July 24th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Aficionados,

Poetry & Poets in Rags blog



Tomorrow will be nine years that I have been creating Poetry & Poets in Rags. It started as a post I would make at The Atlantic's Writers' Workshop and at Melic Review's Round Table. That's why these forum announcements, I was posting into discussion forums at poetry boards. And it was Saturdays if I'm not mistaken, not Tuesdays.

Two online poet friends, C.E. Chaffin, founder of Melic, and Gina Bryson, then Managing Editor of the InterBoard Poetry Community, asked if they could put the column onto their sites. I went with IBPC, part of WebDelSol.com. Over the years, the column has grown from 10 articles per week to three sections, News at Eleven, Great Regulars, and Poetic Obituaries, making for dozens of links per week. At some point, I started a companion blog, which I am proud to say is an award-winning top poetry blog.

Last year, I was saying to a group of poetry friends that I want to go ten years. And that sounds like a good idea. This column takes many hours to put together each week, including all of my one days off a week from work. I hope this column has served the larger poetry community and even served as a social glue and in advocacy of those writers who desperately need every advocate they can get. But what has always kept me at it, is if just one person benefits, either a reader or a poet in the news, then I am glad to be of service.



For the first time, I will leave all of the week's articles to your discovery, and get to the winning poems of June's IBPC competition. Thanks! once again to our Spring judge Shara McCallum, and congrats! to the poets and boards:

First Place: Foxfire by Lois P. Jones of PenShells

Second Place: No Cover by Jane Wilcken of Wild Poetry Forum

Third Place: Somewhere in Our Past by Billy Howell-Sinnard of The Waters Poetry Workshop

Thanks for clicking in.

Yours,
Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags blog

IBPC Home

~~~~~~~~~~~