poetry | Minnesota Prairie Roots

Hear Minnesota voices (including mine) in The Talking Stick anthology April 26, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:06 AM
Tags: anthology, books, Minnesota author, poetry

The Talking Stick, Volume Eighteen, Common Threads, published in 2009

“YOUR POEM WAS CONSIDERED to be one of the best in the poetry category,” the letter reads.

The words are sweet music to my writer’s soul.

“Your poem, along with several others, was sent to Poetry Judge Heid Erdrich,” the paragraph continues.

I am so excited I can hardly stand it. My poem has placed among the top seven in a state-wide contest that attracts a wide range of Minnesota poets, established and emerging.

Hit-and-Run, will publish in the Minnesota literary anthology, The Talking Stick, Volume Nineteen, produced by the Park Rapids-based Jackpine Writers’ Bloc, and tentatively subtitled Forgotten Roads.

No, I didn’t win the $500 first place prize or even the $100 second place prize. But I’ve received honorable mention, and that’s good enough for me.

“We had over 300 entries (in the categories of poetry, creative nonfiction and fiction) of exceptional quality and our decisions were difficult.”

The words resonate—a symphony chorus of praise.

To compete with so many other writers, and then to have my poem selected for prize consideration by award-winning, professional poet Erdrich, pleases me. A lot.

“A terrifying imagery/memory,” Erdrich evaluates. “Some of the lines do not strengthen the poem because they are so long.” Even though her brief comments are not entirely positive, I take them constructively. She, after all, has published three poetry collections.

Me? I’ve had five, soon-to-be eight, poems printed in publications. Read my April 21 blog post, I’m a poet and now I know it, for information about my other recent literary success.

Hit-and-Run, which will print in The Talking Stick, Volume Nineteen, is by far my most emotional, my most heart-wrenching, poem. I write about my initial reaction to the most terrifying day of my life, when my then-12-year-old son was struck by a hit-and-run driver on May 12, 2006.

Apparently the deep-felt emotions in that poem resonated with the Jackpine Writers’ Bloc editorial team. Those writers selected the poems to be published and chose the top several to pass along to celebrity poetry judge Erdrich for prize consideration.

I am grateful to editors Sharon Harris and Tarah L. Wolff for their dedication to The Talking Stick. Without their passion and commitment to this project, fledging poets like me—yes, I believe I can now officially call myself a “poet”—would not have such opportunities.

Readers, please support home-grown literary endeavors by purchasing books like The Talking Stick. The newest volume should be completed in August, just in time for a book release party tentatively slated for September 18 in Park Rapids.

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I’m a poet and now I know it April 21, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:16 AM
Tags: poetry

APRIL, NATIONAL POETRY MONTH, has been very kind to me. I recently entered two writing competitions, with successful results. Three of my poems have been selected for publication in two anthologies, one regional, the other state-wide.

Today I’ll tell you about the regional competition. You’ll need to check back for information on the state-wide contest.

In a congratulatory letter I received Tuesday, I learned that Saturday night baths and A school without a library will publish in the 2010 Poetic Strokes anthology.

Competition was tough with 118 poets submitting 280 poems. Forty-two of those poems, from 30 poets, will publish.

I believe I can now, officially, call myself a “poet.” In all honesty, I am humbled, and thrilled (can I be both?) that I did so well in this competition hosted by Southeastern Libraries Cooperating/Southeast Library System.

A qualified panel of judges (identity unknown to me) chose the winning entries from writers within SELCO’s 11-county service area. The winning poets come from 14 communities; I’m the only one from Faribault. Rochester and Winona produced the most publishing poets with six each from those two cities.

Poetic Strokes, volumes two and three

These are not my first poems to be printed in Poetic Strokes. In 2000 and 2001, Prairie Sisters, Abandoned Farmhouse and Walking Beans published in volumes two and three. Then, due to funding shortages, the anthology went on hiatus for nearly a decade.

I didn’t take a break from poetry, though, and have since had poems printed in The Lutheran Digest and Minnesota Moments.

And then there’s that state-wide contest I’ll tell you about in a future post.

Winning two poetry competitions extends beyond the joy of getting published. For me, as a writer, it’s confirming/validating/reaffirming that I am writing good poetry that resonates with readers, or at least with the judges.

Poetic Strokes, Volume Four, No. One, releases sometime in early May.

So where can you get this regional collection? Mollie M. Pherson, SELCO regional librarian tells me that SELCO cannot legally sell the anthology because the project was financed with Library Legacy funding. Those monies come via the Legacy Amendment approved by Minnesota voters in November 2008 to preserve our state’s arts and cultural heritage.

But, she adds, options are being explored. I certainly hope the anthology will be available for anyone who wants to add Poetic Strokes, Volume Four to their poetry collection. I bet my mom would like a copy.

If you just want to read the collection, and not permanently keep it, you can always check Poetic Strokes out from a SELCO library. Each library in the system will have the anthology. I know, I know, if you don’t live in southeastern Minnesota, you don’t have direct access to a SELCO library.

You can bet I’ll tell you when my copy of the 2010 Poetic Strokes arrives. And if you live nearby, I’ll even let you read my poems about the once-a-week baths I took as a child (whether I needed one or not) and about my elementary school, which did not have a library. Really.

Here’s the link to the list of 2010 Poetic Strokes winners:

http://www.selco.info/display/HOME/SELCO+News

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