Contests for the Spring/Summer

As I walked home from school this afternoon past all the sounds, sights, and scents of spring, I realized that I need to post information about our ongoing and upcoming contests.  Also, I need to post more poems, but that is another story.


However, as promised, I am holding two contests this spring/summer.  The first is for poems and flash fiction inspired by women in music.  These women can be in any genre (although jazz is preferable).  They may be singers, instrumentalists, or composers.  I would like to see more instrumentalists.  Poems may be biographical, or the woman's music may be simply a starting point for your poem.  Here are some pictures and songs to start you off.

You may prefer to listen to music, so here are a few songs for you.  I'll start with Fanny's "Blind Alley": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6ICOC7Ymug

Let's listen to the jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby's "Aeolian Groove": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTwhqofXMkM

Here Helen Sung and her trio perform "Shall We Tango?"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyLmcLbt2Cw

The second contest is for poetry and flash fiction inspired by swing music--which can be 1940s swing, Texas swing, swing revival, or New Jack Swing.  Below are some songs to inspire you:

"Sing Sing Sing" is a great place to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIoTpeM6o2A

Or you may prefer some of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys' version of (Texas) swing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WSlskCq9Qk

Now it's time for some Nineties Nostalgia with the Squirrel Nut Zippers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLYB9pvww2M

In addition, Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram of the DC Poetry Project and I may be coming up with some prompts for you.  You may also choose to perform your poem on one of his BlogTalk Radio shows.  Here is a link to a recent show featuring Brenda Bunting:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dc-poetry-project-/2015/02/05/the-power-of-poetics-blogtalk-show-welcomes-poet-and-author-brenda-bunting-1 .

By the way, the recent show featuring prize-winning poet Catfish McDaris is here:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dc-poetry-project-/2015/04/16/the-power-of-poetics-welcomes-internationally-acclaimed-poet-catfish-mcdaris

The poem that you submit may be unpublished or published.  Just be sure that you have the rights to it.  Let me know where it was published, and I will credit that journal or book.

The deadline for the spring contests is July 31.  I will publish the poems as I receive them!  Please send them to thesongis@gmail.com -- thank you!

All poems published since Jerry A. Scuderi and Juan Tituana's Winter Wonderland are eligible for the Spring Contests as long as they meet the requirements for the Women in Music and the Swing into Spring Contests.  Any poem published since Winter Wonderland and received by me by July 31 is eligible for Thelma's Prize.