Michigan Writers / Possibilities of the Prose Poem

April is Poetry Month!!!


In celebration of a genre of poetry that both prose writers and poets can joyfully practice, join us for “The Pleasures and Possibilities of the Prose Poem,” April 16, 7:00 p.m. with Michigan Writers on ZOOM.

Join writer-poets Fleda Brown and Kathleen McGookey for a lively reading and craft discussion of this alluring form that invigorates and energizes the practice of poetry. Prose-poetry has long attracted both prose writers and poets for its wondrous flexibility and genre-bending abilities. It’s fresh, fun and furiously lyrical in its breadth and suppleness. Fleda and Kathleen will read selections of their own prose poems, discuss why they choose the form, address what it offers writers that other forms may not, and share how they enter this practice of blurring the lines. Please join us to learn from these fine practitioners of the craft.

*Watch for a MW newsletter e-blast with the link a few days before the event. Don’t forget to check spam.
About the readers:


Kathleen McGookey has published five books and four chapbooks of prose poems, most recently Paper Sky (Press 53) and Cloud Reports (Celery City Chapbooks). Her work has appeared recently in journals including Copper Nickel, Epoch, Field, Los Angeles Review, North American Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Southern Review. It has also been featured on American Life in Poetry, Poetry Daily, and SWWIM Every Day. She lives in Middleville, Michigan, and loves to walk, ski, and bake pies.

Fleda Brown’s eleventh collection: The End of the Clockwork Universe (Carnegie Mellon U.P., 2025). Doctor of the World won the Finishing Line Press Chapbook Contest for 2024. The Woods Are on Fire is her New & Selected (U. of Nebraska Press, 2017). Her work has appeared three times in The Best American Poetry and has won a Pushcart Prize, the Felix Pollak Prize, the Philip Levine Prize, and the Great Lakes Colleges New Writers Award, and a two-time finalist for the National Poetry Series. Her recent memoir is Mortality, with Friends (Wayne State U.P., an MIPA Winner and Midwest Book Award winner in memoir).

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

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


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

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

Read the Latest Issue of Peninsula Poets.

New Feature: Anyone can read the latest issue of Peninsula Poets on line for free and share it with friends and family. Just click the cover icon to read now. You can also download it to read later.

At the latest board meeting it was decided to expand our readership and give our poems worldwide exposure.

March Craft Article: Writing Korean Sijo / David Jibson

Our craft article for March is from PSM board member, Dave Jibson, who takes us on a dive into Korean Sijo. First appearing in 14th century Korea, Sijo is longer than Haiku and goes beyond imagery into story telling. We think you’ll like playing around with this one. Maybe you can bring one or two to the Spring meeting. Read the article HERE.

Here’s an excellent example from member Ginny Grush.