SPECIAL ANNOUNEMENT

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Due to Baltimore Chapter’s typical meeting date (fourth Monday of every month, save December) coinciding with Memorial Day, we have decided to move our May meeting to… JUNE 3, 2013.

We know. It’s a bit odd, but it’s better than competing with all the other Memorial Day activities. Besides, the date works better for our honored guests, Diane Booth and members of her Teen Writers’ Club.

Diane founded the Maryland Writers’ Association’s Teen Writers’ Club, and has worked diligently to nurture and expand the program from its original group to several all around the state. Please come and help us support Diane’s efforts to help turn teen writers into great writers.

Our May Chapter Meeting will take place on Monday, June 3, 2013 at Ukazoo Books, 730 Dulaney Valley Rd, Towson, MD 21204. Meeting begins at 7pm.

MWA’s Teens Writers’ Club brings highschoolers together after school to share their interest in writing. They learn how to improve their writing and try new approaches by meeting with authors and experts in the field. Topics include overcoming writers’ block, introducing dialogue, digging for facts and structuring poetry.

From the TWC Mission Statement:

“After more than 25 years as an on-staff writer/editor/reporter then as a freelance writer, I took a contract job with Baltimore County Public Schools Home & Hospital. I taught students determined by physicians to be too sick to attend school and, also, a limited number of expelled students who were deemed by court magistrates to need one-on-one instruction. Almost immediately I met high school students who bulked at writing assignments. They said that they did not like to write. Their attitudes soon changed, however, after I taught them how to develop a topic and how to move forward. Some went beyond minimum requirements. They took short essay-writing assignments and developed them into long stories or, even, books. Many embraced writer’s fever; they seemed to thrive on words and the creative process of writing. The students tried lots of different genres. Before my contracts ended, I realized that these teens likely had much in common with other teens who also liked to write but had no social outlet to share their talents. The Maryland Writers’ Association agreed to sponsor teen clubs to meet that need. MWA members volunteered to lead different clubs, and thus the number of clubs began to grow across the state and beyond.” Diane Booth

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Kathleen Hellen

Kat “Shiori” Hellen

We’re introducing a new feature for our little blog-that-could, today: Member Spotlight. The Baltimore Chapter gets a lot of amazing writers attending our events and chapter meetings. We figured, let’s use the blog for more than just announcing meetings. Since it’s National Poetry Month, we’ve opted to kick it off with fabulous local poet, Kathleen Hellen. We presented Kat, who sometimes writes under the pen name Shiori, with a series of questions, which she generously answered. We hope her answers can help you with your personal writing endeavors.

1)   Tell us about your writing life. When did you start to write? What genres do you write in?

The first poem I remember writing was, of course, awful—an ode to flowers. I remember the lines but would be embarrassed to recite them now. I was about 12. I would go to my room after school or whenever I needed to shut out everything: my family, the world I knew. There, I was able to connect more fully with myself. I filled notebooks. I was infatuated with the sounds and rhythms of the language, a kind of self-soothing, like a cradle rocking inside me.

My first publication was a short story titled “Now You See It, Now You Don’t,” and though I had tried for several years to have a go at fiction, I eventually realized that poetry and other short and hybrid forms like the prose poem and haibun are where my sensibilities locate.

2)   Do you have a regular writing routine, i.e. writing in the a.m., writing for 30 minutes a day?

A habit for writing is essential. The time, place, the money. As Virginia Woolf so aptly phrased it: A room of one’s own. Usually I write in my small home office between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m., before the sun is up and the sanitation truck growls up the street. In these hours between dream and waking, poems are free to find their meanings. They speak before they are understood. I write until I feel myself trying to make sense of it. Later, in successive drafts, I attend to craft, my fingers counting out the syllables, my mouth announcing consciousness of line breaks, the sounds that approximate sounds. As I grow older, I revise more.

3)   What writers inspire you?

The good ones. The great ones.

