Wrapping up National Poetry Month

BIG POETRY GIVEAWAY & Wick

It's a wrap! And a wrap-up! And a send-off!!

So, what a wonderful National Poetry Month it's been! For the second year in a row, I was one of the 32 hosts for the fifth annual  "Big Poetry Giveaway." (To see how this program is run, what promises made, see here.)

Although I promised three books, thanks to some po-work I got and the great Wick Poetry series, I am able to give 5 books, 1 broadside, and 11 poem postcards.

The winners are:

(Winners, please send mailing addresses to
dianekendig [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Anonymous 2 (the second anonymous in comments, added 4/30)
for Crossing State Lines: An American Renga, ed.by Holman & Muske-Dukes: 

Mystical Marianne (Merseau)
for The Places We Find Ourselves by Diane Kendig

Brian Wong
for Trouble Ball by Martin Espada, signed by Espada: "To the Winner of the Great Poetry Giveaway! April 24, 2014" (see story, below)

Ruth Foley
for Fugitive Blues by Debra Kang Dean, winner of the 2013 Blue Moon Chapbook Contest

Jessica Goodfellow
for Appetite by Aaron Smith, U of Pittsburgh Press

Karen Weyant
for the poster, "Soldiers in the Garden" by Martin Espada designed for Traveling Stanzas

Anonymous (first anonymous in comments)
for the postcard, "A Winter Sunset" by Ted Kooser, designed for Traveling Stanzas

Renee, Mary Jensen, Allison Whipple, Lissa Clouser, Katrina, R Wilder Jr., Lynn Pedersen, Andrea Beltran, Margo Roby, Robin Sams
for 10 postcards of "Soldiers in the Garden" by Martin Espada for Traveling Stanzas

Kent State Wick Poetry Series and Traveling Stanzas

While I was attending Espada's reading at Kent State University on April 24th, I also purchased to give away, a broadside of Espada's "The Soldier's in the Garden." He opened his reading with this poem, a fitting connection to the K.S.U. shootings that we commemorate this time of year. As usual and so impressively, The Kent State Wick Poetry Series, in collaboration with the university design studio, produces a broadside in poster and

Sarah from KSU

postcard size from a poem by the visiting poet.

The KSU Wick Poetry Center publishes books, hosts visiting authors, does community outreach with young people and other groups. Since returning to Ohio, I have attended at least two readings a year at the main campus and feel our poetic lives in Northeast Ohio, especially my life, is made much richer for having the Wick. Check them out.

For national poetry month, the center hosted both Ted Kooser and Martin Espada. For each reading, as part of the "Traveling Stanzas" project, they produce these wonderful broadsides which sell for $3 (posters) and $1 (postcards). You can order them on the site, and for free, you can download them and send them as postcards.