Welcome
to the following new members who have joined since the last Museletter issue:

New member inquiries should be directed to Gillian Nevers, the Membership Chair, at 2022 Jefferson Street, Madison, WI 53711, (608)255-5080, nevers@wisc.edu. Join us!

Remember:
If you move or change your e-mail address, please notify the Museletter editor. Bulk mail is not forwarded, so you will not receive your Museletters. E-mail is the only way members are notified of Museletter deadlines.

Verse Wisconsin Spring Issue Now Available
      Verse Wisconsin 103, the Summer Issue, is now online! The print issue is making its way to subscribers & contributors at varying speeds, so go read/see/listen to poems about “Work” in the meantime & check out these online features: a Lorine Niedecker poem newly discovered by Sarah Busse, Wendy Vardaman’s interview with Martín Espada, a round-up of recent books by younger Wisconsin poets, Nick Lantz’s Twitter Poetry Project, Marilyn Taylor’s discussion of the First United Poets Laureate Conference, Laurel Bastian’s essay “Poetry in Prison,” & Cristina Norcross’s advice on making poetry events memorable ... plus book reviews, print contributors’ audio, and Wisconsin Poetry News, available at versewisconsin.org.

A Look Ahead to the Fall Conference
      Our Fall Conference will be held in Stevens Point Holiday Inn and Conference Center, November 5-7. Our special events will include a reading and discussion of web editing by poet Todd Boss and a reading and workshop by poet and teacher Freya Manfred.
       Todd Boss’s poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry 2010, The New Yorker, Poetry, and on MPR’s “All Things Considered.” His debut poetry collection, Yellowrocket, was published in 2008 by W. W. Norton & Co. Born. He edits the online poetry website, Flurry, a magazine dedicated to wintry thinking. He was raised in central Wisconsin and now lives in Saint Paul with his wife and two children.
       Freya Manfred won the 2009 Midwest Booksellers’ Award for Poetry for her sixth collection of poetry, Swimming with a Hundred-Year-Old Snapping Turtle, reddragonflypress.org/. Her poems have appeared in over 100 reviews and magazines and over 30 anthologies. Poet Robert Bly says: “What I like about Freya’s poems is that they are not floating around in the air or the intellect. The body takes them in. They are brave. The reader and writer meet each other in the body.” Freya’s memoir, Frederick Manfred: A Daughter Remembers, was nominated for a Minnesota Book Award and an Iowa Historical Society award. She lives near Hudson, WI.

Support the Kay Saunders Memorial New Poet Award
      Kay Saunders loved to encourage budding poets of all ages and you may wish to do the same through her memorial fund established by her late husband, George Saunders. The fund is called “The Fearsome Foursome” in honor of Kay’s poetry group with June Zwickey, Helen Fahrbach, and Ellen Kort, all very active members in WFOP.
       Only $2,000 more is needed of the $10,000 amount required for the fund to be self-sustaining. At the $10,000 amount the fund becomes a permanently endowed fund, generating at least 5% ($500) annually to support the New Poet Award which is given each fall.
       Contributions to the New Poet Award can be made to the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, P.O. Box 563, Appleton WI 54912-0563, or their online page for gifts (please refer “Fearsome Foursome Fund” on bottom of check or the online designation box).
       Thank you for a contribution of any size to nurture these new poets.

Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar 2012 Submission Guidelines
      Cities and towns are often under-represented when poets write about Wisconsin, so we have chosen Alleys and Valleys as the theme for the 2012 calendar. We hope that you will interpret this theme broadly, but we want to encourage you to think about the urban areas of Wisconsin, as well as the rural areas. Poets must be 18 or older and live in Wisconsin (or have some connection to the state) to submit.
       Submission period is from November 1, 2010 to February 1, 2011. Poems received before or after those dates will not be considered.
       We prefer e-mail submissions; however, we will be happy to accept snail mail submissions, as well. Send e-mail submissions with the poems in the body of the e-mail (please, no attachments) to jjohannes7@gmail.com with “Calendar Submission” as the subject line, or snail mail your submission to:

WFOP Calendar
c/o Jeffrey and Joan Wiese Johannes
800 Ver Bunker Avenue
Port Edwards, WI 54469-1126

       Please do not e-mail poems with unique formatting, which may be changed in cyberspace. We will confirm the receipt of e-mail submissions by e-mail. Please send a self-addressed stamped postcard if you would like confirmation of snail-mail arrival. We will acknowledge receipt of your submission as soon as we receive it. Then we will carefully read/consider your poems and respond by April 15, 2011.
       Please include the following with your submission:

• Contact information (name, address, e-mail address, phone number)
• Biographical note of fewer than 50 words. (We may need to edit biographies longer than three lines.)
• Up to 3 poems
• Maximum of 32 lines/poem, including including title, stanza breaks and any epigraph or dedication (shorter is better)
• Publication information if previously published
• Single-spaced, standard font
• We prefer poems that are not centered on the page. Accepted poems may need to be right-justified to fit on the Calendar pages; please indicate if you refuse to allow your poem to be displayed this way.

