The Poetry Society of Tennessee’s (PST’s) 65th Annual Poetry Festival will be held virtually on Saturday, October 9, 2021, beginning at 1:00 pm Central Daylight Time (2:00 pm EDT). Once again, our virtual festival will be free, but registration for this event (to be held via Zoom) will be required.
More information and registration HERE
We are pleased to announce our workshop leader will be Jeff Hardin, Professor of English at Columbia State Community College in Columbia, TN. Jeff is a graduate of Austin Peay State University (B.S. in English) and the University of Alabama (M.F.A. in Poetry). He is the author of three chapbooks and six collections of poetry; more than 600 of his poems have appeared in journals ranging from The Southern Review to Hotel Amerika; and he is an editor for the online journal One
Jeff’s workshop will be on apostrophe/address poems:
In poems, we get to do what we normally might not do in real life: talk directly to plants, animals, concepts, absent people, porch rails, the hollow in a tree where bees disappear, the taste of coffee in the morning when snow is on the ground, Li Po’s empty boat, a hawk feather drifting past on a mountain stream. So many poems speak intimately and easily to people, places, things, and abstractions, and by doing so, perhaps something unique arises in our voices — a certain kind of tone, a reach toward understanding, a prayerfully considered seeking beyond what we already know.
Our tentative agenda is shown below (all times Central Daylight Time):
1:00-1:15 — Log-in and introductions
1:15-3:00 — Workshop, Jeff Hardin
3:00-3:15 — Announcement of PST Poet Laureate Award
3:15-5:00 — Announcement and Reading of 65th Annual Festival Contest Winners
5:00-5:30 — Society Announcements and Closing