Carol Bly Short Story Contest

Watch for contest and event information in:

UTNE- Sept/October magazine and online
A View From the Loft- July/Aug/Sept Online

Submissions 2009

A time and place for solitude: writing below the surface

Spend the day in Red Wing with us...

10:30AM to 11:30PM-- 'Writing Below the Surface' seminar with Cynthia Loveland

11:30 to 2:00 PM-- Remembering Carol-- Lunch- Free Time to Sight See

Carol Bly Short Story Contest

Selected Short Story Readings 2 PM to 3 PM

3PM to 4PM Announcement of Winner(s)

ReceptionFalconer Wine (Red Wing) and Poplar Hills Dairy (Scandia) Cheese Tasting

October 17, 2009
10:30 AM to 4:30PM
Anderson Center, Red Wing MinnesotaSponsored by Writers Rising Up
writersrisingup@yahoo.com


Short Story Submission Rules

Submissions accepted April 2009 to October 1st 2009
Entry Fee: $5.00 (only one entry per writer)
Theme related to place, inner struggles and relationships
Must be original unpublished work of 2500 words
Typed and paginated white standard computer paper, double spaced
Include name, address, phone, email on separate piece of paper only
Mail to: 16526 West 78th St #163, Eden Prairie, MN 55346
No Short Stories will be returned. Do not include self addressed stamped envelope Winner or winners to be published online at www.writersrisingup.org (Writer owns all rights to work)
Short Story Prize- $200.00 (May be split if more than one winner.)

Water Ghazels

Piping all our water where we want, we could make new rivers

if it were not that whereever a river could flow one already does

The surface current keeps sweeping flowers along, whirling

as if some choreographer decides what each petal should do.

Whatever's lovely, we soon let go, even our own lives slipping from recall--

we remember who we loved, how it was, but forget we still do.

Pure egrets dip where the river flooded a field during spring rains.

A farmer should know the river has its own ideas what needs doing.

Guzzling from the jug, I pass it on to a fellow worker's thirst.

dry my lips on my sweaty arm; sleeveless, shirtless, we make do.

John Calvin Rezmerski

The Herb Garden

Herbs planted within the soil

Nurtured from the heart

Their roots take hold

As they grow and bloom

Within this garden plot

Nourished by the sun and rain

Their aromas to be savored

They feed our body, mind and spirit

As our sustenance they flavor

LD Hefflin

Waynesville, Ohio

Digging to the Roots Final Workshop Date Changed

April 18, 2009
Fireplace Room, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
9:30AM to 12:30PM

Digging to the Roots: Poetic Form and the Natural World-
Cosponsored by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and Writers Rising Up- Follow the wheel of the year with us in this four-workshop series May, Aug, Oct -2008 February- 2009. Each season, writers will meet to read classic and contemporary poems and do creative exercises, focusing on a different poetic form each time--odes and elegies; villanelles and sestinas; dramatic monologues; and sonnet—and exploring that form’s metaphoric equivalent in the arboretum: ephemerals, perennials, invasive species, and seeds. After having come full circle, poems grown over the year together will be chosen for a Chapbook published by Red Dragonfly Press. Part of each workshop will be spent journaling outdoors; please wear weather appropriate clothing and bring a journal and favorite pen. Chapbook submission and workshop information at www.writersrisingup.org

With Scott King, editor of Red Dragonfly Press, and Larry Gavin, Red Dragonfly Press poet
Scott King grew up just east of the North Dakota / Minnesota border in Pelican Rapids. He is founder and editor of Red Dragonfly Press. He is author of one book of poems, Leftover Ordinary (Thistlewords Press,2006) and a number of letterpress printed editions. He has translated books by the Persian poet Fereydoun Faryad and the Greek poet Yannis Ritsos. He lives in Northfield, Minnesota.



Workshop to culminate in a Chapbook published by Red Dragonfly Press.
This last workshop is $75.00 per person per workshop includes gate fee and celebration.
Any submissions handed in at workshop will not include a submisson fee.
Make out checks to: Classes, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, 3675 Arboretum DriveChaska, MN 55318



For more information contact: writersrisingup@comcast.net

MINNPOST ARTS ARENA BLOG, AMY GOETZMAN
Posted Friday March 6, 2009

Arts Arena Blog

Could you be the next great nature writer in Minnesota?