       We’re looking forward to reading your work. You can contact us at the e-mail address above if you have any questions or call us at 715-887-2217. Thank you in advance for your submissions. Jeffrey and Joan Wiese Johannes, 2012 Wisconsin Poets' Calendar Editors

Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf Announcing Winners of the 2010 Woodrow Hall Jumpstart Award
Paula Sergi of the Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective in Fond du Lac won first place and $500.00 to collaborate with the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) office, the Association of Commerce, the Fond du Lac Public Library, the Fond du Lac Arts Council, and Park Ridge Organics to bring poetry to the farmers’ markets, the library, the Windhover Center for the Arts and two harvest festivals in the Fond du Lac area. The finalist was Phil Hansotia of Ellison Bay who received $250.00 to create “poetry trails” (poems in display cases mounted on posts) in Newport State Park, a partnership between the Wallace, Unabridged and Word Women poetry groups with the Newport Wilderness Society, Newport State Park, and Sevastapol, Gibraltar and Southern Door high schools.

Shoshauna Shy of Woodrow Hall Editions, based in Madison, created the Woodrow Hall Jumpstart Award, an offshoot of the Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf initiative, designed to help other Wisconsin poets implement a project that brings poetry into the eye of the general public in an unconventional manner. Learn more about this award and the Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf program at PoetryJumpsOfftheShelf.com.

Lorine Niedecker Wisconsin Poetry Festival Coming in September
       The Friends of Lorine Niedecker are hosting the Lorine Niedecker Wisconsin Poetry Festival on Friday night September 24th and Saturday September 25th in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. The goal of the Poetry Festival is to celebrate Wisconsin poetry.
      “Last year was an overwhelming success and we will continue the momentum,” said Ann Engelman, President of the Friends of Lorine Niedecker. The Festival offers opportunities for poets, publishers and those who appreciate poetry to gather, share, read poetry and raise awareness for poetry in our culture. “Wisconsin is rich with great literary history,” said Amy Lutzke, Resource Librarian at the Dwight Foster Public Library. “This festival is building a poetry tradition and Fort Atkinson, along the banks of the Rock River, is the perfect place to host this event. Fort Atkinson is home to poet Lorine Niedecker, a significant 20th -century poet. She is known nationally and internationally but has yet to be widely recognized in her home state. What better place to gather inspiration than this quiet place where the river runs through.”
       The Festival will include workshops, poetry readings, presentations, opportunities to meet publishers and pick up the latest poetry buzz. Two workshops will be held; “Write Like a Poet: Tricks Poets Can Teach Every Writer” and a writers workshop on Blackhawk Island at the cabin of Lorine Niedecker. The Council for Wisconsin Writers Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award winner, Angela Sorby and other invited poets will read during an evening event “Wisconsin Poetry.”
       A schedule is now posted to lorineniedecker.org, or at the Wisconsin Poetry Festival. For more information about the Poetry Festival, contact Ann Engelman 920-563-0416 or Amy Lutzke 920-563-7790.

American Haiku Festival Scheduled
       You can write haiku poetry in English. Join haikuists from the U.S. and Canada for their Second Annual Cradle of American Haiku Festival, at 2 p.m., Friday, September 10th, to 1 p.m., Sunday, September 12th, at Foundry Books, 105 Commerce St., in Mineral Point. The festival is open to the public, and beginning and experienced haikuists are welcome.
       Haiku is a short, Japanese poetic form of usually three lines and about 17 syllables. It is thoughtful, imagist poetry, (often inspired by nature), and it captures the moment.
       The festival will include several workshops and presentations on the form and art of haiku/related Japanese poetic forms, readings of haiku, and Japanese art. This year’s theme is “Remembering Robert Spiess—His Life and Work.” Spiess was a longtime haikuist and author, and former editor of Modern Haiku, an international journal of haiku and haiku studies.
       The festival will also feature an opening reception; a “Kukai,” a peer-reviewed haiku contest on the theme “Transitions;” Tai Chi, meditative exercises; a presentation on “Kodo,” Japanese incense; mini-critique sessions with award-winning poets and publishers; a social with cocktails and Midwest style picnic/tailgate; and a “ginko” walk to observe nature and write haiku. Haikuists may also participate in a sale of books they’ve authored.
       At the festival, The Haiku Society of America will hold its annual national quarterly meeting to which the public is invited. However, the HSA is not sponsoring the festival.
       Southwest Wisconsin is the birthplace of American haiku. Mineral Point is a historic, scenic town of 19th century architecture, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, located in the region’s hills. It is about a 45-minute drive from Madison and Dubuque, IA.
       The cost of the festival is $30 which includes workshops, all activities, reception, and picnic. For more information, with a schedule of events and lodging options, contact Charlotte Digregorio, Midwest Regional Coordinator, The Haiku Society of America, at email cvpress@yahoo.com or by phone at 847-881-2664.

