Allyson Whipple

Category: poetry

  • December Poetry Contest

    It’s time for another poetry contest! I can’t wait to see what y’all send me this month. I’m now offering two options for prizes: 1) A $25 gift certificate to the independent bookstore of your choice, or 2) A $25 donation to the literacy nonprofit or public library of your choice. Please see the Monthly Contest Page for complete rules (there aren’t many) and past winners. This month’s deadline is Tuesday, December 15th at 11:59 pm.

    Prompt
    I love the cento form. It’s a kind of collage poem, where you build a piece out of found text, usually other people’s poems. You can find out more about the cento here: https://poets.org/glossary/cento.

    Create a holiday cento. It can be any holiday from any tradition; you don’t have to limit yourself to the impending winter festivities. You can draw from poems, but also feel free to explore other types of text. Try creating cento out of liturgical passages or prayers. Dig into that pile of greeting cards you’ve saved from Easter, Valentine’s Day, or Christmas past. Create a cento out of advertising copy for holiday sales. Email your poem to allyson@allysonwhipple.com by 11:59 pm on December 15th. The winner will receive a gift certificate to the independent bookstore of their choice, or I will make a donation in their honor to a literacy nonprofit.

  • November Poetry Contest Winner

    Thanks to those who participated in the November poetry challenge! One of the fun things has been seeing who enters. I received poems from people that I had no idea were interested in writing!

    Image Credit: Paul McGuire

    This month’s winner is my friend, Colleen Miller. In lieu of a gift certificate, Colleen opted for a donation in her honor to Room to Read, an organization that promotes literacy and girls’ education. Here’s the winning poem!

    G’mornink

    The feathered chonk plomps on my shoulder. “Bonjourno! My funny, gray angster.

    She laughs and explains the situation.
    “Good girl!”

    Only two words, but I catch her meaning. She has indeed been well behaved today and deserves a reward.

    I hold a slice of Lite-Brite pink grapefruit out on my palm.

    Dancing excitedly, my ersatz child digs her black beak into the acidic flesh.

    In an instant, her reward becomes my regret as it squirts to land in my eye.

    Life. It would be nothing without these bad surprises from good decisions.

  • November Poetry Contest

    I’m excited for another round of the Monthly Poetry Contest! This time around, I’ve extended the deadline so that people have more time to draft and send a poem. Once again, the prize is a $25 gift card to the independent bookstore of the winner’s choosing. See the Monthly Poetry Contest page for complete rules (there aren’t many).

    Prompt
    Last month, I had a dream where an angel allowed me to see my favorite writer’s afterlife records. One of the tabs in the folder was labeled, “Bad Surprises from Good Decisions.” When I woke up, that phrase stayed with me.

    Write a poem of any length, using “Bad Surprises from Good Decisions” either in your title and/or the poem itself. Emailyour poem to allyson@allysonwhipple.com by 11:59 pm on November 15th. The winner will receive a gift certificate to the independent bookstore of their choice.

  • We have a winner!

    Congratulations to Carol Dorf, winner of my inaugural monthly poetry contest! She won a $25 gift card to East Bay Booksellers.

    Yes, inaugural winner, because this was so much fun that I’m going to run it again! Details in early November.

    For now, please enjoy Carol’s winning poem!

    At this Resolution

    How do ants avoid drowning,
    and how sympathetic to their plight

    should I be? I admit I am a monster
    when they form lines across the counter.

    They (and I) wish I were on a sofa
    zoning into the NBA finals, or maybe

    attempting to mimic the choreography
    that follows the irresistible rise of k-pop.

    © Carol Dorf, 2020

  • Let’s have a poetry contest!

    When I looked at my phone this morning, I saw the above notification from The Economist on my screen and thought, that could be an interesting prompt. But I wasn’t just interested in writing a poem based on the headline; I wanted to see what other people would write as well. So I’m throwing a quick weekend poetry contest!

    All you need to do is write a poem using “the irresistible rise of K-pop, the NBA finals and how ants avoid drowning” in the title and/or the stanzas themselves. Email me your piece by Monday, October 12th at 11:59 pm CST. Send your poem to allyson@lunanidra.com with a relevant subject line.

    Since all contests deserve prizes, I’ll send the winner a $25 gift certificate to the independent bookstore of their choice.

    I’m excited to see how this goes. I might make it a monthly thing!

  • Poetry in a Pandemic: My First Year of PoPoFest

    The beautiful assortment of cards I received

    I first heard about the Poetry Postcard Festival in 2014; I have several friends who participate every year. I never joined, largely because I was afraid to put up money and then not actually follow through with it. But since I didn’t get to attend any poetry festivals or go on vacation this year, when I saw in Submittable that the 2020 registration deadline was closing soon, I decided to give it a shot. This was a chance to connect with other poets, and to maybe get some postcards from places I’d never been.