Now, for example, I’m re-reading The Odyssey, and I am stunned by Robert Fitzgerald’s exquisite translation, those lyrical moments in the description of Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca. I go to Dickinson and Blake, often.  Keats, of course. Rumi. To Rilke and Baudelaire. Basho. Akhmatova. Lorca. Plath and Neruda. I browse collections and contemporary journals to read the work of poets I admire, a long, eclectic list, including, in no particular order, Carolyn Forché, Frank Bidart, Franz Wright, Jane Hirshfield, Charles Wright, Rae Armantrout, Stephen Dunn, the late Lucille Clifton— so many. I read the work of local poets, my friends who inspire me. And then too I find a poem that rises from anonymity to float in my consciousness for days.  A poet I’ve never heard of. A poem I wish I would have written.

4) Do you submit work for publication? If so, tell us about your experiences. Where have you been published? How do you deal with rejections?

In Edward Hirsch’s How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry, he looks to Paul Celan who said: “A poem, as a manifestation of language and thus essentially dialogue, can be a message in a bottle, sent out in the—not always greatly hopeful—belief that somewhere and sometime it could wash up on land, on heartland perhaps.”

I think of this often when I submit. I send out a poem that might be rejected a dozen times before it washes up on the heartland of a particular editor who says she absolutely loves it. The challenge is to be patient. If you believe in a poem, if it is finished, be persistent. But do not submit before the poem is ready, as Yeats reminds us in his often-repeated quote that a “poem makes a sound when it is finished like the click of the lid of a perfectly made box.” It’s that click you wait for. You know it when you hear it.

Most recently my work has appeared in American Letters & Commentary; The Evansville Review; Harpur Palate; Pedestal; Poemeleon; and Poetry Northwest.

5) What advice would you offer to new writers?

 Read everything. Write every day.

6) What are your writing goals for this year & beyond?

 It’s always one goal: To write the best poem, the perfect poem, and every poem I write hopefully approaches that standard in some small measure.

7) What would you consider the high point of your writing life, thus far?

My collection Umberto’s Night in 2012 won The Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from the Washington Writers’ Publishing House. To be recognized by a community of writers I respect, whose work I admire, was an honor.

Kathleen’s latest collection of poetry, Umberto’s Night, is currently available throughout Baltimore, as well as from Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s websites.

April Chapter Meeting

We have a real treat in store for you for our upcoming April chapter meeting, Baltimore bard, Dean Bartoli Smith.

Dean will talk about the idea of “place” in his work. Baltimore plays a leading role in his writing and he will share recent poems, stories and prose with the city as a central theme including a book about the 2012 Ravens season that will be published in the fall. He has published poems about Druid Hill Park, Hampden, Loch Raven Reservoir and the Guilford neighborhood where he makes his home and continues to engage the “Baltimore Muse” in new stories and poems.

Our April chapter meeting will take place on Monday,  April 22 at Ukazoo Books, 730 Dulaney Valley Rd  Towson, MD 21204 at 7pm.

Dean Bartoli Smith’s poems have appeared in Poetry East, Open City, Beltway, The Pearl, The Charlotte Review, Gulf Stream, and upstreet among others. His book of poems, American Boy, won the 2000 Washington Writer’s Prize and was also awarded the Maryland Prize for Literature in 2001 for the best book published by a Maryland writer over the past three years. His fiction has appeared in Minimus, The Patuxent Review, The Loch Raven Review, and Smile Hon, You’re in Baltimore. His prose has appeared in Patch.com, Zocalo Public Square, The Baltimore Brew, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore Magazine, Indiewire, and the Woodstock Independent. He received an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University in 1989.

March Meeting: Barbara Morrison

February’s MWA Baltimore chapter meeting was all about giving back. We hope everyone’s brains are still buzzing from our discussion. For our March meeting, in order to keep your brains abuzz,  we bring you author extraordinaire, Barbara Morrison.

Barbara will show us how to give back to ourselves with Marketing Tools for Writers. In today’s volatile publishing environment, writers must also develop marketing skills. Publishers want authors who excel at marketing and promotion, and if you self-publish, all the marketing falls on your shoulders. Starting with the three questions you must first answer to guide your marketing strategy, we will look at the marketing tools that work today and discuss the pros and cons of different promotional strategies. You will come away with the start of an effective marketing plan.