One Vision: Art & Poetry Show
“One Vision: A Fusion of Art and Poetry in Lake Country” brings together fifteen pairs of artists and poets for a fine art exhibit and poetry reading at 7 p.m. Saturday, October 16th at the Oconomowoc Arts Center, unveiling the final results of a summer-long collaboration between the selected artists and poets. A reception with live music and refreshments will also be part of the evening’s event, which is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a preview and meeting with the artists and poets.

Called “ekphrastic” (that is, art or poetry inspired by other creative mediums), the project’s goal is for the artists and poets to interact with each other to create a new expression of art or poetry from that experience. Poets and artists have spent the summer viewing/reading each other’s work as they got to know each other and how the creative process works in each of their respective mediums. From this exploration, a poet could write a new poem to a piece of artwork, the artist create a new piece inspired by a poem, or the two could craft a whole new expression of art and poetry. Part of the adventure of ekphrastic art/poetry is to see where it leads creatively.

“The inspiring effort of collaborating and creating something new is what matters,” says Cristina Norcross, coeditor of the project. Sponsored by the Pewaukee Area Arts Council, this is the second year for the program, which had a successful debut at the The Raven Gallery in Pewaukee last year. Long range plans are to continue the project in order to give many area artists and poets the opportunity to participate, and to bring awareness of the diversity of the arts to the community as part of PAAC’s ongoing mission. A call for submissions will be announced each winter.

“Artists and poets found working together to be very enriching last year,” says co-editor Liz Rhodebeck. “There’s quite an exciting buzz going on this year as well.”

An outgrowth of the project has been the production of limited edition notecards featuring the artwork and accompanying poem of each pair; sets will be available for purchase the evening of the reception. All profit from the sale of the notecards will support PAAC’s programs and outreach in the community.

Both the artwork and poetry will be on exhibition to the public at the OAC through November. For more information, visit pewaukeearts.org or contact Liz Rhodebeck at (262) 695-2761.

In House
Michael Belongie has initiated a program within the Fellowship to keep members aware of significant changes taking place for particular members. This program, In House, will post changes of addresses and alerts members to that change of address. These changes may be due to significant changes with longstanding members’ health or greatly altered circumstances that we do care to know about between conferences. We are “a fellowship” and members appreciate our friend/poet’s whereabouts. Please e-mail Michael Belongie at poetpow@charter.net or 1421 Hiawatha Drive, Beaver Dam, WI 53916 – cell 920-210-6073.

In Memoriam

Shelly L. Hall

     Shelly L. Hall, Ph.D., of Waukesha, Wisconsin, passed away on Sunday, June 13, at Waukesha Memorial Hospital, from cancer.
      Dr. Hall was born March 2, 1958, in Cleveland, Ohio, of Curtis C. Hall and Marjorie Campbell Hall. She held a doctorate in religious studies from the University of Iowa and an MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. She taught at Waukesha’s Carroll University, and for Goddard and Carlton Colleges and University of Phoenix.
      Dr. Hall was well known for her lively poetry. A member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, she was published in several journals and had two books from Popcorn Press, with a third forthcoming. She also helped to found local drum circles.
      A celebration of her life will be held 6-8 p.m., Wednesday, September 8, at Todd Wehr Memorial Library’s coffee shop at Carroll University, followed by a gathering at House of Guinness. Donations in her honor can be sent to Waukesha’s Order of Julian of Norwich.

Even fire needs a place
to rest, out of
the killing rain
the frenzying breeze
the obligation
to consume whatever
can be consumed

—Shelly L. Hall

Keep Your Dues Current
      Please remember that membership dues are payable by January first of every year. We no longer offer a "grace period" after nonpayment of dues. Members must be current with their dues to enjoy membership benefits such as:

• the opportunity to be published in the Museletter's Poetry Page
• listing of recent publications in the Museletter
• free chapbook ad, and reduced advertising rates for other ads in the Museletter
• eligibility to enter the Triad poetry contest
• reduced entry fee for the Muse contest
• free member web page on the Fellowship's web site
• and, of course, the Museletter itself.

Don't Forget the New Dues Option
      Members may pay $100 for a five-year membership. That's five years worth of membership for four years' dues. Please take advantage of this savings. The Fellowship also saves money by reduced mailing cost for all those payment reminders and lapsed memberships.

Would you like to read your Museletter online?
      As many of you already know (Q.E.D.), the WFOP’s Museletter is available on our website. You can read it right on the site or you can choose to print a hard copy of the Museletter. To print a copy of the Museletter, go to the top of the Museletter page (this one)and then click on the “printable .pdf of current issue” in the upper right corner. If you would like to discontinue receiving the Museletter by mail and get your newsletter online instead, please notify Chris Falk (contact information near top of page). You will be notified by e-mail when the Museletter is available for viewing on the website (right here!).