One of five outstanding finalists for the Fischer Prize in 2020, Julie E. Bloemeke of Georgia will be the featured reader at the Bardic Trails Zoom poetry webinar Tuesday, May 4th at 7 p.m. Register by May 3rd on-line at the Wilkinson Public Library to get URL & password. Go to telluridelibrary.org/events.
A production of the Talking Gourds Poetry Program, Bardic Trails is an a free event open to any who pre-register. Art Goodtimes, co-director of Talking Gourds, said that Bloemeke’s poem, “After Rousseau’s The Dream,” was honored as a finalist by judge Claire Blotter in the 2020 Fischer Prize poetry contest.
Bloemeke’s first full-length poetry collection, Slide to Unlock, debuted in 2020. A Bennington Writing Seminars graduate and a fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, her poems have been widely anthologized, most recently in Mother Mary Comes to Me: A Popculture Poetry Anthology (2020).
Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals including Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Cortland Review and others. A freelance writer and editor, her interviews have been featured in AWP Writer’s Chronicle and Poetry International. Her essay on poetry and spirituality is forthcoming in EcoTheo Review. Her website is here.
Following Bloemeke, there will be a short Question and Answer session with co-hosts, Goodtimes and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.
Future Bardic Trails
Our future Bardic Trails dates are June 1 with Melissa Studdard of Texas (“Mountains”), July 6 with Partridge Boswell of Vermont (“Prey”), Aug. 3 with Jane Lunin Perel of Rhode Island (“Sky”), Sept. 7 with Anna Scotti of California (“Fuel”), Oct. 5 with Renee Podunovich of Cortez (“Tree”), Nov. 2 with Debbi Brody of New Mexico (“The New”), and Dec. 7 with Al Zolynas of California (“Flesh”).
Talking Gourds Poetry Club Meeting
Following Bardic Trails, we’ll have our Talking Gourds club member meeting (for Club members and their invitees only). We will end the Bardic Trails Zoom gathering around 7:30 p.m, then start a new Zoom meeting for the Talking Gourds Poetry Club (all current members will receive the link separately by May 4th). The Poetry Club meeting won’t officially start until 7:45, leaving time at the start for socializing as we used to do in our live meetings.
Talking Gourds Poetry Club Membership
To participate in the private session, one can join the Poetry Club at the Talking Gourds website. The membership page will ask them to email Galaxy Dancer notifying us of having paid their Club fees to ensure that they receive the Zoom info in time for the private meeting.
A one-time membership donation of $25 (or more) places one on our mailing list permanently and makes one current for the calendar year in which the donation was made. Each following calendar year, there’s a $10 renewal fee to remain current – payable by check or online with plastic.
For those who like writing prompts, the one for May 4 is “Birds.” However, members and guests of members may read a poem or share thoughts on any topic they wish.
Club members in good standing receive a monthly PDF copy of the handsome broadsides created by Daiva Chesonis for each featured reader. The PDFs can be printed for free at the Wilkinson. Chesonis will also have copies available for purchase at her Between the Covers Bookstore.
