Author: Editorial Staff

Last Call for WordPress Website Training

Published on by Editorial Staff

Very soon, Dave Jibson, our PSM webmaster, will be leading workshops on how to create and maintain WordPress websites, the most popular website hosting platform in the world, and the one that we use for PSM.

The purpose of the training will be to build a small pool of volunteers who can one day help keep our website up to date with new content. The training will take place on a training site called, PSM Sandbox. Presently there are 12 structured lessons that you would be doing on your own time at your own pace. There will also be a few meetings over Zoom.

As part of the training, you will be creating your own WordPress account (FREE) and your own website (FREE) so that you can experiment as much as you like. Your website can be completely private and someday, you can decide to take it public if you build something you find useful. Besides writing, many people use WordPress for blogging about their hobbies and interests. Think gardening, geneology, an archive of family history or pictures that you can password protect so that only invited guests can visit.

Interested? If you aren’t sure visit https://psmsandbox0.wordpress.com/ to get a better idea of what’s going on and what the training materials look like. You’ll find David’s email address on the PSM website on the Board of Directors page under ABOUT on the menu.

Don’t be afraid. It’s not as difficult as you think.

Only PSM members should apply, but anyone can read the training materials.

Fall Meeting 2026

Published on by Editorial Staff

It’s official – the Fall Conference will be on Oct. 17, 2026 at the Library of Michigan’s Lake Michigan Room in Lansing, 10am-3pm. Details will appear in the “Events” menu as they become available.

Library of Michigan building:
702 W. Kalamazoo Street
Lansing, MI 48915

WordPress Interns Wanted

Published on by Editorial Staff

The PSM Sandbox website is a training site for the Poetry Society of Michigan. It is not public. Only people who have requested an invitation will see the contents of the training website. You are invited to learn the ins and outs of maintaining a website on the WordPress platform so that we can build a small pool of members capable of maintaining our PSM site.

But that’s not all. You don’t need to be a developer to build a website. You just need the right starting point.

This site will give you the practical skills needed to build and maintain a WordPress website — one of the most widely used platforms on the web. Whether you’re starting from scratch or trying to make sense of a site you’ve already got, you’ll find clear, step-by-step guidance here.

What you’ll learn

You’ll start with the basics — setting up WordPress, choosing a theme, and organizing your pages — then move into everyday tasks like adding content, uploading images, and keeping your site current. By the time you’re done, you’ll know how to build something real and keep it running.

What could you do with these skills?

Plenty. People use WordPress to share what they know and love: a photography portfolio, a travel journal, a food blog with family recipes passed down for generations, a site dedicated to genealogy, gardening, a journal of paintings or studio work. Writers use it as a home base — a place to list their books, post essays, and stay in touch with readers. Local clubs and organizations use it to share news and connect with members. The only limits are your imagination.

Whatever your purpose, having your own website means you control how you show up online. No algorithm decides who sees your work. No platform can take it away.

You can do this. These skills are more accessible than you think — and more useful than you might expect.

Call for Submissions: Poetry Society of Michigan’s Five-Year Anthology

Published on by Editorial Staff

The Poetry Society of Michigan is seeking poems for a five-year anthology to be published in 2026.

Current and former PSM members are known to be passionate about local environments both thriving and abandoned: lakes great and small; woods, streams, Karner Blue butterflies and more. We have rich histories tied to Michigan that inform our daily lives. To that end, we are seeking poems that convey the Power of Place.

If you have been a dues-paying PSM member in at least one of the past five years (2021-2025) we invite you to submit. Send your submission to PSM’s Anthology Managing Editor Melanie Dunbar at editor.psm@gmail.com.

Submissions open: January 1, 2026

Deadline for submissions: March 15, 2026

Guidelines: In the body of an email with the subject PSM ANTHOLOGY SUBMISSION include:

-Author name and contact information (address, phone and email)

-three to five poems (within the body of the email–no attachments please).

-Acknowledgement for any submitted poems that were previously published.

(We prefer new work but previously published work will be considered as long as the copyright is owned by the poet and the work is accompanied by information of when and where it was previously published.)

Note: While broad representation will be the editors’ primary intent, page limits, and applicability to the theme dictate that acceptance will be selective. Membership alone does not guarantee inclusion.

The anthology will be launched at our Fall Conference 2026 in Lansing and will be distributed to libraries state-wide. Readings will be held in multiple cities throughout 2027 to celebrate over 90 years of the Poetry Society of Michigan.

Contributors accepted will receive one copy of the anthology. Additional copies will be available for purchase at Amazon.com.

Bezos’ Wedding in Italy: What to Know

Published on by Editorial Staff


is that my catalpa tree
is engorged with lightly
scented white flowers,
branches bowed down
and offering this bridal bouquet to me.

No gondolas on these rain
flooded streets, only twigs
and leaves gliding down to
the manhole covers,
dancing in circles until
they disappear below.

Roberta Brown is the winner of the 2025 Margo LaGattuta Memorial Award in PSM’s annual poetry contest.

Manningham Trust Poetry Contest

Published on by Editorial Staff

Get the Word Out to Students:

The National Federation of State Poetry Societies sponsors a student poetry contest—ten monetary prizes will be awarded in each division—Grades 6-8 and Grades 9-12. The deadline is NOVEMBER 15 and there is no entry fee! Please spread the word to students and teachers; see the website below for more detailed information. Thanks for your help in promoting poetry!

https://nfsps.net/manningham-student-poetry-contest

a day without fear / David James

Published on by Editorial Staff

Some of the poems in A Day without Fear are months old while a few were written over forty years ago. Altogether this is an eclectic collection of poems ranging from the very imaginative to the pastoral to the hard poems about mortality and what happens after death, if anything. In this chaotic and harrowing world, it’s hard to live a day without fear, but we have to try.  As far as we know, this is the only life we’re going to get.



Born and raised on the third coast, Michigan, David James has published eight books and has had more than thirty of his one-act plays produced in the United States, Ireland, and England. After working for forty-five years in higher education, he retired in 2022.