VW 108 Available Online & In Print

Verse Wisconsin 108 is a special issue on the intersections of poetry & performance. It includes persona and dramatic poetry, or "Mask & Monologue" poems; prose about verse drama and about poetic drama projects; excerpts from new verse dramas representing a range of directions in writing plays in poetry and poetry for the stage; book reviews; audio/video; and news about Wisconsin poetry.

Verse Wisconsin is available as a print and an online magazine with compatible but different contents. Read, view, & listen to the online edition now. Subscribe to our print magazine for more poetry and prose!

Our Summer online issue will be a special joint project with the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets 2013 Calendar. Our next online call is for VW 110 (October), "It's Political," reading period May 1-31. See Submissions page for details!

From September-May we accept print submissions of any style, subject and voice. We also welcome reviews (see books received) and queries for essays about poetry, including those about writing groups, interesting or innovative poetry programs, and the intersection of poetry and daily life; we invite you to send photos of readings and poetry events to consider posting on the website, as well as notices about Wisconsin poetry news. Please join us at an upcoming event, send us a link, and support Verse Wisconsin!

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Main Street Issue—Poems About the Wisconsin Protests

 

World Watching, by Matthew Stolte

"World Watching" is part of the Main Street Wisconsin "Poems About Wisconsin Protests" special issue. Our Main Street Wisconsin issue, "Poems About Wisconsin Protests," is now closed. Please download a pdf of "14 Broadsides" selected from these poems in March, 2011. Broadsides have been distributed free at VW events, and you can also print, copy, cut & pass these out at upcoming community & political events. Thanks for helping to put poems about the Wisconsin protests out into the world!

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The Verse-O-Matic

The Verse-O-Matic poetry dispenser debuted at the joint Verse Wisconsin/ Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf launch in April, 2011. The original jawbreaker poems appeared in VW106.

Starting this summer, the Verse-O-Matic will dispense shorter poems from the 2013 Wisconsin Poets' Calendar! The new Calendar will be available soon through the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets.

Interested in having the Verse-O-Matic travel to your library/ school/ business/ community center? Contact sarah(at)versewisconsin(dot)org.

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Upcoming Deadlines

Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Annual Poetry Contests

• February 1: Chapbook Contest, Muse Prize, Student Contest
• August 1: Triad Contest

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Newer Wisconsin Poetry Publishers

• N.E.W. Voices, A Literary Platform for North-East Wisconsin, c/o Caravaggio Press, P.O. Box 41, Ellison Bay, WI 54210, or email Nancy Rafal, mrsticket(at)gmail(dot)com
• Redzine, a literary magazine publishing poetry and fiction.
• Stoneboat, a literary journal based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Poetry, short prose, and black-and-white art.
• Rescue Press, publishes work by activists, artists, craftsmen, entrepreneurs, list-makers, philosophers, poets, scientists, writers, and creative thinkers of all kinds.
• Devil's Lake, an online journal published twice a year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Poetry and fiction.
• Otherwise, A Young Writers' Poetry Journal, a non-profit project launched by a Milwaukee school teacher/poet. Accepts submissions from young writers ages 5-17.

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Verse Wisconsin in the News

• Wisconsin People & Ideas, "5Q-Cowfeather Press," Fall 2011
• Wisconsin People & Ideas, "Verse-O-Matic Delivers Bite Size Poetry (and Candy)," Summer 2011
• Harriet the Blog: The Poetry Foundation, 5/11
• WORT Radio Literature, 4/21-11, interview with Wendy Vardaman on sonnets & VW105 Forms issue
• Madison Magazine Liberal-Arts Blog, 3/11
• VW 104 interview with John Koethe at Poetry Daily, 3/11
• Duotrope Digest, 8/10, Interview
• Isthmus, 8/12/10
• WORT Radio Literature, 7/22/10, 7:30 pm, with Sarah Busse
• VW 102 interview with Matthea Harvey at Poetry Daily, 7/10
• Madison Magazine Liberal-Arts Blog, 3/10
• Coffee Spew (Blog of Cambridge Book Review), 3/10
• Poetry Dispatch, 3/10
• Square 77 (Wisconsin State Journal), 3/10
• Wisonsin People & Ideas, 1/10
• Madison Magazine, 11/09
• WORT Radio Literature, 10/15/09, 7:30 pm
  Listen to an excerpt of Sarah Busse's interview with WORT

Join us on Facebook for announcements about events, issues, & submissions!

First Annual Midwest Small Press Festival, June 1-2 Week-end long festival centered around a book fair held at the Polish Falcon in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee on Saturday June 2 where presses and organizations will have the opportunity to show, share, and sell their wares.

Write-by-the-Lake Retreat in Madison, June 18-22 Two workshops for poets—including one in writing rhyming picture books led by JoAnn Early Macken and another for poets in general led by past Wisconsin poet laureate Marilyn L. Taylor—are part of the June 18-22 “Write-by-the-Lake Workshop & Retreat,” sponsored by University of Wisconsin-Madison Continuing Studies. Writers have the option of earning 1-3 graduate credits (extra fee).

2012 Pulse Literary Issue The Peninsula Pulse, Door Co., WI, seeks submissions of photography, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for its August 3 Literary Issue. Deadline: June 29.

Writers in Prisons Project The Writers in Prisons Project is looking for poets interested in sharing their work and hearing the work of incarcerated writers. We're open for one-time visitors, and potentially for consistent volunteers. Help us create a richer space for creativity and community for and with people on the inside. Visit the website for more information.

Cowfeather Press Verse Wisconsin announces a new venture & the publication of WI Poet Laureate Bruce Dethlefsen's full-length collection, Unexpected Shiny Things, available in print and ebook forms. To learn more about Cowfeather, visit the website and follow VW on Facebook!

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters and the WI Poet Laureate The WI Academy now houses the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, a volunteer selection and support body for the Wisconsin Poet Laureate. Information about donations to the Poet Laureate's work can be found here. Visit the Academy website to find out how to become a member and receive the magazine, Wisconsin People & Ideas.

2012 Pushcart Anthology The 2012 edition of the Pushcart Anthology includes three Verse Wisconsin related poems! Congratulations to John Murillo, whose poem, "Song," from Up Jump the Boogie was first published in VWOnline 101; Karla Huston for "Theory of Lipstick," from Verse Wisconsin 101, January, 2010, and co-editor Sarah Busse, whose poem “Silhouettes” originally appeared in Think.

Our Mission Verse Wisconsin publishes poetry and serves the community of poets in Wisconsin and beyond.  In fulfilling our mission we: • showcase the excellence and diversity of poetry rooted in or related to Wisconsin • connect Wisconsin's poets to each other and to the larger literary world • foster critical conversations about poetry • build and invigorate the audience for poetry

Co-Editors Sarah Busse Wendy Vardaman Advisory Board Linda Aschbrenner B. J. Best Cathryn Cofell Ron Czerwien Tom Erickson Fabu David Graham Angela Rydell Marilyn L. Taylor

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Copyright ©2010 Verse Wisconsin P. O. Box 620216 Middleton, WI 53562-0216 Email: editors (at) versewisconsin (dot) org Last Updated: May 11, 2012