Please join us at on Monday, March 25, 2013 at Ukazoo Books, 730 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson, MD 21204. Meeting begins at 7PM.

Barbara Morrison, who writes under the name B. Morrison, is the author of a memoir, Innocent: Confessions of a Welfare Mother, and a poetry collection, Here at Least, with a second volume, Terrarium, scheduled for 2013.  Her award-winning work has been published in anthologies and magazines. She conducts writing workshops and speaks on women’s and poverty-related issues. She is also the owner of a small press and speaks about publishing and marketing. She has maintained her Monday Morning Books blog since 2006 and tweets regularly about poetry @bmorrison9. For more information, visit her website and blog at www.bmorrison.com.

February Meeting: Poetry in Community

Poetry in Community’s Doug Mowbray & Christophe Casamassima

Thanks to all of you who made it to our Moon Madness meeting. It was very well attended, and we heard a lot of wonderful work. I’m sure our VeeP and moon workshop leader, Shirley Brewer, inspired lots of good work we didn’t get to hear. Yet.

We have a special treat planned for our upcoming chapter meeting, with two special guests and a special location. February takes us into Baltimore City to host Doug Mowbray and Christophe Casamassima, founders of Poetry in Community (PiC), a wonderful group whose mission is to “advocate for creative literacy (using poetry as a means to discover and explore the world and oneself, in the individual’s terms, as a “way of knowing”) and to act as a locus for community sustainability, in which the discoveries posited via poetry writing and reading are used to formulate healthy relationships between citizens, students, artists, businesses and professionals, and, ultimately, their environment and government.”  While that may sound lofty, I assure you that the projects they initiate are grounded and actually easy to implement.

PiC has organized events such as Poem Walks, Poetrees, local 100 Thousand Poets for Change events, & writing workshops. One such workshop is currently led by Shirley Brewer and your Prez, Fernand0 Quijano III, with middle schoolers at the Village Learning Place. Chris & Doug will be discussing what they do, in more detail, as well as upcoming events, and how you too can give back.

The Baltimore Chapter will also be welcoming students from the University of Baltimore’s English program, who will be attending our meeting as their class for the evening. It should be a great night! Please join us.

“Start where you are. Distant fields always look greener, but opportunity lies right where you are. Take advantage of every opportunity of service.” — Robert J. Collier

DETAILS: MWA Baltimore Chapter Meeting, Monday, February 25, 2013, 7PM-9PM, The Village Learning Place, 2521 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218

Douglas William Garcia Mowbray was born in Baltimore, late 70’s. Too young for disco. Too old for New Kids on the Block. Early influences include: digging four-feet-deep holes in the beach, 2 Live Crew, and Rickey Henderson. Traded baseball players for poets, mid-90’s. Current influences: Emerson (son of Nayeli and Douglas); Emerson, Ralph Waldo; Emerson (local craft beer) fridge. He is the proprietor of twentythreebooks (www.twentythreebooks.com), editor of the Free Poetry For chapbook series (freepoetryfor.blogspot.com/), and co-founder, Poetry in Community  (www.facebook.com/groups/poetryincommunity).   DWG Mowbray is also a social and environmental activist and is a Board Member of the Waverly Improvement Association.

Christophe Casamassima is a co-founder of Poetry in Community and the editor/publisher of Furniture Press Books and teaches Film Studies at Towson University. He is the author of the Proteus Cycle (The Proteus, 2008; Joys: A Catalogue of Disappointments, 2009; Ore, 2010), Three Suite (2010) and Untilted (2011).

January Meeting: The Revenge of Moon Madness

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Your Baltimore Chapter board has been hard at work (okay, maybe not SO hard) putting together a great slate of programming for the 2nd half of the year (Jan-Jun). We have some great guests planned. First, we’re going to kick the new year of with some unfinished business. Moon Madness!

