I was invited back for the season finale of KJZZ Phoenix's "Word" podcast, hosted by Tom Maxedon. The episode is available today. It was a pleasure to be able to talk to Tom about many topics, including Mars and HiRISE, the Tucson Poetry Festival and our upcoming January fundraising workshops (more information and registration soon), The Writers Studio and The Writers Studio Tucson, and how my writing has been going during the pandemic.
Tag: poetry
A Guide to Workshops at The Writers Studio
It can be difficult to sort through all the offerings from the Writers Studio to pick which classes are best for you or the writer in your life to which you would like to gift a workshop. Here, then, is a guide to our offerings, depending on your writing goals and interests.
Review: Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger
Cradleland of Parasites might be Sara Tantlinger’s best collection yet, a sequence of frightening, gruesome, breathtakingly beautiful poems about the Black Plague and other very real pestilence horrors up through modern times. The collection reads especially urgent during our current global pandemic. Its well-researched history of how humanity has dealt with infectious disease in the past arrives through the most beautiful poetic lines, with rhythms, repetitions, and occasional end rhymes.
Tucson Poetry Festival Fundraising Event on Saturday, December 4 at Fini’s Landing
Help raise funds for the Tucson Poetry Festival by dining in or ordering take out or delivery at Fini's Landing restaurant in Tucson between 11:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 4, 2021. Mention it's for "Tucson Poetry Festival (Ocotillo Literary Endeavors)" before ordering your meal. You can RSVP on the fundraising announcement site.
Poem: “Bird Chooses to Make a Habitat of Heart” in Impossible Archetype Issue 9
Perhaps a bit late, but I thought I would write up a little background about "Bird Chooses to Make a Habitat of Heart," published in March 2021 in Impossible Archetype issue 9.
New Poem: “I Can’t Explain Love or Loss if the Only Language I Have is Geology or What I Watch on YouTube” in Impossible Archetype Issue 10
I contributed my own poem about sadness to the issue, "I Can't Explain Love or Loss if the Only Language I Have is Geology or What I Watch on YouTube." It was sparked by my unexpected sadness over finding out that a couple I used to watch on YouTube has long since broken up.
The 39th Annual Tucson Poetry Festival is Coming Soon
The 39th Annual Tucson Poetry Festival is coming up in two weeks! Registration is available on our website for poetry workshops taught by our featured poets on Saturday, April 17, 2021. They will also be reading that evening and there will be an open mic (would you like to read one of your own poems?!) on Sunday afternoon, April 18, 2021.
New Poem: “In a Mirror, Dimming” in Eye to the Telescope Issue 37
"Beyond the scarred surface, I saw the bones of the Moon, / the geology of a crime. He would not speak of it."
Submission Opportunity: K-12 Poetry Contest
The University of Arizona Poetry Center, Arizona Public Media, and the Pima County Public Library have launched a poetry contest for K-12 students in Pima, Santa Cruz, and Cochise County in Arizona, with submissions accepted between June 16 and July 16, 2020.
Review: 2020 Rhysling Anthology edited by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
What bliss to read the latest Rhysling Anthology from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) and edited by David C. Kopaska-Merkel, but what torture to select the best three short and long poems nominated for the 2020 Rhysling Award.
Submission Opportunity: 2020 SFPA Poetry Contest
The 2020 SFPA Poetry Contest runs from June 1 through August 31, 2020 and is open to both non-members and members.
On a Successful 2020 Tucson Poetry Festival
Thank you to members of the board, featured poets, and attendees for a successful and sustaining 2020 Tucson Poetry Festival.
Tucson Poetry Festival Featured Poets Reading and Open Mic, April 18-19, 2020
The 2020 Tucson Poetry Festival will include workshops, a reading by the featured poets, and an open mic.
New Poem: “Witch House” in Eye to the Telescope Issue 36
"Little girls in white dresses skipping rope / & chanting singsong in slow motion we stole / from an 80’s horror film."
Poets and Workshops at the Tucson Poetry Festival, April 18-19, 2020
When Director Melanie Madden suggested the theme for this year's annual Tucson Poetry Festival—"Poetry to Sustain Us"—none of us on the Board could have predicted how even more necessary this sustenance would become in 2020.
New Poem: “Elysium to Lethe Through Athabasca Valles” in HiRISE’s MarsPoetica
"Lava, perfectly happy to flow / like water smoothly around / obstructions"
New Poem: “[Aliens are here]” in Star*Line 42.4
"Aliens are here"
Shadow Award 2019 Short List
In the 2019 Shadow Award from The Molotov Cocktail, one of my entries landed me on the short list.
Review: The Low Passions by Anders Carlson-Wee
Anders Carlson-Wee's poems in The Low Passions feel like they have exactly the right words; the perfect, accessible, blunt, beautiful, challenging, and surprising words.
New Writing Instructor at the Writers Studio Tucson
I’m now a writing instructor at the Writers Studio in Tucson, Arizona and I’ll be teaching an 8-week introductory workshop in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction beginning Saturday, April 20th!
Richard Leis 
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