Minnesota may be facing a critical shortage of nature writers. Read the blog attached to the Writers Rising Up website, a local nonprofit dedicated to preserving wild places to see what I mean: Last week, there was a tribute to Bill Holm, who so powerfully chronicled the Midwestern prairie as well as the wilds of Iceland. Before that, a notice about an essay contest named for Paul Gruchow, whose writing continues to lure people to Minnesota’s quietest places five years after his death. And before that, a tribute to Carol Bly, who wrote such smart and funny pieces about this place. The old guard is falling.

But this little-known nonprofit — whose full name is Writers Rising Up to Defend Place, Natural Habitat, Wetlands — is cultivating the next wave of writers, who it sees as critical to the preservation of wild places. Nature writers worth their hiking boots get people who spend their days trapped in windowless offices to visit natural areas, understand their practical and spiritual value, and ultimately work (or at least vote) to save them.

The talent is there"If you take a look at some of our past Gruchow [contest] winners—and many are already published [writers] — there's some outstanding talent out there, for sure. One or two, or more, will rise to the occasion," said director Vicki Pellar Price, who founded Writers Rising Up in 2001.

In addition to the contest, the Eden Prairie-based organization supports writing workshops, readings, educational talks and publications. It’s also the force behind a series of interpretive signs on the Elizabeth Fries Ellet trail, a walkway along the Minnesota River named for a New York writer who visited the area in 1852 and named it Eden Prairie.

Writers Rising Up will honor Bill Holm next month during National Poetry Month. "What an amazing writer and generous guy," said Price, who worked with Holm on various events and projects.
We need more like him, so step up, you fiery lovers of unspoiled places.

http://www.minnpost.com/artsarena/

POEM IN YOUR POCKET





Create a Poem for our April issue.
April is National Poetry Month.





Email it to: writersrisingupblog@yahoo.com





Selected poems will be published in our April issue.

Look at sample pocket poems from www.poets.org

As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Dragonflies Draw Flame

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme;As tumbled over rim in roundy wellsStones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’sBow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.Í say móre: the just man justices;Kéeps gráce: thát keeps all his goings graces;Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is—Chríst—for Christ plays in ten thousand places,Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not hisTo the Father through the features of men’s faces.Gerard Manley HopkinsAs Kingfishers Catch Fire,Dragonflies Draw FlameAs kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme;As tumbled over rim in roundy wellsStones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’sBow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.Í say móre: the just man justices;Kéeps gráce: thát keeps all his goings graces;Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is—Chríst—for Christ plays in ten thousand places,Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not hisTo the Father through the features of men’s faces.

Gerard Manley Hopkins


If the World Was Crazy
If the world was crazy, you know what I'd eat?A big slice of soup and a whole quart of meat,A lemonade sandwich, and then I might trySome roasted ice cream or a bicycle pie,A nice notebook salad, an underwear roast,An omelet of hats and some crisp cardboard toast,A thick malted milk made from pencils and daisies,And that's what I'd eat if the world was crazy.If the world was crazy, you know what I'd wear?A chocolate suit and a tie of eclair,Some marshmallow earmuffs, some licorice shoes,And I'd read a paper of peppermint news.I'd call the boys "Suzy" and I'd call the girls "Harry,"I'd talk through my ears, and I always would carryA paper umbrella for when it grew hazyTo keep in the rain, if the world was crazy.If the world was crazy, you know what I'd do?I'd walk on the ocean and swim in my shoe,I'd fly through the ground and I'd skip through the air,I'd run down the bathtub and bathe on the stair.When I met somebody I'd say "G'bye, Joe,"And when I was leaving--then I'd say "Hello."And the greatest of men would be silly and lazySo I would be king...if the world was crazy.

Shel Silverstein

Find more poems for your pocket: www.poets.org/pocket
Read more Shel Silverstein: www.shelsilverstein.com

Bill Holm- Photo taken at Earth Day Workshop with Carol Bly- 2006

In Memory