You may remember that Superfrankenstorm Sandy washed out our October meeting. Well, fear not! There’s a full moon every month, and in January, it falls on the 27th, a day before the Baltimore Chapter meeting. So we’ve convinced our dear VeeP to give it another try. Let’s just hope Mother Nature doesn’t find another way to preempt us!

Original Posting:

Those of you who attended our Moon Madness FREE Fall event know how magical the evening was. We would like to extend that magic to our upcoming Baltimore Chapter meeting on its special (rescheduled) date, Monday, January 28, 2012. The moon will be full that night, by the way–a perfect evening to take advantage of her inspiration.

Our own inimitable VP, Shirley Brewer, will be leading us all in a series Luna-inspired prompts sure to invoke the Moon Muse in all of us. Everyone will receive a Moon Words handout. Afterwards, those of us who are willing will share the fruits of their labor.

Join us at 7PM at Ukazoo Books, 730 Dulaney Valley Road, Dulaney Plaza Shopping Center, Towson, MD for what will prove to be an unforgettable evening of writing and sharing.

Shirley J. Brewer is a poet, educator, and workshop facilitator. Shirley won first, second and third prizes in the Maryland Writers’ Association 2010 Short Works Contest for Poetry.  She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Manorborn in 2009. Publication credits include: The Cortland Review, Innisfree Poetry Journal, Loch Raven Review, Pearl, Comstock Review, Passager, Manorborn, and other journals. Her poetry chapbook, A Little Breast Music, was published in 2008 by Passager Books (Baltimore). Her second book of poetry, After Words, is forthcoming in early 2013 from Apprentice House/Loyola University (Baltimore).

M.A. Creative Writing/Publishing Arts, University of Baltimore, 2005

www.apoeticlicense.com        shirleybrewer09@comcast.net

Shirley is starting a new venture, The Poet’s Coach: Move Forward with Your Writing Goals.  Contact her for more information.

January Chapter Meeting

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Your Baltimore Chapter board has been hard at work (okay, maybe not SO hard) putting together a great slate of programming for the 2nd half of the year (Jan-Jun). We have some great guests planned. First, we’re going to kick the new year of with some unfinished business. Moon Madness!

You may remember that Superfrankenstorm Sandy washed out our October meeting. Well, fear not! There’s a full moon every month, and in January, it falls on the 27th, a day before the Baltimore Chapter meeting. So we’ve convinced our dear VeeP to give it another try. Let’s just hope Mother Nature doesn’t find another way to preempt us!

Original Posting:

Those of you who attended our Moon Madness FREE Fall event know how magical the evening was. We would like to extend that magic to our upcoming Baltimore Chapter meeting on its special (rescheduled) date, Monday, January 28, 2013. The moon will be full that night, by the way–a perfect evening to take advantage of her inspiration.

Our own inimitable VP, Shirley Brewer, will be leading us all in a series Luna-inspired prompts sure to invoke the Moon Muse in all of us. Everyone will receive a Moon Words handout. Afterwards, those of us who are willing will share the fruits of their labor.

Join us at 7PM at Ukazoo Books, 730 Dulaney Valley Road, Dulaney Plaza Shopping Center, Towson, MD for what will prove to be an unforgettable evening of writing and sharing.

Shirley J. Brewer is a poet, educator, and workshop facilitator. Shirley won first, second and third prizes in the Maryland Writers’ Association 2010 Short Works Contest for Poetry.  She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Manorborn in 2009. Publication credits include: The Cortland Review, Innisfree Poetry Journal, Loch Raven Review, Pearl, Comstock Review,Passager, Manorborn, and other journals. Her poetry chapbook, A Little Breast Music, was published in 2008 by Passager Books (Baltimore). Her second book of poetry, After Words, is forthcoming in early 2013 from Apprentice House/Loyola University (Baltimore).

M.A. Creative Writing/Publishing Arts, University of Baltimore, 2005

www.apoeticlicense.com        shirleybrewer09@comcast.net

Shirley is starting a new venture, The Poet’s Coach: Move Forward with Your Writing Goals.  Contact her for more information.