dynamic poems and language that opens windows onto the world. We are especially interested in poetry set in Louisiana and/or poetry that portrays the character of our state’s culture and people.
During open submission call periods, pSOL members are encouraged to submit up to three poems as attachments to an email. In the body of the email, please, include at least a short note, your identifying information. A short bio is optional. Feel free to chat us up a little in the note. Please label your entry Submission and include your name in the title (For example, Submission by Felonious Q. Tumblejockey).
Poems should be submitted in a doc or docx format as an attachment via our email (Please use the link below.) Do not include your name anywhere in the attachment.
Our Broadside accepts previously published poems provided that the poet assures us that the poem is free of legal encumberment to other literary presses or publishers. Due to the limited space available in the Broadside we encourage submissions of poems of limited length. Our format forces us to wrap around any line longer than 55!
Previously unpublished poets strongly encouraged to submit. Accepted poets will be notified in a timely manner.
pSOL Broadsides are printed, front & back, on high-quality, cardstock paper and distributed locally at Baton Rouge coffee houses and bookstores. These Broadsides are free to the public (A locked “Donations” box sits next to the Broadsides.) The broadsides also appear below. All works are copywritten and are the sole property of our authors. Any pSOL member in any other area of the state can request the right to download the current pSOL Broadside, print it out and distribute it at local bookstores and coffee houses. Just drop us an e-mail and let us know how you plan to proceed.
Submissions to our Broadsides open periodically and are only open to pSOL members. All members will be sent an e-mail when a there is a call for Broadside submissions.
Submissions to any pSOL sponsored contest are free for any pSOL member. Non-members who want to submit to one of our contests will first have to make a payment using the “donations” form below and then include the order number of the payment in th2ir emailed submission.
To reach us or to submit poems for our Broadside or to a pSoL sponsered contest, please use this email address.
TERMS, CONDITIONS, COMMITMENTS:
pSoL is committed to poetry, period. If you know of a Louisiana-based magazine or print house that we have not listed, please send the organization’s information via our e-mail. We want up to date lists.
pSoL is committed to maintaining the privacy of its members. pSoL will not share identifying information unless a member expressly asks us to convey this information to a target group for a good reason. pSoL will not allow itself to act as an advertising venue.
Since pSoL offers no products, no return policy exists.
All rights to any printed submissions revert back to the author upon publication.
