Billy C reads at Kent U, and other Wick-ed Stuff

It's April, and the poetry news is coming fast and furious.
Here's the latest issue of the newsletter from the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State:

Poetry Reading: Billy Collins Former U.S. Poet Laureate, Billy Collins, will visit Kent State as part of the Wick Poetry Center’s annual U.S. Poet Laureate Reading in celebration of National Poetry Month. The event will take place on Thursday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Ballroom of the Kent Student Center. The U.S. Poet Laureate Series is a collaboration between the Wick Poetry Center and the Kent State University Library with sponsorship from the Honors College, Department of History, and Department of English. Billy Collins, U.S.Poet Laureate (2001-2003), is the author of several books of poetry, including Ballistics; Nine Horses; Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems; The Art of Drowning, which was a finalist for the Lenore Marhall Poetry Prize; Questions About Angels, which was selected for the National Poetry Series; and most recently horoscopes for the dead. Collins’ new and selected collection of poems (2003-2013), Shouting Over the Machinery of Time, will be available March 2013. His poetry has appeared in anthologies, textbooks, and a variety of periodicals, such as Poetry, American Poetry Review, and The New Yorker. Collins has edited Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry, an anthology of contemporary poems for use in schools. Collins’ other honors and awards include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. The 12th Annual Performance of Giving Voice This year's Giving Voice will take place on Wednesday, May 1, at 6:30 p.m. in the Ballroom of the Kent Student Center. Giving Voice features local students (grades 3-12), senior citizens, veterans, and medical care providers and patients from area hospitals, performing original poetry. All material is created in Wick outreach programs, including workshops led by Kent State University undergraduates enrolled in the service-learning course “Teaching Poetry in the Schools.” Robin Scheuerman, senior Speech-Language Pathology major and Wick intern, is one of the students in the course this spring. When asked about her experience in the class, she was eager to talk about her students: "I have had the wonderful opportunity this semester to teach poetry to 7th graders at Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Akron, and also to 3rd graders at Walls Elementary School in Kent. The creativity and excitement shown by the students have been inspiring to me in my own writing and life. I am very much looking forward to Giving Voice, when the students will have the opportunity to share their hard work and wonderful poetry with family, friends, and the community."

The Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize Submissions are now open for the first book contest. This prize is offered annually to a poet who has not previously published a full-length collection of poems. Michael Mlekoday was the 2012 winner, chosen by Dorianne Laux, for his manuscript The Dead Eat Everything. The 2013 winner will receive $2,500 and will give a reading at Kent State in 2014 with prize judge, Mark Doty. The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2013. Click here to enter your manuscript to the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize. National Teen Writing Contest To celebrate National Poetry Month, the Wick Poetry Center is hosting a teen writing contest for High School students throughout the nation. The entry fee is $5 per submission. The winning poet and the poet's school will receive $500. The Wick Poetry Center will bring the winning poet & guest to Kent State University in September 2013 to read during our yearly event, Celebrating Our Own. The second place winner and their school will receive $250.  Click here to submit a poem to the contest, which will run from February 15 through April 30, 2013.

Poets William Pitt Root and Pamela Uschuk visit KSU campus By Daniel Dorman, Undergraduate Intern The evening of William Pitt Root and Pamela Uschuk's reading had a pleasantly intimate atmosphere. Felt through their welcoming presence and bolstered by their obvious love and friendship with poet and professor Maj Ragain, the poets settled into the Wick event with ease and comfort. After an inviting and gracious introduction by David Hassler, Maj read an embracing piece about Bill and Pam, the friendship they share, and their poetry. He smoothly entered the audience into the immensity of Bill and Pam's poems. Bill and Pam both showed their appreciation for being welcomed through their excitement and by reading for their dear friend. Before she began to read, Pam said in the spirit of the evening, "Afterwards, let's go roll in the snow together!" As Maj said of the couple: "They meet every day." It seems to me that they meet poetry every day, as well. During dinner the poets decided to change the usual poetry reading scheme. Rather than divide their time in half, the poets took turns reading one or two pieces at a time. The back and forth interactions of the poems and the wide worlds they formed together made for an intriguing and stimulating event. The poets read selections from a number of their titles, including "White Boots," "Reasons for Going It on Foot," "Crazy Love" and "Wild in the Plaza of Memory." The reading drove through the evening a sense of love for poetry, fellow poets and time spent together. Even as the night came to a close, Bill and Pam remained, conversing with students, faculty and poets alike. Want to keep up with news from the Wick?   Sign up for the newsletter or just follow them on Facebook