    I didn’t actually struggle to get my poems out in the month of August. In fact, sitting down to write a tiny poem became the highlight of my month. I gave myself prompts by drawing a card from my Emily Dickinson tarot deck. I then had to tie the theme of the tarot card to the theme of the postcard. I knew that the reader on the other end would never actually see the tarot card I used, but my goal was to write each poem so that you wouldn’t need to know what had prompted me to start it. Usually I wrote my first poem of the day before walking Astrid. I would sometimes write three or four in a day if I was feeling especially inspired.

    I also developed an affection for vintage postcards. When I started PoPoFest, I had a sizeable stack of postcards, most of which had come from my various travels. Some, though, were vintage postcards I’d found in antique stores. I found that I had the most fun writing poems for the old-fashioned cards, and when my stack ran out halfway through, I ordered two dozen vintage postcards from an Etsy seller to get me through, with enough to spare for next year. I also found myself especially charmed by the vintage postcards I received. One of my favorites is an old postcard of a Tokyo hotel. Since I had to cancel my trip to Japan this year, that card had an air of serendipity to it. In a time when I’ve been unable to see my friends or attend in-person poetry readings, receiving tiny poems in the mail brought a regular sense of joy and gratitude to the long, stifling days of Texas summer.

    Some people in my group were ambitious and got their postcards out early, so I started receiving mail in July. Some people didn’t get their postcards out by August 31st (some people in my group had to deal with the fire situation), but I actually loved how the postcards trickled into September. I felt like it extended the celebration of poetry.

    I loved being part of PoPoFest, and I am definitely going to sign up again for 2021. Hopefully we’ll have gotten through this pandemic by next August, but I’ll still cherish the sense of connection that this festival brings.

  • Coming Full Circle: New Workshop Online this Fall!

    I’m writing this from my partner’s family farm in rural Illinois. It’s pretty easy to stay socially distant when you’re 40 miles away from the nearest grocery store. Astrid did great on the drive, and I can’t tell you what a joy it is to leave 105-degree heat for 85. I love summer, but I feel like Texas has gotten hotter the past few years. On my first morning here, we saw a mated pair of bald eagles flying over the farm.

    Give her a stuffed toy, a cozy bed, and a kolache. She’s a happy dog!

    Just before I left, I signed my contract to teach my first workshop with the Loft Literary Center! When I saw the call for course proposals this spring, I decided to jump at the chance. I’m thrilled to announce that Hawks Don’t Circle: Accuracy and Expansiveness in Nature Poetry is now open for registration! And since their offerings are all online this fall, you can take this course no matter where you live. Don’t live in Minnesota? Intent on maintaining social distancing? Wondering how you can connect with the wilderness in your own back yard? I’ve got you covered!

    I first encountered the Loft back in 2013. I was exploring the possibility of doing an online MFA, and trying different online writing courses to see if the format would work for me. I was awarded a scholarship to take Bent Forms: Exploring and Exploding Formal Poetry with Paula Cisewski, and that class still resonates with me. It deepened my appreciation of poetic form, and the writing prompts yielded some rich work from all of the students.

    In early 2016, I pitched a course to the Loft. It was one I’d taught before, but back then I was a greener teacher with minimal experience pitching courses and workshops. My proposal was declined, and then I got busy with my MFA, and then I spent nearly two years in MFA recovery. But although the pandemic has taken so much from all of us, in a way it’s also brought me back to some things.

    When I submitted my application this spring, I knew that even if my workshop proposal didn’t get accepted, I knew I had definitely grown as a teacher and a proposal writer over the past four years. Putting together an application I was satisfied with, knowing I’d done my level best, was its own reward.

    Of course, I was still thrilled to get the acceptance email. While I’m not giving up teaching technical writing anytime soon, I am thrilled to be moving back into the world of creative writing again. Wherever you are, I hope you can join me in September.

  • The Best of It: The Poetry of Donuts Edition

    A delightful donut and coffee
    1. Postcards from the August Poetry Postcards Festival have already started to arrive! They bring me such joy.
    2. The blueberry donuts from Wheatsville.
    3. Getting to participate in the Wednesday Night Poetry virtual open mic.
    4. My grading queue is clear (for now).
    5. Natalie Goldberg hopped into our workshop practice period today. Wonderful to get to be in her (virtual) presence!

  • The Best of It: Mostly Poetry Things Edition

    Strawberry rhubarb pie with homemade whipped cream
    1. Getting to watch Jericho Brown and Jorie Graham read via Zoom
    2. Having an abundance of online poetry events to choose from
    3. Working on a new prose poem piece
    4. I am so sad that I Scream Social is ending, but I am so grateful for the past five years, and the friendships that formed
    5. Making my favorite couscous recipe for lunch

  • The Best of It: Mostly Poetry Things Edition

    When you don’t have a specific photo in mind, just use an old dog photo!
    1. Cherry pie in the oven
    2. I had an amazing time in the Wingbeats workshop hosted by Dos Gatos Press last night.
    3. Signing up for the Two Sylvias Press online poetry retreat
    4. The satisfaction that comes from sending out poems
    5. Feeling confident enough to send out work again